Can I replace existing images with WebP version?

Wordpress WP 5.8 supports webp, yes. But old browsers don’t. If you want the ~4% of visitors that uses old browsers to see your images, you still need to serve these browsers the old formats (jpeg/png). WordPress 5.8 doesn’t support that mechanism of providing old formats for old browsers.

So, unless you know your audience are all on new browsers, I would recommend you keep using WebP Express.

Thanks for the replay. Anyways, I deducted those 4%, caz they are noobs.:P

So how can I completely replace my existing images to WebP?

• This reply was modified 3 years ago by Jaber Al Nahian.

??

Oh my. I guess noobs would have to add the webp files to the media library one at the time, then replace the inserted images one by one with the webp and delete the jpegs/pngs.

But u r no noob ??
You would need to update the records in the database.
Media is stored in wp_posts. They have “post_type” set to “attachment”.
The urls are however stored in wp_post_meta. But they are not easily updated, as the “meta_value” field stores a complete JSON-like object, but not quite JSON, as string and array lengths are part of the field. So you would need to create a script for doing the update.

I guess such script would be a good addition to WebP Express.
Both for those that – like you – want to “deduct the noobs” and perhaps leave WebP Express behind. But also for users that would like to switch to a “reversed” workflow, where they upload webps and use WebP Express to make these available as jpegs/pngs for browsers that doesn’t support webp (such reversed mode isn’t supported yet, but I’m considering it. However, I probably want to do avif before that and to create my own cloud converter, so the project can generate some income, which will allow me to continue working on it)

• This reply was modified 3 years ago by rosell.dk.
• This reply was modified 3 years ago by rosell.dk.
• This reply was modified 3 years ago by rosell.dk.

I asked the Brazilian WordPress community about the “reverse” workflow and people said that your plugin already does the job.
There’s a guy implementing an updated code to fix the situation.
Webp-hero

• This reply was modified 3 years ago by zanarota.

Ok. They must have misunderstood. WebP Express only handles the old-school workflow, where you upload jpegs and PNGs. You can upload webps, but they will not get converted to jpegs/pngs.
Thanks for the link. I’ll look into it when I get the time.