webp

WebP is a Coldbox module that provides a simple API for converting images into WebP format. It can also be used to convert WebP images into other formats. It uses the precompiled binaries provided by Google.

Why WebP?

WebP is a modern image format offering superior lossless and lossy compression for images on the web. Google encourages the use of modern image formats, like WebP, as part of their Core Web Vitals initiative. WebP images are typically 25-35% smaller than their JPEG or PNG counterparts, resulting in faster page load times and reduced bandwidth usage. WebP is compatible with all major modern browsers.

WebP Support in ColdFusion

• Lucee's Image Extension supports WebP as of version 2.0.
• Adobe ColdFusion does not support WebP. There is an open ticket for this feature. Please vote for it!

Requirements

• Lucee 5+
• Adobe ColdFusion 2018+
• Coldbox 6+
• Windows (for now)
• <cfexecute> enabled

Installation

Within Commandbox type:

box install webp

The module configuration will detect your operating system and point to the appropriate binaries. If you need to override the default configuration, you can do so in your Coldbox.cfc file:

webp = {
    cmdPath : "c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe", // path to cmd.exe
    binPath : "c:\custom-binaries\" // path to your custom binaries
}

Usage

Use Wirebox to inject webp into your handler or service:

property name="webp" inject="webp@webp";

To encode an image into webp format:

webp.encode( 
    source = "path/to/image.jpg", 
    destination = "path/to/image.webp" 
);

To decode a webp image into another format:

webp.decode( 
    source = "path/to/image.webp", 
    destination = "path/to/image.png" 
);

To get information about a webp image (width, height, etc):

webp.info( 
    source = "path/to/image.webp"
);

Google currently supports the following output formats: PNG, TIFF, BMP, PPM, PGM, PBM, and PNM. I have no idea why they don't support JPG. If you need to convert a webp image to JPG, first, decode the image as a PNG and then use you can use the cfimage tag or imageWrite() function.

Encode Arguments

The following arguments are available when encoding an image: | Argument | Type | Default | Description | |----------------|--------------|--------------|--------------| | @source | String | | Full path to the source file to convert | | @destination | String | | Full path to the output file | | @lossless | Boolean | false | Encode the image without any loss | | @nearLossless | Int (0-100) | | Specify the level of near-lossless image preprocessing | | @quality | Int (0-100) | 80 | Specify the compression factor. | | @losslessCompressionMode | int (0-9) | | Switch on lossless compression mode with the specified level | | @alphaQuality | int(0-100) | 100 | Specify the compression factor for alpha compression | | @preset | string | | Specify the compression preset (default, photo, picture, drawing, icon, text) | | @compressionMethod | int(0-6) | 4 | Specify the compression method to use | | @cropX | int | | Crop the source X-position | | @cropY | int | | Crop the source Y-position | | @cropWidth | int | | Crop the source width | | @cropHeight | int | | Crop the source height | | @resizeWidth | int | | Resize the source to the specified width | | @resizeHeight | int | | Resize the source to the specified height | | @multiThreaded | boolean | true | Use multi-threading for encoding, if possible | @lowMemory | boolean | false | Reduce memory usage (not recommended) | @size | int | | Target size (in bytes) for the output file | @psnr | float | | Target PSNR (in dB. typically: 42) for the output file | @pass | int (1-10) | 1 | Number of entropy-analysis passes (in [1..10]) | @autoFilter | boolean | false | Turns auto-filter on. This algorithm will spend additional time optimizing the filtering strength to reach a well-balanced quality | | @jpegLike | boolean | false | Enables JPEG-like image preprocessing. This preprocessing step tries to map visually lossless areas to the lossless compressed domain if possible | | @filterStrength | int (0-100) | | Filter strength (between 0 (off) and 100) for the pre-processing step. The larger the value, the stronger the filtering | | @filterSharpness | int (0-7) | | Filter sharpness (between 0 (off) and 7) | | @filterStrong | boolean | false | Use strong filter | | @filterWeak | boolean | false | disable strong filter | | @exact | boolean | false | Preserve RGB values in transparent area | | @metadata | string | none | metadata to copy from the input to the output if present. Valid values: all, none, exif, icc, xmp | | @noAlpha | boolean | false | Discard any transparency information | | @sourceHint | string | | Hint for image type (photo, picture, graph) | | @verbose | boolean | false | return verbose output | | @timeout | int | 10 | Timeout in seconds for cfexecute to finish |

See Google's documentation for more details on encoding Webp images.

Decode Arguments

The following arguments are available when decoding an image:

Argument	Type	Default	Description
@source	String		Full path to the source file to convert
@destination	String		Full path to the output file
@cropX	int		Crop the source X-position
@cropY	int		Crop the source Y-position
@cropWidth	int		Crop the source width
@cropHeight	int		Crop the source height
@resizeWidth	int		Resize the source to the specified width
@resizeHeight	int		Resize the source to the specified height
flipImage	boolean	false	Flip the image vertically
@multiThreaded	boolean	true	Use multi-threading for encoding, if possible
@verbose	boolean	false	return verbose output
@timeout	int	10	Timeout in seconds for cfexecute to finish

See Google's Documentation for more details when decoding Webp images.

Info Arguments

The following arguments are available when getting information for an image:

Argument	Type	Default	Description
@source	String		Full path to the source file to evaluate

Known Issues

This module currently only works on Windows operating systems. If you have a Mac or Linux machine and would like to contribute, please feel free to submit a PR.

Future Development Roadmap

• Support Mac
• Support Linux
• Create more encode/decode tests using lossless/lossy advanced options

About the Author

This module was devotedly developed by Angry Sam Productions, a web design and development company based in California. We believe creating and contributing to open source software strenghens the development community and makes the world a better place. Please get in touch if you would like to learn more about our company or hire us for your next project.