Image Optimizer

compress-image

How to Optimize Imagesfor Website Performance without Losing Quality

Did you be aware that optimizing images before uploading them onto WordPress could have a huge impact on the speed of your website?

When you start a new blog lots of novices simply upload photos without making them web-friendly. These huge image files make your website more slow.

You can correct this by applying optimization of images. optimizationbest practices as part of your regular blog routine.

This article in this article, we will teach you how to optimize your photos for better websites without sacrificing quality. We will also provide automatic image optimization plug-ins designed for WordPress that will make your life easier.

Because this is a complete guide on image optimization for the web We've designed an easy to follow table of content:

• What exactly is optimization? (optimized and unoptimized images)
• Why is image optimization crucial? What are the advantages?
• How do I organize and save images for web performance?
• Best image optimization tools and programs
• The best Images optimization plug-ins to WordPress

What is Image Optimization? (Optimized vs Unoptimized Images)

Image optimization is a technique of saving and sharing images with the least file size while not reducing the overall quality of images.

While it may sound like a complex process It's actually very simple these days. One of the numerous image optimization tools and plugins that automate the compression of images by up to 80% without any visible degradation in image quality.

Here's an example of an optimized vs unoptimized image:

This is what you will see. if optimized correctly, the image can be 75% smaller than its original size without any degradation in quality.

How does Image Optimization function?

In simple terms in simple terms, image optimization uses compression technology , such as "Lossy" and "Lossless" which help to reduce the overall size of files without causing any loss of quality.

What is it to Optimize Images?

If you ever received an order to optimize your photos through your WordPress hosting support , or a speed tester tool, then all it means is that you should reduce the size of your photos by optimizing them for the web.

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

While there are many benefits in optimizing your image, these are the top benefits to be aware of:

• Speedier website loading
• Increased SEO rankings
• Higher overall conversion rate for sales and leads
• Reduced storage and bandwidth (which can cut hosting and CDN cost)
• Faster backups to websites (also reduces the cost of backup storage)

Outside of video, images are the second-heaviest items on a web page. Based on HTTP archivedata, photos account for around 21% of the total weight of a webpage.

As we have seen that faster websites get higher rankings on search engines (SEO) and are able to achieve better conversions as well, image optimization is something that every website needs to do for success online.

Now you might be wondering what impact could image optimization really make?

According to an Strangeloop study, a 1/second delay in website load time could cost you 7% or sales. Additionally, it can result in 11 percent less pageviews, and 16% decrease in customer satisfaction.

If none of these reasons are enough to speed up your website then you should know that search engines like Google provide preferential SEO treatment to websites that load faster.

That means that by optimizing your photos for the web that you can boost speed of your site as well as increase WordPress SEO rankings.

Video Tutorial

If you'd prefer written instructions, just keep reading.

How to Save and Optimize Images for Web Performance?

The key to an effective photo optimization on the web is to find the perfect compromise between the least file size and acceptable quality images.

The three aspects that play a crucial importance in optimization of images are: optimization are:

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

If you choose the best combination of the three, you can shrink your image size by up to 80%.

Let's go over each of them in more detail.

1. Image File Format

For most webmasters, the three primary image formats that truly need to be considered is JPEG, PNG, and GIF. The right choice of format can be crucial to image optimization.

To make things easy In order to keep things simple, use JPEGs for images or photos which have lots of colors. PNGs when you want simple images or for transparent images. You can also use GIF for animated images only.

For those that don't know the difference between each type, PNG image format is uncompressed . This means it's a better quality image. The downside is that file dimensions are larger.

On the other hand, JPEG is a compressed file format , which can slightly diminish the image quality to give a much smaller file size.

However, GIF uses only 256 colors and lossless compression. That makes it the best choice in animated image.

On WPBeginner, we use all three image formats based on the kind of image.

2. Compression

The second thing to consider is image compression which plays a huge part within image optimization.

There are various types and levels of compression that are available. The settings for each will depend on the image compressing tool you select.

The majority of image editing software like Adobe Photoshop, On1 Photo, GIMP, Affinity Photo and others are equipped with built-in features to compress images.

You can also save pictures in normal format and then make use of a website tool like TinyPNG or JPEG Mini for easier image compression.

Though it's a little manual the two methods will allow users to compress images before uploading the images to WordPress that's what we do on WPBeginner.

There are also several popular WordPress plugins, such as Optimole, EWWW Image Optimizer, and others that can automatically compress images when they are uploaded for the first time. Many beginners and even large companies choose to utilize these image optimization plugins due to the fact that it is simple and convenient.

We'll go over more of these WordPress plugins in the next article.

3. Image Dimensions

Normally the moment you import a picture from your phone , or digital camera, it comes with an extremely high resolution and the dimensions of the file are large (height and width).

The majority of these photos have an average resolution of 300 DPI and sizes ranging from 2000 pixels and higher. These high-quality photos are well-suited for desktop or print publishing. These images are not appropriate for use on websites.

Reduced file size to something more acceptable can dramatically decrease the size of your images. It is easy to resize images using an image editor software on your computer.

We optimized, for instance, a photo with 1.8 megabytes of original file size as well as 300 DPI resolution, and dimensions of 4900x3200 pixels.

We decided to use the jpeg format for larger compression. The dimensions were changed to 1200x795 inches, and it reduced the image file size to 103 KB. This is 94% smaller than the original file size.

Now that you've identified the three main factors involved in image optimization now let's have a to look into various images optimization tools for owners of websites.

Best ImageOptimization Tools and Programs

As we've mentioned before, the majority of image editing software comes featuring image optimization and compression settings.

In addition to the image editing software, there are also several useful and powerful image optimization tools that you can use to optimize your photos for web usage (with just two clicks).

We suggest using these tools to optimize images before you upload them to WordPress, specially if you are a perfectionist.

This approach helps you conserve disk space on your WordPress hosting account and also guarantees the fastest image with the highest quality as you manually go through each image.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a premium software that comes with the ability to save images optimized for the web. Open your image and select the "File >> Save for Web" option.

This will open an additional dialog box. To the right, you can choose different image formats. For JPEG format, you will get a range of quality options. Once you've selected the options, it will also give you the size of the image at the bottom left.

GIMP

GIMP is a no-cost and open source alternative to Adobe Photoshop. It can be used to enhance your photos for online use. The downside is that it's not as simple to use as some other methods on this list.

The first step is to open the image within GIMP and then select File > Export as option. This will bring up the dialog box for saving your file. Create a new name and then click on"export.

This will bring up options to export images. In the case of JPEG files you can choose the compression level to reduce the size of the file. Then, click"Export" button in order to save optimized images.

TinyPNG

TinyPNG is a free online application that utilizes a lossy compression method to reduce sizes of PNG files. All you have to do is go to their site and upload your pictures (simple drag and drop).

They will compress the image and provide you with a download link. It is possible to use their companion site, TinyJPG, for JPEG picture compression.

They also have one extension that works with Adobe Photoshop that we employ as part of our image editing process since it brings together the best features of TinyPNG and TinyJPG inside Photoshop.

For developers, they've got an API that can convert images in a way that is automatic, and for beginners , they have a WordPress plugin that can automatically complete the task for you (more on this later).

JPEG Mini

JPEGmini is a lossless compression technique that reduces the size of images but without altering their perception. You can also compare the quality of the original image and the compressed image.

You can use their web version for no cost or purchase the application to run on your personal computer. There is also a paid API to automate the process that your server uses.

ImageOptim

ImageOptim is an Mac application that allows you image compression and compression that doesn't result in losing any quality by finding the best compression parameters . It also helps in getting rid of color profiles that aren't needed.

Windows Alternative to this Trimage.

Best Image Optimization Plugins for WordPress

The best way to optimize your images is to prepare them before uploading them to WordPress. But, if you're running a multi-author site or need an automatized solution then you can try an WordPress image compression plugin.

Here is our list of the top WordPress compressors for images:

1. Optimole the most popular plugin from the group behind ThemeIsle.
2. EWWW Image Optimizer
3. Compress JPEG & PNG images using the plugin developed by the TinyPNG team. It is mentioned above in the article.
4. Imagify - a plugin created by the well-known WP Rocket plugin team.
5. ShortPixel Image Optimizer
6. WP Smush
7. reSmush.it

Using any from these WordPress image optimization plugins will allow you to speed up your website.

Final Thoughts and Best Practices for Image Optimization

If you're not saving images optimized for the web, you should start doing this immediately. It'll make a massive impact on the speed of your website as well as your customers will be thankful for it.

Additionally, faster websites are ideal for SEO, and you'll likely notice an increase in your ranking on search engines.

make use of this tool convert to png