Optimize Images in wordpress

Did you recognize that optimizing your images before uploading to WordPress can have an enormous impact on your website speed?
When starting a replacement blog, many beginners simply upload images without optimizing them for the web. These large image files make your website slower.
You can fix this by using image optimization best practices as a part of your regular blogging routine.
 

In this article, we'll show you ways to optimize your images for faster web performance without losing quality. we'll also share automatic image optimization plugins for WordPress which will make your life easy.

What is Image Optimization? (Optimized vs Unoptimized Images)

Image optimization may be a process of saving and delivering images within the smallest possible file size without reducing the general image quality.
While the method sounds complex, it’s actually quite easy lately . you'll use one among the various image optimization plugins and tools to automatically compress images by up to 80% with none visible loss in image quality.

Also Read: Top 5 Software Tools a Web Developer Should Have

How does Image Optimization work?

In simple terms, image optimization work by using compression technology like “Lossy” and “Lossless” which helps reduce the general file size with none noticeable loss of quality.

What does it mean to Optimize Images?

If you ever received a recommendation to optimize images by your WordPress hosting support or by a speed test tool, then all it means is that you simply got to reduce file size of your images by optimizing them for website.

Why is Image Optimization Important? What are the advantages of Image Optimization?

While there are many benefits of optimizing your images, below are the highest ones that you simply should know:

• Faster website speed
• Improved SEO rankings
• Higher overall conversion rate for sales and leads
• Less bandwidth  & storage (which can reduce hosting and CDN cost)
• Faster website backups (also reduces the cost of backup storage)

Outside of video, images are subsequent heaviest item on an internet page. consistent with HTTP archive, images structure on the average 21% of a complete webpage’s weight.
Since we all know fast websites rank higher in search engines (SEO) and have better conversions, image optimization are some things that each business website must do if they need to succeed online.

Also Read: Comments On Dynamically created Pages in WordPress

Now you would possibly be wondering how big of a difference can image optimization really make?
 

According to a Strangeloop study, a one-second delay in website load time can cost you 7% of sales, 11% fewer page views, and a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction.
If these aren’t enough reasons to hurry up your website, then you ought to know that search engines like Google also give preferential SEO treatment to faster loading websites.
This means that by optimizing your images for web, you'll both improve website speed and boost WordPress SEO rankings.

How to Optimize Images for Web Performance?

The key to successful image optimization for web performance is to seek out the right balance between lowest file size and acceptable image quality.
The three things that play an enormous role in image optimization are:

• Image file format (JPEG vs PNG vs GIF)
• Compression (Higher compression = smaller file size)
• Image Dimensions (height and width)

By choosing the proper combination of the three, you'll reduce your image size by up to 80%.
 

Let’s take a glance at each of those in additional detail.

1. Image File Format

For most website owners, the sole three image file formats that basically matter are JPEG, PNG, and GIF. Choosing the proper file type plays a crucial role in image optimization.
To keep things simple, you would like to use JPEGs for photos or images with many colors, PNGs for easy images or once you need transparent images, and GIF for animated images only.
 

For those that don’t know the difference between each file type, PNG image format is uncompressed which suggests it's a better quality image. The downside is that file sizes are much larger.
 

On the opposite hand, JPEG may be a compressed file format which slightly reduces image quality so as to supply a significantly smaller file size.
Whereas GIF only uses 256 colors alongside lossless compression which makes it the simplest choice for animated images.
 

On WPBeginner, we use all three image formats that supported the sort of image.

2. Compression

The next thing is compression which plays an enormous role in image optimization. There are different types and levels of compression available. The settings for every will vary counting on the compression tool you employ . Most image editing tools like Adobe Photoshop, On1 Photo, GIMP, Affinity Photo, et al. accompany built-in compression features.
 

You can also save images normally then use an internet tool like TinyPNG or JPEG Mini for easier compression .
 

Although it’s a touch manual, these two methods allow you to compress images before uploading them to WordPress, and this is often what we do on WPBeginner.
 

There also are several popular WordPress plugins like Optimole, EWWW Image Optimizer, et al. which will automatically compress images once you first upload them. Many beginners and even large corporations like better to use these image optimization plugins because it’s easy and convenient.
 

We will share more about these WordPress plugins later in this article.

Also Read: How To Add a Portfolio In WordPress Website Page Using Envira 

3. Image Dimensions

Normally, once you import a photograph from your phone or a camera , it's a really high resolution and enormous file dimensions (height and width).
 

Typically, these photos have a resolution of 300 DPI and dimensions ranging from 2000 pixels and more. These high-quality photos are well-suited for print or publication . They're not suitable for websites.
 

Reducing file dimensions to more reasonable can significantly reduce image file size. you'll simply resize images using a picture editing software on your computer.
 

For example, we optimized a photograph with 1.8 MB original file size, 300 DPI resolution, and image dimensions of 4900×3200 pixels.
 

We chose jpeg format for higher compression and altered dimensions to 1200×795 pixels, and it reduced the image file size to 103 KB. That’s 94% but the first file size.
 

Now that you simply know the three important factors in image optimization, let’s take a glance at various image optimization tools for website owners.

Best Image Optimization Tools and Programs

As we mentioned earlier, most image editing software accompany image optimization and compression settings.
Outside of the image editing software, there also are several powerful free image optimization tools that you simply can use to optimize images for web (with just a couple of clicks).
 

We recommend using these tools to optimize images before you upload them to WordPress, specially if you're a perfectionist.
 

This method helps you save disc space on your WordPress hosting account, and it guarantee the fastest image with the simplest quality since you manually review each image.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop may be a premium software that comes with a feature to save lots of images optimized for the online . Simply open your image and click on on the “File » but Web” option.
 

This will open a replacement panel . On the proper , you'll set different image formats. For JPEG format, you'll see different quality options. once you select your options, it'll also show you the file size on rock bottom left.

GIMP

GIMP may be a free and open source alternative to popular Adobe Photoshop. It are often wont to optimize your images for the online . The downside is that it's not as easy to use as another solutions on this list.
 

First, you would like to open your image in GIMP then select File » Export As option. this may mention the save file panel . Give your file a replacement name then click on the export button.
 

This will mention image export options. For jpeg files, you'll select the compression level to scale back file size. Finally, click on the export button to save lots of the optimized image file.

JPEG Mini

JPEGmini uses a lossless compression technology which significantly reduces the dimensions of images without affecting their perceptual quality. you'll also compare the standard of your original image and therefore the compressed image.
 

You can use their web version for free of charge , or purchase the program for your computer. They even have a paid API to automate the method for your server.

ImageOptim

ImageOptim may be a Mac utility that permits you to compress images without losing any quality by finding the simplest compression parameters and removing unnecessary color profiles.

Best Image Optimization Plugins for WordPress

We believe that the simplest thanks to optimize your images is by doing it before uploading them to WordPress. However, if you run a multi-author site or need an automatic solution, then you'll try a WordPress compression plugin.

Also Read: Wordpress and Gutenberg August 2020 Update

Below is our list of the simplest WordPress compression plugins:

1. Optimole – popular plugin by the team behind ThemeIsle.
2. EWWW Image Optimizer
3. Compress JPEG & PNG images – plugin by TinyPNG team mentioned above within the article.
4. Imagify – plugin by the favored WP Rocket plugin team.
5. ShortPixel Image Optimizer
6. WP Smush
7. reSmush.it

Using any of those WordPress image optimization plugin will assist you speed up your website.

Final Thoughts and Best Practices for Image Optimization

If you’re not saving images optimized for web, then you would like to start out doing so now. it'll make an enormous difference on your site speed, and your users will many thanks for it.
 

Not to mention, faster websites are great for SEO, and you'll likely see a rise in your program rankings.
 

Outside of image optimization, the 2 things which will significantly assist you speed up your website is employing a WordPress caching plugin and employing a WordPress CDN.
 

Alternatively, you'll use a managed WordPress hosting company because they often offer both caching and CDN as a part of the platform.

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