A WEBP file is an image format developed by Google, designed to provide both lossless and lossy compression. It aims to offer better compression than JPEG and PNG formats, resulting in smaller file sizes without sacrificing image quality.
WEBP supports transparency, like PNG, and also includes animation features, making it versatile for various web applications. However, despite its advantages, it's not as universally supported as older formats, although adoption has been growing with web performance and optimization in mind.