Top 6 Plugins and Tools for Effective Image Compression in WordPress

Image compression in WordPress optimizes your site’s loading. Site visitors expect fast-loading speeds and seamless browsing, making image compression in WordPress essential. Images constitute over 60% of websites’ total bandwidth.

Also, according to a Google study, images can account for up to 21% of a web page’s total weight. As a result, images impact your WordPress site’s performance and user experience.

Large images take longer to load, negatively impacting your SEO success and leading to a higher bounce rate. It’s worth noting that Google recommends that images shouldn’t be larger than 100KB.

With the right WordPress Image Compression plugin, you can reduce images without sacrificing quality. Some plugins have various techniques for image compression in WordPress, such as format conversion, lossless and lossy compression, and more.

In this guide, we’ll explore the top plugins and tools for image compression in WordPress. Let’s get started!

6 Best WordPress Image Compression Plugins to Consider

1. ShortPixel Image Optimizer

ShortPixel- Image Compression In WordPress

ShortPixel Image Optimizer is a popular WordPress plugin that compresses images to improve website performance. The tool supports various formats, including JPEG, PNG, and PDF, which are all useful for image compression in WordPress.

It uses complex image compression algorithms to help speed up websites with just a few clicks. This freemium plugin comes in three compression options–lossless, lossy, and glossy–giving users the most suitable feature for their projects.

Users can optimize images using ShortPixel by simply uploading them to their WordPress media library. The plugin optimizes images in the background and lets you track the progress via its dashboard.

Besides optimizing retina images, ShortPixel also converts PNG images to JPEGs. The tool also supports WebP images, a newer format with more effective compression than JPEG or PNG.

ShortPixel’s WP Image Compression Features

Automatic Resizing and Optimization: The tool resizes and optimizes larger images to improve your WordPress site’s performance.
Retina Image Optimization: You can use ShortPixel to optimize retina images for high-resolution displays.
Bulk Optimization: The tool makes it easy to optimize several images at a go.
Image Backup: You can back up your images using ShortPixel before they’re compressed and restore them if necessary.
WebP Image Support: Site owners can convert images to WebP format while maintaining visual quality.
Thumbnail Compression: ShortPixel ensures that even smaller visuals contribute to a site’s performance.
Compatibility: ShortPixel integrates with various gliders, galleries, and eCommerce plugins to ensure optimal performance across different website elements.
Remove Metadata From Image Files: ShortPixel removes metadata from image files to enhance loading speed.
Advanced Interface: ShortPixel’s dashboard is user-friendly and has various buttons for image backups, compression types, and resizing of large images. The dashboard allows you to request an API key and gives you a testing link to try out the various compression options.

ShortPixel Pricing

ShortPixel’s free plan includes 100 free image credits per month.

Site owners who need more credits for image compression in WordPress can purchase the paid plan, which starts at $3.99 monthly for 7,000 image credits.

2. TinyPNG

TinyPNG Image Compression Tool for WordPress

TinyPNG uses lossless techniques for image compression in WordPress without compromising quality. The WordPress image compression plugin supports standard image formats and offers bulk compression.

TinyPNG reduces the file size of your images by up to 80%, which helps improve your site’s load speed. The dedicated image compression plugin is best for site owners looking to compress more than 500 images per month.

It optimizes images for responsive web design. This ensures images adapt to various screen sizes while maintaining loading speed and quality.

TinyPNG WP Image Compression Features

Supports Multiple Image Formats: TinyPNG supports various formats for image compression in WordPress, including JPEG, PNG, GIF, and SVG images.
Lazy Loading Optimization: The plugin enables lazy loading, which reduces initial page load times and conserves bandwidth for visitors.
Background Image Optimization in CSS: The feature is helpful for themes and websites that use background images.
Image Optimization for CDNs: TinyPNG is compatible with content delivery networks, allowing faster image delivery to global site visitors.
Adaptive Image Compression: The tool adapts to a specific compression technique based on the image type, ensuring optimal results for each image format.
Lossless and Bulk Compression: TinyPNG uses lossless compression techniques to help maintain the quality of an image. Its bulk compression feature compresses a batch of images in your WordPress media library.

TinyPNG Pricing

TinyPNG is available as a free plugin that offers image compression in WordPress and allows you to optimize up to 500 images.

If you want to optimize more than 500 images, you’ll pay between $0.002 to $0.009 per image.

3. Imagify

Imagify is another reliable tool that offers image compression in WordPress and comes with levels–Normal, Aggressive, and Ultra.

For instance, standard compression suits site owners looking to maintain image quality. It uses lossless compression to make the file size of images smaller than the original.

Aggressive compression is the right fit to shrink your images further, as it removes unnecessary metadata from images. Ultra compression, on the other hand, is best for heavy images.

Imagify has an easy-to-use interface which is also suitable for non-WordPress compression. It’s important to note that the image compression tool uses an API key. Like other notable plugins, Imagify handles WebP conversions.

Imagify WP Image Compression Features

CDN Integration: This helps speed up the delivery of images to your site visitors.
Watermarking: Imagify watermarks your images to help protect them from copyright infringement.
Lossy Optimization: Imagify offers lossy optimization to preserve image quality. The tool reduces the file size of your image without making it look pixelated or blurry.
Image Backup: Imagify backs up your images before optimizing them. Users can restore their images if they aren’t happy with the optimization results.
Advanced Compression Algorithms: Its complex compression algorithms help achieve maximum file reductions without compromising the visual quality.
Compatibility: Imagify is compatible with all significant WordPress themes. It helps users integrate its image compression features seamlessly into their sites without experiencing compatibility problems.
Auto-Optimization upon Upload: Like other notable image compression tools, Imagify optimizes images once uploaded to your website’s media library.
Retina Image Support: Site owners can use Imagify to ensure that images with high-resolution display correctly on Retina and other high-density screens.

Imagify Pricing

Imagify has three pricing plans:

Free: The free plan lets users compress up to 20 MB of images per month, equivalent to 200 images.
Growth: Pick this plan to compress up to 500 MB of images (approximately 5,000 images) per month. You’ll pay $4.99 per month or $4.16 when billed annually.
Infinite: The Infinite plan costs $8.33 per month when billed annually or $9.99 per month when billed monthly. This plan allows you to compress an unlimited number of images.

4. Optimole

Optimole uses a cloud-based CDN to deliver optimized images to your site visitors. The WordPress image compression tool is known for its powerful lazy loading capabilities.

Its intuitive user interface and functions work in the background without manual effort. You only need to create an Optimole account and insert its API key.

Optimole uses smart cropping techniques to retain the interesting parts of an image while maintaining quality. The tool includes multiple compression levels–Auto, Low, Medium, and High–giving users the flexibility to achieve specific requirements.

Optimole WP Image Compression Features

Lazy Loading: The plugin supports lazy loading, enhancing the user experience.
Support for Retina and WebP Images: Like ShortPixel, this compression tool supports Retina and WebP images to ensure optimal image display on different devices.
Image Formats: Optimole supports JPEG, GIF, PNG, and SVG images. It also supports adaptive image compression in WordPress to help users pick the most efficient format for each image.
Automatic Watermarking: Users can add watermarks to their images to protect their intellectual property.
Lossy and Lossless Algorithms: Optimole employs lossy and lossless techniques, allowing users to choose an image compression level that suits their needs and preferences.

Optimole Pricing

Optimole offers three pricing plans:

Starter Plan: The starter plan costs $19.08 monthly when billed annually. It’s suitable for websites with up to 50K monthly visitors.
Business Plan: The business plan costs $39.08 monthly when billed annually. It offers image compression features to websites with monthly visitors ranging from 100K to 3 million.
Custom Plan: The flexible/custom plan is best for sites with over 10 million monthly visits.

5. EWWW Image Optimizer

EWWW image optimizer offers automatic image compression in WordPress once you upload images to your media library. It allows you to optimize images individually or in bulk using its lossless compression techniques.

The tool’s user interface shows real-time reports of areas you must improve when compressing images. Its optimization score gives easier recommendations than other competitors.

EWWW is convenient for beginners as it allows you to compress images without acquiring an API key. Like other top plugins, it offers compression for JPEG, PNG, GIF, and PDF images.

EWWW WP Image Compression Features

Performance Reports: The compression tool provides performance reports that give insights into your site’s loading time.
Media Library Integration: EWWW image optimizer integrates with the WordPress media library to make image optimization easy without leaving the dashboard.
Automatic Compression: Users can automatically optimize their images after uploading them to WordPress.
Bulk Compression: You can optimize all your images in one go without sacrificing quality.

EWWW Pricing

EWWW offers three distinct pricing plans:

Standard Plan: This plan costs $7 per month, and users are limited to compressing images for one site.
Growth Plan: The Growth plan allows you to compress images for ten sites at $15 monthly. It also offers a bandwidth of up to 400 GB.
Infinite Plan: At $25 per month, the Infinite plan doesn’t have a cap on the number of sites. It offers a bandwidth of up to 800 GB, and users can access site speed audits.

6. reSmush.it

reSmush.it uses various algorithms for image compression in WordPress to reduce the file size of by up to 80%. If the size of your images is below 5 MB, the tool allows you to optimize them for free.

It optimizes most image formats, allowing you to determine the quality you’re looking to achieve. You can also optimize your images in bulk or schedule them for later.

reSmush.it keeps a copy of the original image before compression to ensure you don’t lose it. Most of all, the sliding scale on this plugin allows you to control its various optimization levels.

reSmush.it WP Image Compression Features

Multiple Formats Support: reSmush.it supports and optimizes PNG, JPEG, TIF, and GIF images for free up to 5 MB.
Backup and Restore: You can back up original images and restore compressed images if needed.
Lossy and Lossless Compression: The tool uses these techniques to suit your compression needs and preferences.
Plugin Integration: reSmush.it offers plugins for content management systems like WordPress, PrestaShop, and Magento. The plugins integrate the image compression features into your website.

reSmush.it Pricing

reSmush.it is free. But, users are limited to compressing images below 5 MB.

Final Thoughts

There are many WordPress image compression plugins available with distinct features and perks. ShortPixel and Optimole are the best tools for a WordPress website.

They offer lossless and lossy compression techniques, allowing users to choose the optimization level that suits their needs. Other noteworthy features include image backup, watermarking, advanced compression algorithms, and more.

If you’re looking for a plugin that seamlessly integrates with WordPress, we recommend checking out ShortPixel. You can try shortPixel for free for 14 days and boost the performance of your WordPress website.