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MIME Type
image/webp
ImageModern image MIME type designed for smaller file sizes and good web performance.
MIME type reference, HTTP example, browser usage, common mistakes, and related content.
What is the image/webp MIME type?
The MIME type image/webp is used to tell browsers, APIs, and servers how a file or response body should be interpreted.
MIME stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, and MIME types are now a standard part of HTTP responses and web content delivery.
When a browser or client receives a response with image/webp, it uses that information to decide how the content should be processed, rendered, downloaded, or executed.
Example
Content-Type: image/webp
HTTP example
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: image/webp Content-Length: 1256
Common file extensions
.webp
Common use cases
- Responsive images
- Optimized web delivery
- Modern image pipelines
Common mistakes
- Using the wrong MIME type for the file being served
- Returning text/plain instead of image/webp
- Forgetting required parameters like charset when relevant
- Using a deprecated MIME type in older server configurations
- Serving assets with a mismatched Content-Type header, causing browser parsing issues
How browsers use it
Browsers use the Content-Type response header to decide how a response should be handled. For example, HTML is rendered as a page, CSS is parsed as styles, JavaScript is executed as script, and images are displayed visually. If the MIME type is incorrect, the browser may refuse to load the file correctly or may treat it as plain text or a download instead.
Browser support
Supported in all major modern browsers. Older legacy browsers may need PNG or JPEG fallbacks.
Developer note
Very popular for website performance optimization because it often compresses better than JPEG and PNG.