While most of us have relatively fast internet these days, there are some parts of the world where slow internet speeds still exist. Well, slow relative to some other developed countries at least. That being said, compression tools can help with that by compressing the data on websites.
Google has created such an algorithm called Brotli and basically what it does is it helps shrink images, fonts, and other content, in the hopes that its smaller file sizes will result in speedier loading times. Brotli is actually the successor to Zopfli, another compression code from Google released a few years ago and according to Google, it is more efficient as well.
The best of it all is that Google wants to give Brotli’s code away to the public, meaning that developers who wish to help compress the internet into more manageable chunks can do so without having to come up with their own code. Of course this isn’t to say that Google’s code is the end all to all compression, but the fact that it is free makes it more compelling to developers, and also to those who are adventurous and just want to see what they can do without having to pay any kind of licensing fee.
Google engineer Zoltan Szabadka says in a blog post, “We hope that this format will be supported by major browsers in the near future as the smaller compressed size would give additional benefits to mobile users, such as lower data transfer fees and reduced battery use.”
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