WebP files almost always reported as being larger than originals?

Hello @jamieburchell ,

CompressX is a local image conversion tool that efficiently compresses images into WebP and AVIF formats. Compression quality varies based on the original image, processing libraries, and the adjustable compression level.

Processing an image that was previously compressed with a higher compression level and then recompressing it with a lower compression level may result in the issue you described.

Kind regards.

I have a reference JPG which is 59495 bytes. Converter for Media creates a WebP of 47098 bytes whereas ConvertX says that its WebP was larger than the original. Both plugins are at the default compression level, using the same ImageMagick library.

In fact, ConvertX creates hardly any WebP images in my tests.

Hello @jamieburchell

Thanks for your update.

Would you send us the JPG so we could test and suggest further?

All the best,

Sure! Here’s a sample.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/lhwkr6d88u97vlwzd2xnv/sample.jpg?rlkey=bxs8ntpzwj8nvzat8uqfim9xr&st=8l9xh9yq&dl=1

Looking at the first website I tried CompressX on, there are a lot more WebP files generated, but the second website, for some reason mainly only produced AVIF files and threw out the WebP as being larger than the original in most cases.

Hi @jamieburchell

Thanks. We are going to do some further tests and keep you posted on any updates.

All the best,

Hello @jamieburchell

We tested the sample image on our site. Here is the system information of the site:

Imagick version 1809, ImageMagick 7.1.1-29 Q16-HDRI x64 0deac72:20240225

We uploaded the sample image:

sample.jpg 59KB
sample-150×150.jpg 6KB
sample-300×200.jpg 10KB
sample-768×512.jpg 41KB

Processed it with Imagick library and the default compression level which is WebP 80, AVIF 60.

Here is the result:

sample.jpg.avif 29KB
sample.jpg.webp 39KB
sample-150×150.jpg.avif 4KB
sample-150×150.jpg.webp 4KB
sample-300×200.jpg.avif 5KB
sample-300×200.jpg.webp 6KB
sample-768×512.jpg.avif 19KB
sample-768×512.jpg.webp 25KB

Then we tested the sample image with the Converter for Media plugin with the optimal quality=85.

Here is the result:

sample.jpg.webp 46KB
sample-150×150.jpg.webp 5KB
sample-300×200.jpg.webp 8KB
sample-768×512.jpg.webp 30KB

We tested it for multiple times with same settings to ensure accuracy, and got the same result.

So, according to our test results, CompressX can correctly convert the image to WebP and AVIF with expected sizes. And the conversion results of the two plugins are the same under the same quality parameters.

In this case, we would be happy to dig deeper into the issue if you could send us a debug zip through the plugin’s Debug tab. Please also include a link to the thread when you do that to help us track the issue.

Thanks,

All the best,

That is indeed strange as the compressx-nextgen directory contained only avif versions of that image in the end. The log file just said that the original was smaller.

I’m using php-pecl-imagick 6 with PHP 8.2

I will try the plugin again and see if I can figure out what is going on.

@jamieburchell

Sure. You can also disable the option ‘Automatic removal of files in output formats larger than the original ones’ in the plugin settings to retain converted images.

Let us know if you need any further information or assistance.

All the best,

I just ran the test again:

CompressX

• Imagick, default compression level
• sample.jpg (58.1 KB)
• sample.jpg.avif (44.2 KB)
• (no sample.jpg.webp was produced)

[2024-10-25 22:27:00][notice]Converting sample.jpg to WebP succeeded.
[2024-10-25 22:27:00][notice]WebP size larger than original size, deleting file sample.jpg.webp.

After disabling the facility to delete larger images, I see the WebP came in at 108 KB.

Converter for Media (free)

• Imagick, default compression level
• sample.jpg (58.1 KB)
• sample.jpg.webp (46 KB)
• (no sample.jpg.avif due to it being the free version of plugin)

$ sudo dnf list installed | grep agic
ImageMagick-djvu.x86_64                        1:6.9.13.17-1.el9.remi           @remi
ImageMagick-heic.x86_64                        1:6.9.13.17-1.el9.remi           @remi
ImageMagick-libs.x86_64                        1:6.9.13.17-1.el9.remi           @remi
php-pecl-imagick-im6.x86_64                    3.7.0-7.el9.remi.8.2             @remi-modular

Thank you for your update @jamieburchell .

Would you kindly send the debug information (logs) to our support email through System Information page please? We will analyze them thoroughly to identify the issue. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

To ensure efficient tracking of your thread, we kindly ask you to include the link to the thread in your email.

Hello @jamieburchell , after further investigation, we’ve determined that the issue is caused by a bug. To resolve this, please click the thumbs-up icon again to ensure that the default compression level is applied. Once done, run another test to verify if the issue has been resolved. Please inform us of the test results. Thank you.

Hello @jamieburchell ,

We’ve released a new version (0.9.18) that includes a fix for the bug you reported. To resolve the issue, please update CompressX to the latest version. Once the update is complete, run another test to verify if the bug has been fixed. Please let us know if the issue persists after updating.

Kind regards.

That’s fixed it:

• sample.jpg.webp 38.4 KB
• sample.jpg.avif 24.8 KB

Thanks

Hi @jamieburchell

You are welcome.

Many thanks for reporting and helping fix the bug!

All the best,