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How can you optimize Imagesfor Web Performance without sacrificing Quality

Did you think about optimizing your images before uploading to WordPress can have a huge impact on your website speed?

When beginning a new blog lots of novices simply upload photos without optimizing them for the web. These huge image files make your website's performance slow.

This can be fixed by making use of the image optimizationbest practices as part of your regular blogging routine.

In this article in this article, we will teach you how to optimize your images for speedier website performance, without sacrificing quality. We will also provide automatic images optimization software for WordPress that can make your life easy.

As this is a comprehensive guide on image optimization for web and mobile, we've developed 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 you organize and save images for web performance?
• The best image optimization tools and software
• Best Images optimization plug-ins to WordPress

What is Image Optimization? (Optimized vs Unoptimized Images)

Image optimization is the method of saving and delivering images with the smallest image size, while not diminishing the overall quality of the image.

While the process sounds complex the process is actually fairly easy these days. You can utilize one of the numerous image optimization tools and plugins to instantly compress images up to 80% with any noticeable diminution in quality.

Here's a good example of an optimized and unoptimized image

Like you see when optimized properly , the same image could be 75% smaller than the original image without any loss of quality.

How does Image Optimization function?

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

What does it mean to Optimize Images?

If you ever received an offer to optimize images by your WordPress hosting support team or the speed test tool what it all means is that you must reduce the size of your images by optimizing them for the web.

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

There are many advantages of optimizing your pictures, below are some of the best that you should know:

• Faster speed of website
• Enhanced SEO rankings
• More efficient overall conversion rate for sales and leads
• Reduced storage and bandwidth (which could lower hosting and CDN cost)
• Faster website backups (also decreases the cost of backup storage)

In addition to video, images represent the next biggest weight that a website page can host. The HTTP archive says that according to HTTP archive images comprise around 21% of the total weight of a website's.

Because we are aware that websites that are speedy rank higher in search engines (SEO) and experience better conversion rates, image optimization is something all websites must implement in order to grow online.

You might be thinking what difference can image optimization really make?

According to the findings of a Strangeloop study, a 1/second delay in the speed of loading your website could cost you 7% of revenue, 11 percent fewer pageviewsand a 16 percent less satisfaction from customers.

If these aren't enough motivations to speed up the loading time of your site you need to know that search engines such as Google also give preferential SEO treatment to faster loading websites.

By optimizing the images you upload for web, you can both improve 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 most important factor in an effective images optimization of web pages is to find the best balance between the most compact file size and acceptable quality images.

The three factors that play a huge impact on 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)

When you pick the appropriate combination of the three you can reduce your images' size by up 80 percent.

Let's take a look at each of these in more specifics.

1. Image File Format

Most website owners will agree that the three primary image file formats that should be considered include JPEG, PNG, and GIF. Choosing the right file type is crucial to image optimization.

To keep things simple You should choose JPEGs for photos or images that have a lot of colors. PNGs to create simple images, or when you need transparent images, and GIF to only use animated images.

For those who aren't sure of the difference between each type, the format of PNG images is uncompressed , which means it's a better quality image. The downside is that PNG file sizes are much bigger.

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

However, GIF has 256 colors, GIF uses only 256 and lossless compression. That is why it is the ideal option for animated images.

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

2. Compression

The other thing is image compression, which plays a major role when it comes to image optimization.

There are various types and levels of compression available. Settings for every vary depending on the image compression tool you employ.

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

You can also save images normally and then utilize a web tool like TinyPNG or JPEG Mini for easier image compression.

Though it's a little manual both methods allow you to compress images prior uploading images to WordPress this is the method we use on WPBeginner.

There are also several popular WordPress plugins, such as Optimole, EWWW Image Optimizer, and others that can automatically compress images once you first upload them. Many novices and even huge corporations choose to use these image optimization plugins due to the fact that it is simple and efficient.

We'll explain more about these WordPress plugins in the coming article.

3. Image Dimensions

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

In general, these photos have the resolution of 300 DPI and sizes that range from 2000 pixels or more. These high-quality photographs are great for desktop or print printing. They are not appropriate for websites.

A reduction in file dimensions to something more acceptable can dramatically decrease image file size. It is easy to resize images using an image editing program installed on your personal computer.

For example, we optimized our photo to 1.8 megabytes original size With a 300 DPI resolution, and dimensions of 4900x3200 pixels.

We went with the JPEG format for greater compression. We also changed the dimensions to 1200x795 pixel, and it reduced the file size to 103KB. This is 94% smaller than the original file size.

If you're aware of the three key elements in image optimization, let's take a take a look at various images optimization techniques for website owners.

Best ImageOptimization Tools and Programs

As we said earlier, the majority of image editing software comes featuring image optimization or compression setting.

In addition to the image editing software there are several other powerful and affordable image optimization tools that you could use to optimize images for websites (with only two clicks).

We recommend making use of these tools for optimizing images before you upload them to WordPress especially if are one of those people who are always perfect.

This method can help you save some space within your WordPress hosting account, as well as guaranteeing speedy images with best quality since you manually review each image.

Adobe Photoshop

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

This will open a brand new dialog box. On the right, you will be able to set various image formats. For JPEG format, you will be able to select different quality options. When you select the quality option the program will display the size of the file at the bottom left.

GIMP

GIMP is a free and open-source alternative to the popular Adobe Photoshop. It is a tool to enhance your photos for online use. The disadvantage is that it's not as straightforward to use as some of the other options listed on this list.

First, you need to open your image within GIMP and then choose File >> Export As option. This will bring up the save file dialog box. Give your file a new name and click"Export.

This will show image export options. For jpeg files, you can choose the compression level to decrease the size of the file. After that, press"Export", to store the optimal image.

TinyPNG

TinyPNG is a completely free web app that uses a smart lossy compression method to minimize its size PNG files. All you need to do is go to their website and upload your photos (simple drag and drop).

They will compress the image and give you the download link. You can also use their sister webpage, TinyJPG to use JPEG Image compression.

They also have Extensions for Adobe Photoshop that we employ as part of our image editing procedure because it brings together the best features of TinyJPG and TinyPNG inside Photoshop.

For developers, they offer an API that allows you to convert images automatically, and for beginners , they provide the WordPress plugin that will automatically perform the conversion for you (more on this later).

JPEG Mini

JPEGmini makes use of a lossless compression process that drastically reduces the size of images while not having an impact on their visual quality. You may also assess the quality of your original image and the compressed image.

You can access their web version for free or purchase the application for your computer. Additionally, they offer a paid API to automate the process on your server.

ImageOptim

ImageOptim is a Mac application that allows you in compressing images and without sacrificing any quality. It can do this by locating the optimal compression parameters and taking out unnecessary color profiles.

Windows an alternative is Trimage.

Best Image Optimization Plugins for WordPress

The best method to optimize your photos is by doing it before uploading them to WordPress. However, if you manage an online site with multiple authors or require an automation solution you could try an WordPress image compression plugin.

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

1. Optimole is a popular plugin developed by the Team behind ThemeIsle.
2. EWWW Image Optimizer
3. Compress JPEG & PNG images - plugin by TinyPNG team mentioned above 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

Using any Of these WordPress image optimization plugins can help you speed up the performance of your website.

Final Thoughts and Best Practices for Image Optimization

If you aren't saving images that are that are optimized for use on the internet, then you should begin doing that now. It'll make a significant difference in speed and your visitors will thank you for it.

Also, faster websites are great for SEO, and you'll likely experience an increase in your search engine ranking.

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