Squarespace WebP Image Support: Boost Your SEO & Site Speed
Squarespace WebP image support offers business owners a powerful way to make their websites faster and more search engine-friendly. WebP is a next-generation image format developed by Google that reduces image file sizes without sacrificing quality. Compared to older formats like JPG and PNG, WebP images are typically 25% to 34% smaller, which means faster load times and a better user experience.
This is especially important for businesses using Squarespace. Faster websites keep visitors engaged, reduce bounce rates, and help improve your rankings on Google, especially on mobile, where page speed is a key SEO factor. WebP also supports transparency and animation, offering a versatile alternative to PNG and GIF formats.
Best of all, WebP is supported by nearly all major browsers, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, and Opera. So, visitors to your site won’t need to do anything to benefit from faster-loading images. With Squarespace now supporting WebP through its Circle program, early adopters can upload WebP files directly or opt to have Squarespace automatically convert images in the background.
If you’re not part of the Circle program, don’t worry, this feature is expected to roll out more broadly. In the meantime, you can still manually convert and upload WebP images using free tools like Squoosh or CloudConvert. It’s a straightforward way to future-proof your site and enhance its performance now.
Squarespace WebP Image Support: What’s Changing and Who Can Use It
Squarespace has begun rolling out WebP image support, a move that signals a significant step forward in image optimization for business websites. Currently, this feature is only available to members of the Squarespace Circle program—an invite-only community of early-access users, designers, and developers.
With this update, Circle members can now upload WebP image files directly to their websites. Additionally, Squarespace will automatically convert previously uploaded images to the WebP format in the background, serving optimized images to visitors using browsers that support WebP. This means Circle users benefit from faster load times and improved SEO without having to change their current image workflow.
Even better, Squarespace provides flexibility. Users who prefer to keep their images in the original format, whether for visual consistency, creative preferences, or technical reasons, can opt out of the automatic WebP conversion in the "Image Settings" panel. However, all original image files are preserved and stored safely, regardless of conversion settings.
It’s essential to note that Squarespace WebP image support isn’t yet available platform-wide. If you’re not a Circle member, you won’t see this option yet—but its presence in early testing strongly suggests that broader access is on the horizon.
In the meantime, business owners not in the Circle program can still take advantage of WebP benefits by manually converting and uploading WebP images using tools like Squoosh or CloudConvert. Whether you're part of the rollout or preparing for it, embracing this new feature can give your site a performance edge, making your content faster and more user-friendly in today’s web standards.
Why WebP Helps Your Squarespace Site Load Faster (And Why That Matters)
Every second counts when someone lands on your website, and slow load times can cost you traffic, leads, and sales. WebP helps reduce the time it takes for your Squarespace site to load by significantly shrinking image file sizes. Studies have shown that WebP files are approximately 25% to 34% smaller than JPEGs and PNGs, with no noticeable loss in quality. That means your site can display the same high-resolution visuals while loading much faster for visitors.
For business owners, this translates into tangible performance benefits: faster first impressions, increased time spent on-site, lower bounce rates, and ultimately, improved conversion rates. This is especially important for mobile users, who often abandon pages that don’t load quickly. And because Google factors page speed into its search algorithm, using WebP can also give your SEO a meaningful lift.
With Squarespace now offering WebP image support to Circle users, these improvements are easier than ever to access. There’s no need to change how you manage images; upload your files, and Squarespace handles the conversion and delivery automatically. For non-Circle users, you can still benefit by manually converting your images using free tools like Squoosh, CloudConvert, or TinyPNG’s WebP converter.
WebP is especially helpful for image-heavy websites such as online stores, professional portfolios, or blogs. By reducing image size while maintaining visual sharpness, WebP helps you strike the perfect balance between performance and presentation. Whether you’re showcasing products or services, your content stays crisp, fast, and optimized for both users and search engines.
What Makes WebP Better Than JPG and PNG for Modern Websites
For years, JPG and PNG have been the default image formats for websites, offering a mix of file size and quality that most platforms and users have come to rely on. However, as website performance and mobile speed have become increasingly important for SEO and user experience, the limitations of these traditional formats have become clear. Large image files slow down page load times, increase bounce rates, and can negatively impact search rankings.
Enter WebP—a modern image format designed by Google to deliver faster load times without sacrificing visual quality. WebP is increasingly being adopted across the web because it solves many of the problems associated with older image formats. It's more efficient, more flexible, and better suited for today’s performance-driven internet.
In the following sections, we’ll break down what makes WebP stand out: how it reduces file sizes, supports transparency and animation, improves browser decoding, and is compatible with all major browsers. If you’re running your business on Squarespace, these features aren’t just technical upgrades; they translate directly to a better, faster website experience for your customers.
Smaller File Sizes Mean Faster Websites
WebP files are significantly smaller than traditional JPG or PNG images while still preserving image quality. This reduction in file size directly contributes to faster page load times, which is critical for user retention, mobile performance, and SEO.
With smaller images, your website uses less bandwidth and delivers a smoother experience across devices.
Supports Transparency and Animation
WebP isn't just about compression; it also supports advanced features, such as transparent backgrounds and animations. This means you can replace both PNG and GIF formats without losing design functionality.
Whether you need semi-transparent logos or subtle motion graphics, WebP delivers visual flexibility in a more efficient format.
Faster Decoding and Loading Across Browsers
One of the most overlooked advantages of WebP is its efficiency in how browsers decode and display images. Because WebP is optimized for modern rendering engines, images load more quickly and consume less memory, especially on mobile devices. This leads to a better user experience and reduced load on your hosting resources.
Broad Browser Compatibility
WebP is now supported by virtually every major browser, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, and Opera. That means you can safely use WebP across your entire Squarespace site, confident that the vast majority of your visitors will see your images exactly as intended. And for older browsers, Squarespace automatically serves fallback formats when needed.
For business owners using Squarespace, this means you don’t have to sacrifice quality to improve performance. Whether you’re displaying product images, service portfolios, or blog graphics, WebP keeps things sharp and fast.
As Squarespace expands support, the shift toward WebP is becoming more seamless. It’s already standard on platforms like Shopify and WordPress, and Squarespace is catching up—starting with its Circle program.
How WebP Works on Your Squarespace Site
If you're a Squarespace Circle member, you don’t need to do anything extra to start benefiting from WebP image support. Squarespace automatically converts your images in the background and serves them in WebP format to compatible browsers. This means your website becomes faster and more efficient with zero extra effort on your part.
That said, Squarespace gives you control. If you prefer to keep your original file formats—for example, if you’re a photographer or designer who requires exact color fidelity or very high image detail—you can opt out of automatic WebP conversion through your site's Image Settings panel. The good news is, even when images are converted to WebP, Squarespace continues to store the original image file. So opting in to automatic conversion doesn’t mean you lose access to your originals.
For business owners who are not part of the Squarespace Circle program, you won’t see the WebP auto-conversion feature just yet. However, you can still take advantage of WebP's benefits by manually converting your images before uploading them, using free tools like Squoosh, CloudConvert, or TinyPNG's WebP tool. The app makes this process simple and accessible—no coding required.
Overall, the default setup (automatic WebP conversion) is the smartest path forward for most users. It improves your website’s performance, enhances SEO, and saves you the hassle of manually compressing or reformatting your images. Unless you have specific creative or technical reasons to stick with older formats, there's little reason to opt out.
By embracing WebP now, you’re setting your site up for faster performance, better visibility, and a more modern user experience—especially as this feature rolls out to all Squarespace users in the near future.
How to Prepare for Full WebP Rollout on Squarespace
Since this feature is currently limited to Squarespace Circle members, general users will need to wait a little longer before they see WebP image support on their sites. Squarespace has not yet provided a specific launch date for all users, but the move toward broader WebP integration is clearly in progress. Given the importance of speed and SEO in today’s digital landscape, this shift is highly anticipated.
That said, there are proactive steps you can take now to make sure your site is ready:
Optimize your current image library: Start by reviewing the largest and most frequently loaded images on your site. If you're using high-resolution graphics or product photos, these can be converted to WebP for immediate performance gains.
Convert key images manually: Use free tools like Squoosh, CloudConvert, or TinyPNG’s WebP converter to compress and upload lighter images today, even before Squarespace does it for you.
Monitor your site’s speed: Use platforms like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to identify performance bottlenecks, especially those caused by oversized image files.
By following these steps, you’ll not only be better prepared for the broader WebP rollout but also gain immediate improvements in site performance and user experience. As Squarespace continues its rollout, WebP is poised to become a default feature that benefits all users.
It’s part of a larger trend toward leaner, faster websites that prioritize user experience and SEO performance. By getting ahead of the curve now, you can position your business for stronger visibility, smoother interactions, and better results online.
Take Advantage of Squarespace WebP Image Support with Rizzo Young
If you’re serious about site speed, SEO, and delivering a better experience to your customers, WebP is a simple win. This isn't just a backend technical update—it’s a competitive upgrade for any business operating online. Smaller, faster-loading image files mean your website performs better for your audience and ranks better on search engines like Google.
Whether you're already benefiting from WebP through Squarespace Circle or preparing for broader support, this is an ideal moment to reconsider how your site handles images. You don’t need to be a developer to take advantage of WebP. Free online tools make it easy to convert your pictures today, so you're ready to go when Squarespace completes the rollout.
The truth is that better website performance leads to better business outcomes. Faster sites reduce bounce rates, improve mobile usability, and increase conversion rates. All of this starts with simple changes, such as using more efficient image formats.
Need support putting all of this into action? That’s where we come in. At Rizzo Young Marketing, we specialize in helping growing businesses transform their Squarespace websites into faster, smarter, and better-performing tools for growth. Whether you need help with strategy, SEO, or simply implementing WebP across your site, we bring clarity and momentum to your digital presence.
Let’s modernize your Squarespace website, optimize its speed, and position your business for stronger visibility and improved performance. In today’s digital world, speed is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. For help with upgrading your imagery to WebP, schedule an introductory conversation with the digital marketing, advertising and branding team at Rizzo Young Marketing.
