How to Optimize Your Images for WordPress

Big, unoptimized images are one of the most common reasons a website feels slow and a slow site can turn visitors away and actually hurt your search rankings. Let's go over how to optimize images in WordPress!

*Before* You Upload

Resize 'em

Most images in WordPress only need to be about 1,000–2,000 pixels wide. No need for anything bigger. Large hero images could go a little bigger, but you'll rarely need to go beyond 2000px.

On a Mac, you can do this for free in Preview: just double click to open your image and at the top go to Tools > Adjust Size, enter your new width, and make sure "Scale proportionally" is checked.

Compress

Run your resized image through a free tool like Squoosh (resizes and compresses in one place) or TinyPNG (compression only, but quick and simple).

If you're on a Mac, you can also use ImageOptim which is a free app, just drag and drop your images in.

Aim for roughly 100–200kb per image where you can, and stick with JPG for photos, and save as PNG only when you need a transparent background.

After You Upload (Optional)

Once your images are uploaded, you can add an extra layer of optimization with a WordPress plugin. This is especially handy if you already have a lot of images in your Media Library already, or if you'd rather have compression happen automatically going forward instead of manually running every image through an online tool first.

I recommend the EWWW Image Optimizer plugin!