In the digital world, many image or file formats are used in print and website designs. However, each file format, including PSD and WEBP, comprises specific features, demerits, and merits compared to other file types, but it is subject to areas of use.
Using an incorrect file format can significantly affect the final design's compatibility, resolution, and quality, necessitating comparing these image files in size, quality, compression, web support, structure, performance, and support for transparency and animation.
When is WEBP better than PSD?
WEBP images use lossy and lossless compression methods, resulting in smaller file sizes while maintaining good visual quality. In contrast, PSD images are used for editing and often contain uncompressed or minimally compressed data, making them significantly larger. This large file size can reduce web performance if used directly on a website. Therefore, the WEBP file type is ideal for creating small web images with appealing visual quality and optimized web performancee.
When is PSD better than WEBP?
PSD images comprise large quantities of data, such as multiple layers of distinct images or graphical elements. In contrast, WEBP images are made up of individual pixels, which, when compressed, save bandwidth and enhance web efficiency.
The advantages of PSD images include support for graphical work across multiple layers, importability, retouchability, and editability, resulting in high-quality or high-gloss editorial imagery suitable for digital design and photography manipulations.
PSD versus WEBP Table Comparison
Element | WEB | PSD |
Transparency | Supports alpha transparency channel or transparent backgrounds | Supports alpha transparency channel or transparent backgrounds |
File Size | Compressed smaller file sizes than PSD, pixelated, and resizable; file size is 16383 × 16383 pixels. | Mostly uncompressed, multilayered, detail-heavy larger files, and resizable; 30,000 × 30,000 pixels. |
Image Quality | Highly detailed, supports 24-bit RGB color, 8-bit alpha channel, RGBA, YUV, and low and high resolution. | It is highly detailed and supports 24-bit RGB color, CMYK, Duotone, Grayscale indexed color, monochrome, CMYK, and high resolution. |
Performance | Smaller files than PSD, optimized search engines, less bandwidth required, improved user experience, and increased web responsiveness. | Multilayered and detail-heavy files, necessitate more bandwidth, abridged user experience, and reduced web responsiveness. |
Structure | Images are defined and stored using pixels. The structure comprises block prediction using TrueMotion, DC, vertical, and horizontal methods. Block decoding follows a raster scan sequence. | It supports multiple layers of different graphical elements, text, and images; the structure comprises the file header, color mode data, image resources, layer and mask data, and image data. |
Animation | It uses the WebP-A variant to support animation and lively content. | No inherent support for animation; |
Storage | Less storage space is needed. | More storage space is required. |
Compression | Uses lossless and lossy compression techniques with LZ77-Huffman and VP8/VP8L coding algorithms. | The files are mostly uncompressed, but external tools can perform lossless compression techniques like ZIP or RLE. |
Browser Support | Supported by 96.86% of modern browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera, Brave, Discord, and Vivaldi. Unsupported by Internet Explorer. | Supported by Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, Opera Mini, and Vivaldi. Unsupported by Brave, Discord, and Internet Explorer. |
Differences and similarities between WEBP and PSD images
WEBP and PSD images are versatile file formats with similarities in support for transparency, identical storage mediums, image quality, and browser support. However, these file formats show differences in structural composition, file size, compression, web performance, and support for animation.
Transparency
WEBP and PSD files support alpha transparency channels. The PSD file format also supports transparency channels, which allow the creation of images with complex compositions or transparent backgrounds that can be integrated seamlessly into other objects or projects.
On the other hand, WEBP is a pixel-based file format that supports multi-sample pixels by encrypting files with an alpha channel, permitting data transparency. It integrally supports lossless and lossy compression with transparency, maintaining transparency information for each pixel.
PSD files support multilayer transparency, while WEBP’s pixels support transparent images such as graphics or logos with non-rectangular shapes. The alpha transparency channels in PSD and WebP files allow professional designers and graphics experts to create images with different opacity levels.
File Size
PSD files are mostly uncompressed, multilayered, detailed, and larger than WEBP files. Given their bitmapped nature, PSD files can be resized. However, WebP files can be resized and compressed into smaller file sizes than PSD.
The size limit of a WebP file is 24 bits. The bit stream is attuned to VP8. The file format has an optimal pixel size of 16383 × 16383 pixels for height and width.
Unlike individual pixel-based WebP files, PSD files or images contain multiple files, graphical elements, text, and images of varying color depths and sizes, resulting in an overall increase in size. PSD files can be larger, reaching a file size limit of 2 gigabytes.
Both PSD and WebP can accommodate complex, high-quality, and high-resolution designs. Nonetheless, the PSD file format can support 24 bits and up to 30,000 x 30,000 pixels in width and height, offering its files an appealing range of color spread and image depth.
Image Quality
PSD files support multichannel color modes like lab color, indexed color, duotone, monochrome, grayscale, CMYK, bitmap, and RGB. They use a 24-bit RGB color model, meaning PSD technically renders over 16 million colors. PSD is a high-quality and high-resolution file format.
The file format can support up to 30,000 x 30,000 pixels in width and height, offering its files an appealing color spread and image depth range. PSD files' optimal pixel size makes them superior in quality to WebP files.
The WEBP images or files are also of high quality. They support a bit depth of 24-bit RGB color with an 8-bit alpha channel. The file format uses 8 bits for each of three RGB color channels, totaling 24-bit RBG color support.
WEBP further supports RGBA and YUV pixels but mostly uses RGB to display screen images. Each pixel has three color channels. The optimal pixel size of 16383 × 16383 signifies the high-quality nature of WebP files, though inferior to PSD files’ quality.
Performance
PSD files are multilayered and detail-heavy, larger than WEBP files. As such, they necessitate more bandwidth expenses and storage space, minimize search engine optimization, and reduce web responsiveness. All these translate to a minimal user experience compared to the WebP file format.
In contrast, WebP files are comparatively smaller than PSD files, resulting in optimized search engines, lower bandwidth costs, and increased web responsiveness, which generally translate to improved user experience. Thus, PSD files are inferior to WEBP files regarding website performance or speed.
Structure
PSD and WEBP are raster-based file formats. PSD files support multiple layers of different graphical elements, text, and images, unlike individual pixel-based WEBP files. PSD structure comprises the file header, color mode data, image resources, layer and mask data, and image data.
On the other hand, the WEBP file format structure comprises block prediction. Block decoding follows a raster scan sequence, namely top to bottom and left to right. The four basic block prediction modes are TrueMotion, DC, vertical, and horizontal.
The PSD’s file header contains the primary features of the image, including the pixel width and height, the number of bits per channel, the number of channels in an image, the version, and the file's color mode. A PSD file's color mode data component specifies the length of the color data. It is set to 0 unless the color mode is duotone or indexed, as defined in the header profile. In contrast, the bit numbering in a WEBP file chunk diagram commences from 0 for the most significant bit, as described in RFC 1168.
The image resources specify the length of the resource section, which comprises a sequence of blocks, each with a resource ID indicating the data type stored within the block. Such blocks store non-pixel data related to the PSD image, such as pencil or pen tool paths.
WEBP divides chrominance and luminance similarly, although it does so in terms of blocks or multi-sample pixels instead of individual pixels. The luma and chroma blocks in WEBP measure 16 by 16 and 8 by 8 pixels, respectively. These macroblocks are further separated into 4 by 4 sub-blocks.
The layer and mask data unit in PSD files contains data about masks and layers, such as mask parameters, effects layers, adjustment layer keys, blending ranges, layer channels, and the number of layers. The image data includes the actual image information, the compression technique adopted, and the pixel data in the image.
Animation
PSD does not support animation, while WebP has inherent support for animation. However, its high-definition quality and multiple layers can be integrated into other designs for animation and lively content creation.
Conversely, WEBP supports animation using a WebP-A compatible with animated images. A single animated WEBP file can merge lossy and lossy frames used in creating lively animated content.
Storage
PSDs store more image data than WebP files, including several layers of different images or graphical elements. PSD’s image data layers are stored independently for easy editing. However, the stored data requires more storage space because a PSD file can be as large as 2GB and retain all image data.
WEBP file format stores data using either lossy or lossless compression, which applies VP8 and VP8L key frame encoding. Users can condense images without compromising any data or losing unnecessary data.
WebP and PSD image formats can be stored indefinitely on hard drives, Cloud storage, File Systems, DVDs, CDs, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), Base64 Encoding, and Floppy Drives (FD). However, the storage period in both cases is subject to the conditions, handling process, and storage medium used.
Compression
A PSD file is an example of an uncompressed file type. It does not need compression, either lossy or lossless. The uncompressed nature of PSD files typically results in a large file size and more storage space than WebP files.
WEBP, on the other hand, uses lossy and lossless compression methods. It uses the VP8 video codec to compress lossless images and predictive coding during lossy compression, resulting in smaller images than the uncompressed PSD images.
Uncompressed PSD files are larger and reduce web performance more than compressed WebP files, which is linked to high web responsiveness. Besides, WebP files need less storage space than uncompressed PSD files, implying a significant reduction in storage expenses or costs for WebP files compared to PSD files.
Browser Support
Both PSD and WebP file formats enjoy broad web browser support. WEBP is now used by 93.3% of top desktop and mobile web browsers and sites. Opera, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, and Brave fully support WEBP. Only Internet Explorer does not support PSD files.
On the other hand, PSD is widely supported by modern mobile or desktop web browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, Opera Mini, and Vivaldi. However, Brave, Discord and Internet Explorer hardly support the file format.
Conclusion
While PSD files are detailed, high-quality, and multilayered, enabling future editing and adjustments compared to WebP files, the latter is considered the next-generation file format with its unique attributes, including smaller file sizes, support for animation, and minimal bandwidth.
PSD’s ability to store large amounts of flexible and editable multilayered image data makes it ideal for digital design and photographic manipulation. It allows users to import and edit multiple graphics and high-quality images.
WebP files, on the other hand, were designed entirely with the internet in mind because they are smaller and high-quality. This makes them ideal for web images as they significantly reduce website loading time and increase user experience.