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How to Optimize Imagesfor Website Performance without sacrificing Quality

Did you know that optimizing your images before uploading them to WordPress could have a significant impact on the speed of your site?

When you start a new blog many beginners simply upload images without optimizing them for the web. Images that are large can make your website slower.

It is possible to fix this issue by using photo optimizationbest techniques as part of your regular blogging routine.

With this article In this post, we will demonstrate how to optimize your images for faster web performance without sacrificing quality. Additionally, we will share automated optimization plugins for images. optimization tools for WordPress that can make your life easier.

Because this is a complete guide on image optimization for the web and mobile, we've developed an easy-to-follow table of content:

• What's the definition of image optimization? (optimized vs unoptimized images)
• Why is image optimization important? What are the benefits?
• How can you store and optimize images for web performance?
• Top image optimization tools and software
• The best picture optimization plugins for WordPress

What is Image Optimization? (Optimized vs Unoptimized Images)

Image optimization is a procedure of saving and providing images in the smallest possible file size , without compromising the overall quality of images.

Although it sounds like a complicated process although it's actually quite simple nowadays. You can make use of one of the many image optimization software and tools to instantly compress images up to 80% without any visible decrease in image quality.

Here's a good example of an optimized images versus unoptimized:

Like you see when optimized correctly, the same image may be 75% smaller than the original picture without any loss in quality.

What is Image Optimization work?

In simple terms simple terms, image optimization work by using compression techniques like "Lossy" and "Lossless" which reduces the overall size of the file, without noticeable loss of quality.

What is it to Optimize Images?

If you've ever been given an instruction to optimize images from your WordPress hosting team or a speed test tool, this means that you need to reduce the size of your photos by optimizing them for web.

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

While there are many benefits of optimizing images, below are the most significant ones you need to know:

• Website speed faster
• Improvements in SEO rankings
• Higher overall conversion rate for leads and sales
• A smaller amount of storage and bandwidth (which can reduce hosting and CDN cost)
• More efficient backups for websites (also reduces the cost of backup storage)

Other than video, images are the next most weighty element that a website page can host. From the HTTP archivedata, images comprise about 21% on average of the total weight of a website's.

As we all know that sites that are fast have higher rankings in search engines (SEO) and also have higher conversions in terms of image optimization is something that every website needs to do in order to be successful online.

Perhaps you are wondering how much of a difference is image optimization really make?

According to an Strangeloop study, a 1 second delay in the loading of websites could result in a loss of 7% of revenue, 11 percent less views, and a 16% lower satisfaction with customers.

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

By optimizing the images you upload for web this can improve website speed and 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 an effective images optimization for web performance is to find the best balance between the most compact file size and acceptable quality images.

The three elements that play a significant importance 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)

By choosing the right combination of all three, you could reduce your image's dimensions by up to 80 percent.

Let's examine each of these in more specifics.

1. Image File Format

For most website owners, the three primary image formats that truly require attention comprise JPEG, PNG, and GIF. Selecting the appropriate file type plays an important role in image optimization.

To simplify things To keep things simple, you should use JPEGs for photos and images that have a lot of colors. PNGs for images that are simple or when you require transparent images. You can also use GIF to only use animated images.

For those that don't know what the distinction is between each kind, the PNG format is not compressed which means it's a superior quality image. The drawback is that the file sizes are much larger.

However, JPEG is a compressed format, which reduces image quality to offer a considerably smaller size file.

The difference is that GIF only supports 256 colors and lossless compression. That makes it the ideal option to use animated pictures.

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

2. Compression

The next step is image compression, which plays a significant part for image optimization.

There are different types and levels of image compression that are available. The settings for each will differ based on the compression tool you use.

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

You can also save pictures in normal format and then use a web application like TinyPNG and JPEG Mini for easier image compression.

While it's somewhat manual but these two techniques allow you to compress your images prior to uploading them to WordPress as well, which is the process we employ on WPBeginner.

There are many other 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 corporations are using these images optimization plugins as it's quick and quick.

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

3. Image Dimensions

Normally, when you import a picture from your phone or a digital camera it will have a very high resolution and huge file dimensions (height as well as width).

Typically, these photos come with a resolution of 300 DPI and sizes that start at 2000 pixels and more. High-quality photos work well for desktop or print printing. They are not suitable for use on websites.

Making the file's dimensions less limiting can drastically reduce the size of the image file. You can easily resize images with an image editing program installed on your computer.

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

We decided to go with the Jpeg format because of larger compression. The dimensions were changed to 1200x795 pixels, and it reduced the image's size to 103 KB. That's 94% less than the original size.

Now that you know the three important factors in image optimization now let's have a take a look at various images optimization tools for website owners.

Best ImageOptimization Tools and Programs

Like we mentioned earlier, the majority of image editing software comes equipped with photo optimization and compression settings.

Outside of the image editing software there are numerous powerful , free image optimization tools you can make use of to improve images for websites (with just several clicks).

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

This method can help you save disc space from your WordPress hosting account and guarantees the fastest image with the best quality since you manually check each image.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a premium software with a feature that lets you save images that are optimized for web use. Simply open your image and select"File > Save to Web" "File >> Save for Web" option.

This will open an additional dialog box. On the right, you are able to choose various image formats. In the case of JPEG format, you'll get a range of quality options. If you choose your preferred options, it will also reveal the file's size in the lower left.

GIMP

GIMP is a free and open-source alternative to the popular Adobe Photoshop. It is a tool to optimize your images for the web. The drawback is that it is not as easy to implement as other alternatives on this list.

First, you need to open the image in GIMP then click on the File > Export As option. This will display the save file dialog box. Then, give the file a brand new name and click"Export Now.

Then, you will be presented with options for exporting images. For JPEG images, you can choose the compression setting to reduce the size of the file. Click on the export button to save the optimized image file.

TinyPNG

TinyPNG is a web-based application that employs a clever lossy compression technique that can reduce the dimensions of PNG files. All you need to do is visit their website and upload your pictures (simple drag & drop).

They compress the image and then provide you with the download URL. You can utilize their sister website TinyJPG which is for JPEG compressing images.

They also have another extension available for Adobe Photoshop which is what we use as part of our image editing workflow because it is a blend of TinyJPG and TinyPNG in Photoshop.

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

JPEG Mini

JPEGmini makes use of a lossless compression technique that significantly reduces the size of pictures without impacting their visual quality. You may also assess the quality of your original image with the compression image.

You can access their web version for no cost or buy the program for your computer. They also have a pay API that will automate the process to your servers.

ImageOptim

ImageOptim is a Mac utility that permits you image compression and compression that doesn't result in losing any quality. It can do this by locating the most effective compression parameters as well as getting rid of color profiles that aren't needed.

Windows alternatives to that are Trimage.

Best Image Optimization Plugins for WordPress

We believe that the most effective way to optimize your images is to do it prior to uploading them to WordPress. If, however, you operate the site of multiple authors or you require an easy solution then you can try the WordPress plugin for image compression.

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

1. Optimole - popular plugin by The developers 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 is a plugin made by the popular WP Rocket plugin team.
5. ShortPixel Image Optimizer
6. WP Smush
7. reSmush.it

Utilizing one of these WordPress image optimization plugins can improve the speed of your website.

Final Thoughts and Best Practices for Image Optimization

If you're not saving images optimized for the web, you must begin doing that today. It'll make an enormous difference on your site speed as well as your customers will be thankful for it.

Additionally, faster websites are excellent for SEO and you're likely to see an increase in your ranking on search engines.

Make use of this tool convert to png