Optimizing images is really significant for the performance your WordPress site. Large images take a long time to load. In other words, they reduce your site’s loading speed significantly. As a result, your potential clients close your website and move to your competitors with a significantly better loading speed.
So, if you don’t optimize the images, there is a high chance for a massive increase of the bounce rate. But don’t worry. Optimizing images on WordPress is not a difficult task at all. In this article, you will find different ways to do it.
Now, assuming you have excellent WordPress hosting and a site set up, let’s dive in.
Use the Right Image Format
JPEG and PNG are two of the most common image formats. The former one has .jpeg extension, while the latter one comes with .png extension. JPEG is the best format for WordPress, as it occupies a significantly less space than PNG. It takes a relatively less time to load. As a result, the website speed receives a major boost. JPEG is the best format for your blog post and store product images.
However, for images with transparency and logo, PNG is the best. But make sure to limit its usage as much as possible, as it takes up a lot of space and loads at a sluggish pace.
Resize Images
Another great way of image optimization is resizing. By doing it, you can convert a large photo into a smaller one. In this way, you can save a lot of space. You can enable WordPress to automatically resize all the large images by using an awesome plugin, called Imsanity. Here are the steps:
Resizing Images with Imsanity
- Install and activate Imsanity plugin.
- Go to Settings > Imsanity.
- You will see a new page. Here, you will find all sorts of image resizing options. You can set your preferred image size within a page or post. You can also determine the size of images uploaded directly to the Media Library, along with Theme Headers, logos and other places.
- Choose the conversion option. If you want to convert BMP to JPG, choose Yes option.
- Finally, click on Save Changes button.
Compress Images
You can compress the images to reduce the size significantly. As a result, a plenty of space will be saved. You can do it with two different ways. You can use either online image compression tool or WordPress plugins.
Compress with Online Image Compression Tools
There are a plenty of image compression tools available online, including ImageOptim and ImageSmaller. However, the most popular one is Optimizilla. You can use it to compress 20 images at a time. You can also control the compression. Here are the steps for using the tool:
Compress Images with Optimizilla
- Go to https://imagecompressor.com/.
- Drag and drop your desired images. The online tool will begin to compress them instantly.
- Go below the page. Adjust the slider to modify the quality. Then click on Apply.
- Finally, click on Download All button to get the compressed images.
Compress with WordPress Plugins
If you use online tools, you will have to go through an extra step. You will have to upload the compressed images to your WordPress site. If you don’t like the extra step and prefer to get all in one place to be more productive, you can get image compression plugins. They have options for optimizing the photos during the upload process. There are a variety of plugins to choose, including WP Smush and Imagify. However, the most effective and popular one is ShortPixel. It is able to compress JPEG images by 84%. Here are the steps for using it:
Compress WordPress Images with ShortPixel
- Install and activate ShortPixel plugin.
- Head to Settings > ShortPixel. Type your email address and click on Request Key button.
- The page will reload. You will find that the API key has been added automatically. The key will also be delivered to your email address.
- Configure ShortPixel settings according to your preference. You can follow the steps mentioned here.
- Once you are done with the configuration, ShortPixel will optimize all the images that you upload to your media library automatically. However, if you want to bulk optimize older images on your WordPress website, head to Media > Bulk Shortpixel.
- Click on Start Optimizing button to compress all the old images on your site.
Conclusion
In this article, you have learnt different ways of optimizing images for your WordPress site. If you don’t like extra hassle, you can use WordPress image compression plugins. They offer you the best experience.
However, most of the great plugins, including ShortPixel, forces you to subscribe for monthly plan after optimizing a limited number of images. If you don’t prefer to spend money, you can use free online tools, like Optimizilla, to compress the images before uploading them to your site. But make sure to use the right image format.
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