The other day I shared with you 10 Ways to Lazy Load Images and Videos in WordPress. Using lazy load can drastically improve page loading times and reduce bandwidth.
Another key aspect of reducing the weight of images and improving website performance is to optimise your images. I have always optimised images in Photoshop before I uploaded them to my websites.
An alternative way of optimising images is to upload the full version to WordPress and then optimise them. This solution is arguably more efficient as it saves you from having to edit images before uploading.
There are many solutions available to WordPress users to help you reduce the file size of images without sacrificing quality.
In this article I have listed ten good options for you to consider.
1. EWWW Image Optimizer
EWWW Image Optimizer is a free WordPress plugin that can reduce the size of JPEG and PNG images. It can also convert GIF images to the PNG format.
It has some cool features such as bulk optimisation, the ability to skip previously optimised images, and the option to delete the original files are conversion.
EWWW Image Optimizer is one of the most popular free solutions for image optimisation.
2. WP Smush
After Yahoo dropped support for Smush.it, WPMU Dev picked up the popular WP Smush and continued its development. The plugin supports the optimisation of JPEG, PNG, and GIF images.
One of the coolest features the plugin offers is the option of defining the maximum width and height of images. The plugin will then scale them down to the appropriate size when compressing.
The free version of WP Smush supports images that are 1MB in size or less. Upgrading to a premium WPMU Dev membership grants you access to the pro version. This increases the image size limit to 32MB and improves compression. It also gives you access to hundreds of other WordPress plugins and themes.
WP Smush is a user-friendly image optimisation plugin that works well.
3. Imagify
Created by the developers of WP Rocket, Imagify is an enhanced compression tool that offers three levels of compression: Normal, aggressive, or ultra. It supports JPEG, PNG, and GIF images and can automatically rescale images to whatever size you want.
You are permitted to optimise around 250 images (25MB) every month. Pricing for those who require more resources is extremely competitive. You can get 1GB of data for only $4.99 per month; which is good for around 10,000 images. Alternatively, you can pay a one time fee for a set amount of data. Pricing for one off plans start from $5.99 for 500MB (5,000 images).
Imagify is a fantastic image optimisation service from the guys who developed WP Rocket.
4. Imsanity
Imsanity can automatically resize large images to a more normal size. It allows you to define your desired size of images.
BMP and PNG images can be converted to PNG format. You can also set the quality of JPEG images and resize images in bulk.
Imsanity is an effective tool at resizing images.
5. ShortPixel
ShortPixel provides lossy and lossless image compression for JPG, PNG, and GIF images. It also supports PDF documents.
Images can be resized during compression and there is an option to save the original file in a backup folder if you wish.
The ShortPixel service has adopted the same business model as Imagify. They offer 100 images free per month. 5,000 images costs $4.99 per month. One off plans are available from 10,000 images for $9.99.
ShortPixel is a professional image optimisation service with many great features.
6. Compress JPEG & PNG images
Compress JPEG & PNG images is an optimisation WordPress plugin that can automatically optimise images on upload. Bulk optimisation of existing images is available too.
It supports WooCommerce and there are multiple options for preserving the original meta information of the image.
Up to 500 images can be optimised free of charge every month. It then costs $0.009 per image up to 9,500 images per month and after that the rate drops down to $0.002 per image.
Compress JPEG & PNG Images is an affordable solution at the low end but can prove expensive if you need to optimise thousands of images every month.
7. Optimus
Optimus is an image compression tool that promises to reduce the file sizes of image by over 70%. JPG and PNG images are supported.
The free version is quote limited as the maximum file upload size is 100kb. The pro version offers great value for money at only $19 per year. It increases the maximum file upload size to 5MB per image and adds support for WebP conversion and HTTPS connection.
Optimus places no limit on the number of images you optimise.
8. Kraken
Kraken is an image optimisation service for WordPress users that offers lossloss image compression.
The free version allows image uploads of 1MB and under. Opting for Kraken Pro allows you up upload images that are up to 32MB in size. It also adds image resizing, optimisation statistics, and a web interface for handling bulk optimisation.
Plans for Kranen Pro start from only $5 per month for 500MB of data.
Kraken Pro offers customers statistics and cloud storage.
9. Prizm Image
Prizm Image supports the automatic optimisation of JPEG, PNG, and GIF images. You can compress older images individually or in bulk.
Up to 1,000 images can be optimised every month free of charge before you need to purchase a plan.
Prizm Image allows up to 1,000 images to be optimised every month before you have to pay.
10. ImageRecycle
ImageRecycle is a premium compression WordPress plugin that can optimise images and PDF documents using lossy or lossless compression. It can optimise JPG, PNG, and GIF images.
A free trial account is available for fifteen days that offers 100MB of data. 10,000 image compressions can be purchased for a one time fee of $10.
ImageRecycle lets you define a minimum and maximum file size for optimisation.
Overview
It’s hard to single out one image optimisation solution as the best as there are so many great services in the market and pricing is generally competitive across the board.
I recommend testing one or two services and seeing how they perform.
For those who are already using an image compression WordPress plugin, please share below which one you are using and what you think of it.
Thanks,
Kevin
Featured Image Credit: Wikimedia
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