Image Optimizer
compress-image
How can you optimize Imagesfor the Web's Performance without sacrificing Quality
Did you realize that optimizing your images before uploading them to WordPress could have a huge impact on the speed of your web site?
When starting a new blog, many novices upload pictures without making them web-friendly. Images that are large can make your website slow.
You can address this issue by applying the image optimization best methods in your daily blog routine.
In this article, we'll teach you how to optimize your images for faster internet performance without losing quality. Additionally, we will share automated imaging optimization plugins for WordPress that can make life easier.
Since this is a comprehensive guide on image optimization for the web, we have created an easy to follow table of contents:
- What's the definition of image optimization? (optimized as opposed to unoptimized)
- Why is image optimization important? What are the advantages?
- How do I organize and save images for web performance?
- Best image optimization tools and software
- Top images optimization plug-ins to WordPress
What is Image Optimization? (Optimized vs Unoptimized Images)
Image optimization is a technique of saving and sharing images in the most compact dimensions without diminishing the overall image quality.
Although the process may sound complicated but it's actually fairly simple today. One of the numerous image optimization tools and plugins that automatically compress images by up to 80% with any noticeable reduction in image quality.
Here's an example of optimized images versus unoptimized:
This is what you will see. when optimized correctly, the image can be 75 percent smaller than the original , without any degradation in quality.
What is Image Optimization function?
In simple terms simply put, image optimization uses compression techniques like "Lossy" and "Lossless" that help reduce the overall size of the file, without noticeable loss of quality.
What is it to Optimize Images?
If you've ever been given a recommendation to optimize images by your WordPress hosting support , or the speed test tool, that's all it means is that you need to reduce 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 from optimizing your images below are some of the best that you should know:
- Speedier website loading
- Enhanced SEO rankings
- Conversion rates that are higher for sales and leads
- Reduced storage and bandwidth (which could lower hosting and CDN cost)
- Faster backups of websites (also decreases the cost of backup storage)
Outside of video, images represent the next biggest weight on a web page. From the HTTP archivedata, photographs comprise about 21% on average of the total weight on a web page.
Since we know fast websites rank higher on search engines (SEO) and achieve higher conversions, image optimization is a necessity for every business website should do in order to grow online.
Now , you might be wondering how much of a difference can image optimization really bring about?
According to the findings of a Strangeloop study, a 1/second delay in website load time could cost you 7% in sales. It also results in 11% fewer pageviews, and 16% less satisfaction from customers.
If you don't have enough reason to speed up the loading time of your site it is important to understand that search engines like Google also give preferential SEO treatment to faster-loading websites.
That means that by optimizing your images for the web and improving your website's speed, you can increase speed of your site as well as increase 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 successful optimization of images for optimization that is optimized for performance on websites is to find the perfect ratio between the smallest size of the file and acceptable image quality.
The three things that play a crucial 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 select the most appropriate combination of these three options, you can reduce the image's size by as much as 80 percent.
Let's look at each one in more detail.
- Image File Format
For the majority of webmasters, the three primary images formats that really have any significance is JPEG, PNG, and GIF. The choice of the correct file format is crucial to image optimization.
To simplify things To keep things simple, you should use JPEGs when you want to use images or photos filled with colors. PNGs to create simple images, or when you require 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 not compressed which means it's a more high-quality image. The disadvantage is that it's file dimensions are larger.
However, JPEG is a compressed file format , which can slightly diminish the image quality to make it much smaller file size.
The difference is that GIF only uses 256 colors and lossless compression. This makes it the most suitable choice for animated images.
On WPBeginner We make use of three different image formats based on the kind of image.
2. Compression
The next step is image compression which plays a huge part for image optimization.
There are many types and levels of compression that are available. These settings differ based on the compression tool you employ.
The majority of image editors, including Adobe Photoshop, On1 Photo, GIMP, Affinity Photo and many others have built-in features to compress images.
You are also able to save images and then make use of a website tool like TinyPNG or JPEG Mini for easier image compression.
Though it's a little manual but these two techniques allow you to compress your images prior to uploading the images to WordPress as well, which is the process we employ on WPBeginner.
There are also a variety of popular WordPress plugins like Optimole, EWWW Image Optimizer and many more that automatically compress images once you upload them for the first time. Many newbies, and even larger corporations choose to use these image optimization plugins due to their ease of use and efficient.
We'll discuss more details about these WordPress plugins later in this article.
3. Image Dimensions
Normally, when you download a photograph from your phone , or digital camera, it has a very high resolution and the dimensions of the file are large (height and width).
The majority of these photos have resolutions of 300 DPI with dimensions starting from 2000 pixels and up. These high-quality photographs are great for desktop or print printing. They're not suitable for use on websites.
A reduction in file dimensions to something more acceptable can dramatically decrease the size of the file. Resize images by using the software for editing images on your computer.
In this case, we optimized a photo with 1.8 megabytes of original file 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 inches, and it reduced the file size to 103KB. That's 94% less than the original size.
Once you've mastered the three primary factors that affect image optimization we can take a to look into various images optimization tools for website owners.
Best ImageOptimization Tools and Programs
As we have mentioned previously, most image editing software come featuring image optimization along with compression and image optimization settings.
Outside of the image editing software, there are several other powerful , free image optimization tools that you could apply to optimize images for web usage (with just one or two clicks).
We recommend making use of these tools for optimizing images prior to uploading them to WordPress particularly if you are a perfectionist.
This method will help you save the disk space of your WordPress hosting account and also guarantees an image that is fast and of the best quality since you have to manually check each image.
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a premium software with the ability to save images specifically designed for the web. Simply open the image, then click on the "File >> Save for Web" option.
This will open an additional dialog box. On the right, you can set different image formats. For JPEG format, you'll see different quality options. When you pick your option it will also give you the size of the image in the lower left.
GIMP
GIMP is a free and open-source alternative to the popular Adobe Photoshop. It can be used to improve your image for the web. However, it's not as simple to implement as other solutions listed here.
The first step is to open the image in GIMP before you can select the File > Export As option. It will open the save file dialog box. Then, give the file a brand new name and then hit"export.
This will present 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 an export option to download the image you have optimized.
TinyPNG
TinyPNG is a completely free web application that employs a clever lossy compression method to minimize the size of your PNG files. All you need to do is go to their website and upload your images (simple drag and drop).
They compress the image and then provide you with the download link. You can also visit their sister websitecalled TinyJPG which is for JPEG Image compression.
There is also one extension that works with Adobe Photoshop which we use as part of our image editing process since it is a blend of TinyJPG and TinyPNG inside Photoshop.
For developers, they've an API to convert images for them automatically. And for beginners , they provide an WordPress plugin that can do it for you (more on this later).
JPEG Mini
JPEGmini employs lossless compression process that drastically reduces the size of images without any impact on their perceived quality. You can also check the quality of your original image and the compressed image.
You can use their web version for no cost or buy the program to run on your personal computer. There is also a paid API that will automate the process that your server uses.
ImageOptim
ImageOptim is a Mac program that allows users the compression of images with no losing any quality. This is done by identifying the most effective compression parameters as well as removing unnecessary color profiles.
Windows an alternative is Trimage.
Best Image Optimization Plugins for WordPress
We believe that the most efficient method to optimize your images is to make them optimized prior to uploading them to WordPress. However, if your site is multi-author websites or require an automatized solution then it is possible to use a WordPress image compression plugin.
Below is our selection of the best WordPress compressors of images.
- Optimole one of the most well-known plugins created by The company behind ThemeIsle.
- EWWW Image Optimizer
- Compress JPEG and PNG images with the plugin created by the TinyPNG team. It is mentioned above in the article.
- Imagify - plugin by the well-known WP Rocket plugin team.
- ShortPixel Image Optimizer
- WP Smush
- reSmush.it
Using any of these WordPress image optimization plugins can speed up the performance 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 begin doing it immediately. It will make a huge difference to the speed of your website and your customers will be grateful for it.
Additionally, faster websites are great for SEO and you'll probably see an increase in the search engine results.
Use this tool to convert to png
Comments
Post a Comment