Firefox no longer supports LiteSpeed's webp Replacement of Cache Plugin for WordPress

LiteCache

LiteCache

Active Member
#1
#1
This news is not OLS related, but many OLS users use the cache plugin for WordPress.

The issue is that Firefox changes HTTP Accept Header values. Before version 129 the accept header was:
Code: 
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/avif,image/webp,image/png,image/svg+xml,*/*;q=0.8
Since version 129 the accept header is:
Code: 
Accept:text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
LiteSpeed cache plugin for WordPress checks the accept header to define a cache vary rewrite rule in .htaccess if image/webp value exists in accept header string. If this value doesn't exist the user gets standard image displayed. This was/is especially true for iphone users if they have Safari browser version < 13 installed, but the change to the Firefox browser makes Firefox work like an outdated Safari browser on iphone. Means Firefox loads jpg|png images instead of webp images since there is no replacement although FF supports webp images.

Solution 1:
Wait for cache plugin update that has to be updated since 4 months to fix it.

Solution 2:
Use the AWR plugin. The AWR plugin not only provides a fix for this issue, but makes the LiteSpeed cache plugin also avif ready and images can be converted on own server instead of quic.cloud. Check it out: https://www.cachecrawler.com/WP-Plu...e-Conversion-for-LiteSpeed-LScache::6574.html
 
Last edited:
LiteCache

LiteCache

Active Member
#4
#4
LiteSpeed offers the conversion of avif images with version 7.0 of the cache plugin. This is a long-overdue feature. Especially since avif has significantly better compression, which can reduce the file size of avif images by up to 50% compared to webp images. But is the conversion of avif images really that big a deal? In principle, yes, but not in the case of LiteSpeed or quic.cloud.

There was already a major problem with webp images when using the Firefox browser because Mozilla changed the Accept header. This change resulted in the LiteSpeed Cache plugin for WordPress treating the Firefox browser like the Safari browser < version 13. This means that Firefox users have not been able to see webp images since version 131 of FF.

The update to version 7.0 of the cache plugin has made this problem worse. Although an attempt was made to take the FF version into account, this attempt failed miserably. Instead of defining version-dependent support for the supported image formats in the .htaccess file for cache vary, a blanket modRewrite rule was defined that stipulates that all Firefox versions >= 65 would support webp and avif images. Firefox supports the webp format starting with version 65, but this does not apply to the avif format. Firefox has only supported the avif format since version 93. This means that FF users with versions <= 93 will no longer see any images because the aforementioned modRewrite rule uses cache vary for avif images.

One could overlook the fact that it is almost unlikely that very outdated FF versions will continue to be used, but the inadequate definition of cache vary also has consequences for current FF versions. Mozilla provides a workaround via about:config. This workaround allows you to reset the Accept header to its original state, thus behaving like Chrome or any other browser. However, this workaround has consequences because the modRewrite rules for cache varying do not take this workaround into account. As a result, an additional cache copy of a URL is created, whose cache cannot be warmed up because the cache plugin is unaware of or does not support this state.

The truly fatal issue is that since version 7.0, the cache plugin no longer allows changes to LiteSpeed-relevant entries in the .htaccess file. If you attempt to manually correct/improve the inadequate modRewrite rules, these changes are automatically reset!

The modRewrite rules in particular have been a major vulnerability since the cache plugin's first day, leading to incorrect cache copies. I tried to alert support about this bug for several years, but they not only ignored me, but also kicked me from LiteSpeed's Slack, which once again demonstrates that LiteSpeed has a problem with criticism.

Now, the problem with the insufficient Cache Vary in the .htaccess has been clearly identified, but resolved by a further deterioration, but silently and without mentioning this significant change in the changelog. Furthermore, they also failed to acknowledge me as the authoritative reporter of this huge bug, which still exists!

If the LiteSpeed Cache plugin for WordPress and every other LiteSpeed Cache plugin were programmed as poorly as LSWS or OLS, LSWS or OLS would have ceased to exist long ago! The poor programming of the Cache plugin for WordPress can only be explained by the fact that this plugin is not programmed by LiteSpeed, but by an external developer!
 
LiteCache

LiteCache

Active Member
#6
#6
Cold-Egg said:
Hi @LiteCache
Post LSCWP-related issues here won't help. Please raise an issue on LSCWP GitHub if you think there's a bug, or send a PR regarding https://github.com/litespeedtech/lscache_wp/blob/master/src/htaccess.cls.php
Click to expand...
I started this thread in this forum and am ending it in this forum. However, it's up to you to delete this thread if you believe it violates forum rules. I will definitely not comply with your request to publish this topic on LSCWP Github. Why should I? LiteSpeed generally ignores any criticism, bug reports, or suggestions for improvements, so it would be a waste of time to devote resources to pointing out a bug.
 
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