How to Optimize WordPress images with the EWWW Image Optimizer

Optimizing your images on your website can help with improving your website performance. At best it helps the speed at which your website loads as well the server resource usage. This article describes how to use the EWWW Image Optimizer plugin. It can automatically optimize your images without sacrificing the quality of the image.

The EWWW Image Optimizer plugin has been updated to version 3.4.1. WordPress plugins are continually updated and as there are thousands of them, it is often difficult keep all associated documentation updated. Always review the associate installation files and documentation in order to use the latest version. The current 3.4.1 version has been tested to work with WordPress 4.7.5.

Installing the EWWW Image Optimizer plugin

WordPress plugins have a standard installation procedure

1. First, log into your WordPress admin dashboard.

2. In the menu at left hover over Plugins, and click on Add New. You will then be taken to the plugin installation page.

3. On the plugin installation page, you will see a search box. In this search box, enter EWWW Image Optimizer and click on Search Plugins. Once you have submitted your search, you will be presented with a list of plugins that match your search query.

4. Within your search results page, the top result will be EWWW Image Optimizer which is the plugin that we are looking for. To install it, click on Install Now. WordPress will then handle the download and installation of the EWWW Image Optimizer plugin. Once complete, be sure to click the Activate Plugin link to ensure that it is active on your site.

Recommended settings for the EWWW Image Optimizer plugin

Now that you have installed the EWWW Image Optimizer plugin, it's time to set it up.

1. 

   To access the settings for EWWW Image Optimizer plugin, hover over Settings to the left side of your WordPress dashboard, and click on EWWW Image Optimizer. You will then be taken to the settings page where all of your image optimization settings can be defined.

2. 

   EWWW Image Optimizer (version 3.4.1) comes with all of the default settings set, but you have complete control to make any changes. If you want to immediately optimize based on the default settings, then don't make any changes and proceed to the optimization stage. If you wish to use stronger compression solutions, then you may need to purchase API keys from the plugin developer as indicated in their settings.

3. 

   The metadata is also set to be removed by default. Metadata is the extra information such as comments and creation date that is stored within the image file. Removing the metadata can save a large amount of space. You can see this setting selected in the Basic settings location.

4. For additional settings such as JPG compression, default WordPress image sizes, and many other options, please see the Advanced settings, Conversions Settings and WebP settings tabs. Once your settings are defined for each settings tab, scroll to the bottom and click on Save Changes.

Optimizing your images with the EWWW Image Optimizer plugin

Notes on the New Version (3.4.1) of EWWW Image Optimizer

• The newest release of EWWW Image Optimizer includes a Cloud option that allows you to use their own storage solution for your images. For more information, please click on the option in the plugin settings labeled Cloud Status.
• 

  EWWW Image Optimizer offers the option to optimize images that are located within the Amazon S3 bucket using the S3 Optimizer.

1. 

   To begin optimizing your images, hover over Media on the left side of the WordPress dashboard and click on Bulk Optimize. Note that images that are added after plugin is loaded are automatically optimized

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2. 

   You can then set the options for optimizing the images. You can select Force re-optimize. This option will go back through images already considered "optimized". You can also set how long the plugin will pause between images being optimized. Only use this option to help with performance issues when you're trying optimize your images while your server is under heavy load. Click on Scan for Unoptimized images to begin the optimization.

3. 

   Once complete, jump back over to the Bulk Optimize page and you can click on the Show Optimized Images to see what has been optimized. You can also go back to the Settings page and find the summary for optimized images in terms of file size.

Once your images are finished being optimized, the optimized images are now in use on your site and will allow for lower server loads and quicker page load times for your users.