Image Optimizer

compress-image

How can you optimize Images for Web Performance without sacrificing Quality

Did you consider optimizing your photos before uploading to WordPress can have a major impact on the speed of your website?

When creating a blog, lots of novices simply upload photos without optimizing them for the web. Large image files can make your site slow.

This can be fixed by using images optimization best methods as part of your routine blog routine.

In this article in this article, we will show you how to optimize your images for faster web performance without sacrificing quality. We will also provide automatic picture optimization software for WordPress that will make life easier.

Since this is a thorough guide on image optimization for web and mobile, we've developed an easy-to-follow table of contents:

• What is image optimization? (optimized contrasted with unoptimized)
• What makes image optimization crucial? What are the benefits?
• How can I organize and save images for web performance?
• Top image optimization tools and programs
• Best Image optimization plug-ins to WordPress

What is Image Optimization? (Optimized vs Unoptimized Images)

Image optimization is a procedure of saving and providing images in the smallest possible image size, while not diminishing the quality of the image overall.

Although the process may sound complicated however, it's really quite simple nowadays. You can make use of one of the many image optimization tools and plugins to automate the compression of images by up to 80% with any noticeable decrease in image quality.

Here's a good example of an optimized as compared to unoptimized.

As you can see, if properly optimized, the same image may be 75 percent smaller than the original , without any loss of quality.

How does Image Optimization function?

In simple words images optimization uses compression technology like "Lossy" and "Lossless" which reduces the overall size of files without causing any loss in quality.

What does it mean to optimize Images?

If you ever received an order to optimize your photos through your WordPress hosting service or an instrument for speed testing, this means that you should reduce the file size of your images by optimizing them for web.

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

While there are many benefits from optimizing your images here are the top ones to be aware of:

• Speedier website loading
• Increased SEO rankings
• Conversion rates that are higher for leads and sales
• Lower storage and bandwidth (which could reduce hosting costs and CDN cost)
• Faster backups to websites (also reduces the cost for backup storage)

Apart from video, images are the next heaviest item on a webpage. In accordance with HTTP archives, the images account for approximately 21% of the total weight of a website's.

Since we know fast websites are more popular in search engines (SEO) and achieve higher conversion rates and image optimization is a must for every business website must do should they wish to make a mark online.

Now , you may be asking what difference does image optimization actually create?

According to the findings of a Strangeloop study, one-second delay in the speed of loading your website could cost you 7% from sales. This is amounted to 11% less pageviews, and a 16% drop in satisfaction among customers.

If these aren't enough motivations to speed up the loading time of your site, then you should know that search engines such as Google are also giving preferential SEO preference to faster-loading sites.

That means that by optimizing your images for web that you can boost the speed of your website as well as boost 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 success in optimization of images for optimization in order to optimize web-based performance, is to find the optimal balance between lowest file size and acceptable image quality.

The three elements which play an integral role in the process of image optimization are:

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

When you pick the appropriate combination of these three, you can shrink your image's size by up to 80 percent.

Let's examine each of them in greater details.

1. Image File Format

Most website owners will agree that the only three images formats that really matter comprise JPEG, PNG, and GIF. The choice of the correct file format is crucial for image optimization.

To keep things simple For simplicity, it is recommended to use JPEGs for photos and images with lots of colors, PNGs for simple images or when you need transparent images. You can also use GIF for animated images only.

For those that don't know the distinction between each file type, the format of PNG images is uncompressed . This means it is a higher quality image. The drawback is that the file sizes are considerably larger.

However, JPEG is a compressed file format which slightly reduces image quality in order to deliver a substantially smaller file size.

Whereas GIF uses only 256 colors together with lossless compression, which makes it the best choice with regard to animation images.

On WPBeginner we employ all three image formats , based on the type of image.

2. Compression

The second thing to consider is image compression, which plays an enormous part within image optimization.

There are different kinds and levels of image compression that are available. These settings will differ based upon the image compression tool you choose to use.

The majority of image-editing tools like Adobe Photoshop, On1 Photo, GIMP, Affinity Photo and others include built-in image compression capabilities.

You are also able to save images using a web tool like TinyPNG or JPEG Mini for easier image compression.

While it's somewhat manual both methods allow you to compress your images prior to uploading the images to WordPress, and this is what we do with WPBeginner.

There are also several popular WordPress plugins, such as Optimole, EWWW Image Optimizer and many more that automatically compress images once you first upload them. A lot of beginners and even large corporations prefer to use these image optimization plugins due to their ease of use and convenient.

We will share more about these WordPress plugins in the following article.

3. Image Dimensions

Normally, the moment you import a picture from your phone or a digital camera, it has an extremely high resolution as well as large file dimensions (height as well as width).

In general, these photos have an average resolution of 300 DPI and sizes that start at 2000 pixels and higher. These high-quality photos are well-suited for print or desktop publishing. These images are not appropriate for websites.

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

As an example, we have optimized photos with 1.8 megabytes of original file size and 300 DPI resolution, and image dimensions of 4900x3200 pixels.

We went with the JPEG format for greater compression. We also changed the dimensions to 1200x795 pixels, and it reduced the file size to 103KB. That's 94% less than the original file size.

Once you've mastered the three important factors in image optimization we can take a look at various image optimization tools that website owners can use.

Best ImageOptimization Tools and Programs

As we mentioned earlier, most image editing software come including image optimization along with compression and image optimization settings.

In addition to the editing software for images, there are other useful and powerful image optimization tools that you can utilize to make your images more attractive for the websites (with only two clicks).

We suggest making use of these tools to improve images before uploading them to WordPress particularly if you are the type of person who is obsessed with perfection.

This approach helps you conserve storage space in your WordPress hosting account, as well as guaranteeing speedy images with best quality since you have to manually review every image.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a premium software that comes with the capability of saving images that are optimized for the web. Simply open your image and click on"File > Save to Web" "File >> Save for Web" option.

It will open a new dialog box. To the right, it is possible to select various image formats. In the case of JPEG format, you will be able to select different quality options. When you select your options, it will also reveal the file's size on 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. Its disadvantage is that it is not as easy to use as some other methods on this list.

To begin, open the image in GIMP and then click File >> Export as option. Then, you will be presented with the save file dialog box. Change the file's name, and then click"export.

This will show options to export images. When you export JPEGs, you can select the compression option to reduce the size of the file. In the end, you can click on the export button to save the optimized image file.

TinyPNG

TinyPNG is a completely free web app that uses a smart lossy compression method to reduce the dimensions of PNG files. All you need to do is visit their site and upload your pictures (simple drag & drop).

They compress the image and send you a download URL. It is possible to use their companion web site called TinyJPG in order to get JPEG picture compression.

There is also Extensions for Adobe Photoshop which is what we utilize as part of our image editing workflow because it blends the best aspects of TinyJPG with TinyPNG within Photoshop.

For developers, they've got an API that allows you to convert images automatically. For beginners , they provide the WordPress plugin that can automatically convert images for you (more on this later).

JPEG Mini

JPEGmini utilizes lossless compression technique that significantly reduces the size of images without impairing their quality of perception. You can also compare the quality of the original image with the compression image.

You can use their web version for free or buy the program for your computer. They also have a paid API to automate the process that your server uses.

ImageOptim

ImageOptim is a Mac software that allows you the compression of images with no sacrificing any quality, by locating the best compression parameters , and taking out unnecessary color profiles.

Windows alternatives to that are Trimage.

Best Image Optimization Plugins for WordPress

The best way to improve the quality of your images is to do it prior to uploading images to WordPress. However, if you run a multi-author website or need an efficient solution then you could try an WordPress image compression plugin.

Below is our selection of the best WordPress compressors of images.

1. Optimole is a well-known plugin created by The developers behind ThemeIsle.
2. EWWW Image Optimizer
3. Compress JPEG and PNG images using the plugin developed by the TinyPNG team, which is mentioned in the article.
4. Imagify is a plugin developed by the well-known WP Rocket plugin team.
5. ShortPixel Image Optimizer
6. WP Smush
7. reSmush.it

Utilizing one among these WordPress image optimization plugins can make your website faster.

Final Thoughts and Best Practices for Image Optimization

If you aren't saving images that are optimized for web, then it's time to do so today. It'll make an enormous difference on your site speed, and your users will thank you for it.

Furthermore, speedier websites are ideal for SEO and you will likely see an increase in your ranking on search engines.

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