Introduction
This guide explains how to optimise images on WordPress using the Compress JPEG & PNG images plugin which uses the TinyPNG service. This will reduce the load time of your pages, which will improve user experience and SEO.
Lots of similar plugins are available. Smush is one of the most popular, but only provides “lossy” compression with a paid Pro account. Lossy compression reduces the file size (and load time) significantly by reducing the quality of the image slightly. This is recommended unless your site displays high quality photography. The Compress JPEG & PNG images plugin provides lossy compression for free for up to 500 images per month.
Requirements
- WordPress Admin account.
- Email address to register the TinyPNG / Tinyfy account, or existing Tinyfy API key.
Skill Level
Basic knowledge of WordPress.
Instructions
Time needed: 5 minutes.
- Log into WordPress Admin.
This is usually accessed via yourdomain.com/wp-admin.
- Go to the Add Plugins page.
In the main menu, click Plugins > Add New.
- Search for the Compress JPEG & PNG images plugin.
In the Search plugins… field, enter Compress JPEG & PNG images.
- Install the Compress JPEG & PNG images plugin.
In the Compress JPEG & PNG images listing, click Install Now.
- Activate the Compress JPEG & PNG images plugin.
After the plugin has installed, click Activate in the Compress JPEG & PNG images listing.
- Start the API configuration.
Click the Please register or provide an API key to start compressing images link on the Plugins page.
- Enter your Tinyfy account details.
If you don’t have a Tinyfy account with TinyPNG, fill in the Your full name and Your email address fields and click Register Account. You will then need to click on the verification link which will be emailed to you in order to activate the account.
If you have a Tinyfy account with TinyPNG, enter your API Key in the Already have an account? section and click Save.
- Save the settings.
If necessary, edit the settings. If you’re likely to upload a large number of images each month, you may want to tick only the image sizes that your site actually uses in the Image sizes field. The plugin has a limit of 500 images per month, and you can always bulk update any images which haven’t been optimised at a later date.
Click Save Changes.
- Start using the plugin.
If you have selected the Compress new images in the background (Recommended) or Compress new images during upload options, any images which are uploaded in future will be automatically optimised.
You can also optimise existing images by going to Media > Bulk Optimisation in the main menu.
More Info
Compress JPEG & PNG images plugin page: https://wordpress.org/plugins/tiny-compress-images/