Since July 2026, property photos on HomeRunner-powered websites are delivered in WebP format.
WebP is a modern image format supported by every current browser. The same photo in WebP is typically 30 to 55 percent smaller than its JPEG equivalent, so galleries and property pages load noticeably faster, especially on mobile connections.
How it works #
HomeRunner sites route property photos through our image delivery service. The service fetches the original photo from your PMS and resizes it to fit the page. Before sending it to the visitor’s browser, it converts the file to WebP.
The conversion happens at delivery time. Your original photos, whether they live in your PMS or your WordPress media library, are never modified.
What you need to do #
Nothing. The conversion runs on our image servers and applies to every HomeRunner site automatically. No plugin update or settings change is required.
Sites running the HomeRunner Image Optimizer plugin version 1.4.0 or newer also mark the WebP format explicitly in each image URL. The result is the same either way.
Common questions #
Will visitors on older browsers see broken images?
No. Every major browser has supported WebP since 2020.
Do my original photos change?
No. Conversion happens when the image is served. The files you uploaded stay exactly as they are.
When does my site switch over?
New and freshly loaded images are served as WebP right away. Photos that were already cached as JPEG keep serving from cache until they expire and refresh on their own, typically within a week.
Does this affect SEO?
Smaller images improve load-time metrics such as Largest Contentful Paint, which is part of Google’s page experience signals.