When you enable Image optimization & CDN (Settings > Autoptimize > Images), Autoptimize scans your page’s code and replaces every unoptimized image with its optimized version, delivered through the ShortPixel CDN.
Note: Autoptimize will not alter your original files or their metadata on your server. Instead, it optimizes images on-the-fly, triggered whenever a visitor loads one of your pages. If you want to revert to the original images, simply disable the Image optimization & CDN option. The process is fully transparent to all users:
- A user visits a page containing images.
- While the page is loading, Autoptimize checks for any image URLs in the code of the page. For example:
- When an image URL is detected, it’s sent to ShortPixel, where it’s optimized and stored on ShortPixel’s CDN. This process happens only the first time a specific image is requested by a visitor when the page loads.
- Autoptimize replaces the original image URL with one that points to our CDN hosting the optimized version. Updated URLs appear after the page is refreshed. If the image hasn’t been processed yet, it will return a 307 temporary redirect instead.
- Your images are now being delivered through our fast CDN!