In this post, I\u2019ll introduce a number of solutions to consider. However, before this, let me give you a primer on image optimization in general!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Image Optimization: What it is and Why you Need It<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"desk](\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/10\/image-optimization-tools-wordpress-desk-scene-662.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFirst, let\u2019s talk about optimization as a “high-level” concept. To put it simply, every file takes up a certain amount of space. Some, such as JavaScript or CSS files, are literally “byte-sized” most of the time. However, the more information a file includes, the larger its file size becomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Images are no different. For high-resolution examples with a lot of detail and color, you can find files in the tens of megabytes (MB). However, unoptimized images usually weigh in at roughly 500KB to 1MB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You may think this is acceptable, but it\u2019s actually a hefty size<\/a> for a website to process. While I won\u2019t get into the full technical details here, the larger the files on your page, the longer it will take to load. You\u2019ll likely have many images on a website, meaning the page size will quickly rise, as will the load times.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTo combat this, image optimization enables you to reduce the file size of your images without affecting their appearance. There are a plethora of ways to do this, and I\u2019ll discuss them later. For now, let\u2019s discuss why this is so important in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why Image Optimization is Necessary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
On the surface, image optimization is simply a solution for making images load quicker. However, digging deeper, it becomes clear that this technique is central to the traffic a site obtains, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)<\/a>, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis is simply due to User Experience (UX), as users don\u2019t want to wait<\/a> for websites to load. In addition, the proliferation of mobile browsing<\/a> means web pages need to be as lean as possible to give users a solid experience no matter what device they\u2019re using.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAs such, a page full of unoptimized images will require an unnecessarily long loading time. Therefore, reducing your image\u2019s file sizes has a major impact on your site\u2019s bounce rate and potential conversions. With that in mind, let\u2019s discuss how to actually optimize your images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to Optimize Your Images<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"person](\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/10\/image-optimization-tools-wordpress-hat-screens-662.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMost images start as huge files. For example, photos taken with a camera could be around 40MB per image file. This is obviously far too big.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most images go through a conversion process using an app such as Lightroom<\/a> or Photoshop<\/a>. This can bring a file size down significantly\u2014let\u2019s say around 5MB\u2014but not enough to use on a website. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAt this point, you\u2019ll need to optimize a file using a number of methods. The most common ones are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- A dedicated website<\/strong>, which requires you to upload the images, then download them once optimized.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Plugins<\/strong> \u2013 usually through your Content Management System (CMS), although Photoshop and Lightroom can also use their own plugin formats.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Image optimization servers<\/strong> that process potentially thousands of images without using your site\u2019s resources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
To touch on this last option a bit more, image optimization carried out on a website (for example by using a WordPress plugin), will sometimes use your server\u2019s resources. If you\u2019re compressing several large images with a solution using your own resources, this could cause lags and other delays, which defeats the whole purpose of optimization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In comparison, a dedicated server is employed with the sole job of optimizing your images. The main upside is that you can essentially leave it to do its thing while paying a flat fee to optimize as many images as you can throw at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4 Image Optimization Tools for Your WordPress Website<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To round off this piece, let\u2019s look at four different solutions for optimizing your images. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- TinyPNG<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- ImageOptim<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Imagify<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- ShortPixel<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n1. TinyPNG<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"tinypng](\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/10\/tiny-png-wp-662.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nTinyPNG<\/a> has been a stalwart when it comes to image optimization and is a popular choice for reducing your image\u2019s file size. While the name specifically references only one file type (PNGs), it\u2019s actually capable of processing several different image types.<\/p>\n\n\n\nUsing the website is simple. You drag images onto the interface, the algorithm works its magic, after which you can download your newly optimized image. What\u2019s more, you\u2019ll see exactly how much smaller your new file is compared to the original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the website is arguably the main draw, there\u2019s also a WordPress plugin available, along with a Photoshop plugin. However, compared to other solutions on this list, the premium plan is rather “stingy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, you\u2019re restricted to a maximum of 5 MB per unoptimized image. This isn\u2019t going to be an issue most of the time, but it can cause you a headache when you try to optimize very large images. In these situations, you may need to turn to a dedicated app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n2. ImageOptim<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"imageoptim](\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/10\/imageoptim-662.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou may not want to rely solely on an online solution for optimizing images, for which an offline app will be ideal. If you\u2019re using macOS, ImageOptim<\/a> is a solid solution for offline use. However, there are other similar tools for Windows<\/a> and Linux<\/a> machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis particular app is low-profile and works similarly to other solutions in that you drag the images onto the interface, then wait while it optimizes their file size. However, while I like this tool for stripping elements such as EXIF data from images, it\u2019s reductive abilities are limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a nutshell, I recommend using a dedicated app when you have an image that breaches the maximum file limit of your favorite optimization solution. Often, getting rid of superfluous data within the file is just enough to “take the edge off,” before making larger reductions using another tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n3. Imagify<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"imagify](\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/10\/imagify-662.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you work with a CMS such as WordPress, there are plenty of plugins available for the platform that can assist with image optimization. Imagify<\/a> is one such option.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt essentially automates the entire optimization process, leaving you to go about your business without worrying whether images are affecting your site loading speeds. There are a wealth of options available for making sure images are reduced to your liking, and any images you add to your Media Library<\/strong> are optimized automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhile the base plugin is free, the number of images you can optimize is quite restrictive unless you opt for a premium plan. However, these are reasonably priced, meaning a near-complete solution is at your fingertips for little outlay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n4. ShortPixel<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"shortpixel](\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shortpixel-662.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI used the term \u201cnear-complete\u201d in the last section, mainly because that particular plugin didn\u2019t offer a full suite of solutions. For example, image-heavy sites will suffer the lags discussed earlier, which means a negative impact on your page loading times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The solution is to find an option that lets you automate the process within WordPress, but also handle bulk optimizations without impacting your resources. Enter ShortPixel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAs far as perennial go-to plugins stand, ShortPixel is right up there. It offers automated optimization and incredibly reasonable premium plans<\/a>. However, there\u2019s one trick up its sleeve missing from other solutions\u2014an option to use a dedicated server for image optimization.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis gives you all of the benefits of being a premium user while offering a physical server to bulk optimize practically any images you throw at it. What\u2019s more, every image processed through ShortPixel is optimized in the cloud, so your site\u2019s own resources are left untouched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"image](\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/10\/image-optimization-tools-wordpress-tyson-662.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nImage optimization is an important method of speeding up your site, and I\u2019d argue it should be an automatic consideration. Fortunately, plenty of solutions exist to do just that. As such, there\u2019s no excuse for not having small, yet still visually appealing images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This post has offered a primer on image optimization and introduced four solutions to use. Let\u2019s quickly recap them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- TinyPNG<\/a>.<\/strong> This popular website lets you quickly reduce file sizes using a simple online interface.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- ImageOptim<\/a>.<\/strong> While it\u2019s not the only app available, this is a solid (if complementary) choice for macOS.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Imagify<\/a>.<\/strong> This sleek-looking and reasonably priced WordPress plugin is suitable for all but the most demanding of sites.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- ShortPixel<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019d argue this is the most complete package, especially when you consider their dedicated image optimization servers<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Optimizing your site\u2019s images is vital for keeping performance high without sacrificing quality. As such, it helps to have dedicated tools on hand to make the process easier and more effective\u2014especially if you run an image-heavy site. Fortunately, there are many methods available to “shrink” your image\u2019s file size. For example, there are websites that…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141807,"template":"","resource-topic":[912,901],"resource-role":[895,896,897],"resource-type":[916],"class_list":["post-139792","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n4 Image Optimization Tools for Your WordPress Site<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Did you know images are the number one thing that slow down websites? Optimize your images with these four fantastic tools!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4 Image Optimization Tools for Your WordPress Site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Did you know images are the number one thing that slow down websites? 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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFirst, let\u2019s talk about optimization as a “high-level” concept. To put it simply, every file takes up a certain amount of space. Some, such as JavaScript or CSS files, are literally “byte-sized” most of the time. However, the more information a file includes, the larger its file size becomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Images are no different. For high-resolution examples with a lot of detail and color, you can find files in the tens of megabytes (MB). However, unoptimized images usually weigh in at roughly 500KB to 1MB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You may think this is acceptable, but it\u2019s actually a hefty size<\/a> for a website to process. While I won\u2019t get into the full technical details here, the larger the files on your page, the longer it will take to load. You\u2019ll likely have many images on a website, meaning the page size will quickly rise, as will the load times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To combat this, image optimization enables you to reduce the file size of your images without affecting their appearance. There are a plethora of ways to do this, and I\u2019ll discuss them later. For now, let\u2019s discuss why this is so important in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On the surface, image optimization is simply a solution for making images load quicker. However, digging deeper, it becomes clear that this technique is central to the traffic a site obtains, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)<\/a>, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is simply due to User Experience (UX), as users don\u2019t want to wait<\/a> for websites to load. In addition, the proliferation of mobile browsing<\/a> means web pages need to be as lean as possible to give users a solid experience no matter what device they\u2019re using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As such, a page full of unoptimized images will require an unnecessarily long loading time. Therefore, reducing your image\u2019s file sizes has a major impact on your site\u2019s bounce rate and potential conversions. With that in mind, let\u2019s discuss how to actually optimize your images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most images start as huge files. For example, photos taken with a camera could be around 40MB per image file. This is obviously far too big.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most images go through a conversion process using an app such as Lightroom<\/a> or Photoshop<\/a>. This can bring a file size down significantly\u2014let\u2019s say around 5MB\u2014but not enough to use on a website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point, you\u2019ll need to optimize a file using a number of methods. The most common ones are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n To touch on this last option a bit more, image optimization carried out on a website (for example by using a WordPress plugin), will sometimes use your server\u2019s resources. If you\u2019re compressing several large images with a solution using your own resources, this could cause lags and other delays, which defeats the whole purpose of optimization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In comparison, a dedicated server is employed with the sole job of optimizing your images. The main upside is that you can essentially leave it to do its thing while paying a flat fee to optimize as many images as you can throw at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To round off this piece, let\u2019s look at four different solutions for optimizing your images. <\/p>\n\n\n\n TinyPNG<\/a> has been a stalwart when it comes to image optimization and is a popular choice for reducing your image\u2019s file size. While the name specifically references only one file type (PNGs), it\u2019s actually capable of processing several different image types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using the website is simple. You drag images onto the interface, the algorithm works its magic, after which you can download your newly optimized image. What\u2019s more, you\u2019ll see exactly how much smaller your new file is compared to the original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the website is arguably the main draw, there\u2019s also a WordPress plugin available, along with a Photoshop plugin. However, compared to other solutions on this list, the premium plan is rather “stingy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, you\u2019re restricted to a maximum of 5 MB per unoptimized image. This isn\u2019t going to be an issue most of the time, but it can cause you a headache when you try to optimize very large images. In these situations, you may need to turn to a dedicated app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may not want to rely solely on an online solution for optimizing images, for which an offline app will be ideal. If you\u2019re using macOS, ImageOptim<\/a> is a solid solution for offline use. However, there are other similar tools for Windows<\/a> and Linux<\/a> machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This particular app is low-profile and works similarly to other solutions in that you drag the images onto the interface, then wait while it optimizes their file size. However, while I like this tool for stripping elements such as EXIF data from images, it\u2019s reductive abilities are limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a nutshell, I recommend using a dedicated app when you have an image that breaches the maximum file limit of your favorite optimization solution. Often, getting rid of superfluous data within the file is just enough to “take the edge off,” before making larger reductions using another tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you work with a CMS such as WordPress, there are plenty of plugins available for the platform that can assist with image optimization. Imagify<\/a> is one such option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It essentially automates the entire optimization process, leaving you to go about your business without worrying whether images are affecting your site loading speeds. There are a wealth of options available for making sure images are reduced to your liking, and any images you add to your Media Library<\/strong> are optimized automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the base plugin is free, the number of images you can optimize is quite restrictive unless you opt for a premium plan. However, these are reasonably priced, meaning a near-complete solution is at your fingertips for little outlay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I used the term \u201cnear-complete\u201d in the last section, mainly because that particular plugin didn\u2019t offer a full suite of solutions. For example, image-heavy sites will suffer the lags discussed earlier, which means a negative impact on your page loading times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The solution is to find an option that lets you automate the process within WordPress, but also handle bulk optimizations without impacting your resources. Enter ShortPixel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As far as perennial go-to plugins stand, ShortPixel is right up there. It offers automated optimization and incredibly reasonable premium plans<\/a>. However, there\u2019s one trick up its sleeve missing from other solutions\u2014an option to use a dedicated server for image optimization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This gives you all of the benefits of being a premium user while offering a physical server to bulk optimize practically any images you throw at it. What\u2019s more, every image processed through ShortPixel is optimized in the cloud, so your site\u2019s own resources are left untouched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Image optimization is an important method of speeding up your site, and I\u2019d argue it should be an automatic consideration. Fortunately, plenty of solutions exist to do just that. As such, there\u2019s no excuse for not having small, yet still visually appealing images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This post has offered a primer on image optimization and introduced four solutions to use. Let\u2019s quickly recap them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Optimizing your site\u2019s images is vital for keeping performance high without sacrificing quality. As such, it helps to have dedicated tools on hand to make the process easier and more effective\u2014especially if you run an image-heavy site. Fortunately, there are many methods available to “shrink” your image\u2019s file size. For example, there are websites that…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141807,"template":"","resource-topic":[912,901],"resource-role":[895,896,897],"resource-type":[916],"class_list":["post-139792","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Image Optimization is Necessary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How to Optimize Your Images<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
4 Image Optimization Tools for Your WordPress Website<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\n1. TinyPNG<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n2. ImageOptim<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n3. Imagify<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n4. ShortPixel<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nConclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n