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How can you optimize Images for web performance, without sacrificing Quality

Did you realize that optimizing your images prior to uploading them to WordPress will have a huge impact on speed of your website?

When making a blog for the first time, many novices upload pictures without making them web-friendly. These large image files make your website slow.

It is possible to fix this issue by employing Image optimization best techniques in your daily blog routine.

Within this article, we will teach you how to optimize your images for speedier website performance, without sacrificing quality. Additionally, we will share automated photo optimization tools for WordPress which can make your life easy.

Since this is a complete guide to image optimization for the web we've created an easy-to-follow table of contents:

• What exactly is optimization? (optimized images vs. images that aren't optimized)
• Why is image optimization crucial? What are the benefits?
• How can I conserve and optimize images for web performance?
• Best image optimization tools and software
• The top photo optimization plugins for WordPress

What is Image Optimization? (Optimized vs Unoptimized Images)

Image optimization is the method of saving and delivering images with the smallest file size without reducing the overall quality of the image.

Although the process may sound complicated however, it's really quite simple today. You can utilize one of the many image optimization applications and tools that automatically compress images by up to 80% without any visible reduction in image quality.

Here's an example that shows optimized as compared to unoptimized.

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

What is Image Optimization work?

In simple terms images optimization work by using compression technology such as "Lossy" and "Lossless" which can reduce overall size of the file, without noticeable loss in quality.

What does it mean to optimize Images?

If you ever received the suggestion to optimize your images from your WordPress hosting support or by the speed test tool then it is that you have to decrease the file size of your photos by optimizing them for the web.

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

There are many advantages of optimizing images, below are the top ones worth knowing:

• Faster website speed
• Increased SEO rankings
• Higher overall conversion rate for sales and leads
• Less storage and bandwidth (which can reduce hosting and CDN cost)
• More efficient backups for websites (also lowers costs for backup storage)

Apart from video, images are the next most weighty element on a webpage. From the HTTP archive the images account for an average of 21% of a total webpage's weight.

As we have seen that faster websites perform better in search engine results (SEO) and experience better conversions images optimization is something that all websites must implement if they want to succeed online.

Perhaps you are wondering how much of a difference could image optimization actually make?

According to a Strangeloop study, a 1/second delay in loading time for websites will cost you 7% from sales. This is amounted to 11% fewer pageviews, as well as a 16% less satisfaction from customers.

If none of these reasons are enough to speed up the loading time of your site it is important to understand that search engines such as Google offer a preferential SEO for faster loading sites.

By optimizing your web-friendly images that you can boost website speed and boost WordPress SEO positions.

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 that is optimized for performance on websites is finding the ideal balance between lowest file size and acceptable image quality.

The three elements that play a huge influence on image 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 these three options, you can decrease your images' size by up 80%.

Let's examine each of them in greater details.

1. Image File Format

For the majority of webmasters, the three primary image file formats that need to be considered include JPEG, PNG, and GIF. Picking the right type of file is crucial for image optimization.

To keep things simple It is best to use JPEGs for photos or images with lots of colors, PNGs for basic images or for transparent images. You can also use GIF to only use animated images.

For those who aren't aware of what the distinction is between each kind, the PNG format is uncompressed . This means it's a superior quality image. The downside is that PNG file sizes are significantly larger.

On the other hand, JPEG is a compressed format that can reduce image quality to create a significantly smaller file size.

And GIF only uses 256 colors and lossless compression. This makes it the ideal choice for animated images.

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

2. Compression

The second thing to consider is image compression that plays an essential role within image optimization.

There are several types and levels of image compression that are available. Each of the parameters will differ based on the image compressing tool you select.

Most image editing tools like Adobe Photoshop, On1 Photo, GIMP, Affinity Photo and many others have built-in image compression capabilities.

You could also save your images in the normal way or use a web tool like TinyPNG or JPEG Mini for easier image compression.

Although it's quite manual, these two methods allow you to compress your images prior to uploading the images to WordPress which is the method we use on WPBeginner.

There are also a variety of popular WordPress plugins, such as Optimole, EWWW Image Optimizer and others that automatically compress images when they are uploaded for the first time. A lot of beginners and even large corporations use these image optimization plugins due to their ease of use to use and is convenient.

We'll talk more about these WordPress plugins later in the article.

3. Image Dimensions

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

In general, these photos have resolutions of 300 DPI and sizes that start at 2000 pixels and higher. These high-quality photographs are great for desktop or print printing. These images are not appropriate for use on websites.

Reduced file size to something more reasonable can significantly decrease the size of images. You can simply resize images by using an image editing program on your personal computer.

In this case, we optimized a photo with 1.8 megabytes of original file size and 300 DPI resolution, and dimensions of 4900x3200 pixels.

The format we chose was jpeg for greater compression. We also changed the dimensions to 1200x795 pixel, and it reduced the file size to 103 KB. That's 94% less than the original size.

Now that you've identified the three key elements in image optimization we can take 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 compress settings.

Beyond the software for editing images, there are many powerful free image optimization tools that you could use to optimize images for web usage (with only the click of a button).

We recommend making use of these tools to improve images before uploading them to WordPress, specially if you are an perfectionist.

This method can help you save storage space in your WordPress hosting account, and it guarantee your image is the most speedy and has the top quality, as you manually check every image.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a premium software that comes equipped with a feature for saving images that are optimized for the web. Simply open the image, then click on"File > Save to Web" "File >> Save for Web" option.

The new dialog box. On the rightside, you can set different image formats. For JPEG format, you'll have a variety of quality options. When you select the quality option the program will give you the size of the image at the bottom left.

GIMP

GIMP is a no-cost and open-source alternative to the popular Adobe Photoshop. It is a tool to make your images more attractive for use on the internet. However, it's not as straightforward to use as some other options listed on this list.

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

This will bring up options to export images. When you export JPEGs, you can select the compression option to reduce file size. After that, press"export" to save your optimized file.

TinyPNG

TinyPNG is a completely free web application that employs a clever lossy compression method to reduce in size your PNG images. All you have to do is visit their site and upload your photos (simple drag and drop).

They compress the image, they will give you the download URL. You can also use their sister web site called TinyJPG which is for JPEG Image compression.

There is also the extension Adobe Photoshop that we use as part of our image editing process since it blends the best aspects of TinyJPG with TinyPNG within Photoshop.

For developers, they offer an API that allows you to convert images in a way that is automatic, and for those who are new to the field, they offer a WordPress plugin that will complete the task for you (more on this later).

JPEG Mini

JPEGmini is a lossless compression process that drastically reduces the size of pictures without having an impact on their visual quality. You can also compare the quality of the original image and the compressed image.

You can try their web version for no cost or buy the software to run on your personal computer. They also offer a paid API that will automate the process in your website's server.

ImageOptim

ImageOptim is a Mac application that allows you to compress images without sacrificing any quality. It does this by finding the best compression parameters . It also helps in eliminating color profiles that are not needed.

Windows Alternative to this Trimage.

Best Image Optimization Plugins for WordPress

We believe that the most efficient way to optimize your images is by doing it before uploading them to WordPress. However, if you run multi-author websites or require an automatized solution then it is possible to use an WordPress image compression plugin.

Below is a list of the best WordPress compressors for images:

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

Using any or all of the WordPress image optimization plugins will help improve the speed of your website.

Final Thoughts and Best Practices for Image Optimization

If you're not saving images optimized for the web, then it's time to do so today. This will make a major impact on the speed of your website and users will be thankful for it.

In addition, faster websites are better for SEO, and you'll likely experience an increase in your ranking on search engines.

Make use of this tool: convert to png