Why do you need to compress images?
The main reason is to lower down the loading time of your blog. this has a direct correlation with search engine ranking.
If your page takes more time to load, your competitor can overtake your similar quality content, but a faster loading time.
It’s important to note that having images on our blog posts are very useful useful as they improve the visual experience & make our content more media rich.
At the same time, to stop images from slowing down the loading time of our pages, we can use a few techniques:
- Compress images without losing quality.
- Use high-quality hosting for your website.
- Use a Content Delivery Network.
In this article, we will talk about compressing images.
6 Best Online Tools for Compressing Images (without losing quality):
I love this one as the UI is very modern. It makes compressing images fun!
You can export compressed images using Dropbox or Google Drive. It supports the compression of 4 image formats:
You will want to bookmark this for future use.
2. Kraken.io
This is one of my favorites as you can compress multiple files in one go.
Simply drag & drop.
What’s really cool here is that you can download all of the compressed files into a .zip file with single click.
I have been using it for a while & highly recommend it.
Below you can see the amount of data saved by the Kraken.io image compressor:
Images Compressed with Kraken (This image was also compressed with Kraken)
When I was researching online image compression tools, I landed on the GiftofSpeed website.
This is one place which offers many tools that any webmaster can use to test various dimensions of their website.
This is another easy to use online image compressor site.
You should also use their image delivery tool to see if images on your blog posts or websites are well-optimized. It will also suggest things that you can do to further optimize your site.
Here is the result from one of my recent blog posts:
In my case, I always compress my images using ImageOptim (Free for Mac). At times, I run a batch image compression in WordPress using a plugin.
You should go to Gift of Speed and take a test for your site to see how much KiB you can save by compressing images. This will give you a good idea of which image compressor tool/WordPress plugin you should be using.
4. Tinypng
This is one of the oldest & most well-known websites for compressing images online.
Tinypng also offers a WordPress plugin & a Magento extension that you can use to compress images without the hassle of manually uploading & compressing images on their website.
Supports:
The free account lets you compress roughly 100 images/month.
5. OptimiZilla
I really like this one as you can compress an image based on your desired level of quality.
The instant preview lets you compare your original image to your compressed image & you can set your desired compression level from this preview.
This is useful when you are compressing a huge image & want a way to control quality loss.
It uses the best optimization and lossy compression algorithms to shrink JPEG and PNG images to the minimum possible size while keeping the required level of quality.
(You should also know about OptimiZilla’s sister converting site called Toepub. This lets you convert .pdf files into various formats for free. eBook authors will find Toepubvery useful.)
6. ImageRecycle
This is another great image & .pdf compression tool.
You can use its online compressor tool for free and developers can use its API to build their own compression tool.
It supports multiple CMSs using their API. Right now, they have a WordPress plugin,Shopify app, Joomla Extension, and a Magento extension.
You can create a 14-day free trial with a 100 MB quota.
They also have an interesting offer for blogger who can write about their service in order to get 2 months of access with a 3GB quota. I believe 3GB is good enough for many of you to compress all of the images in your media library.
Over to you:
These are some of my favorite online web apps to compress images without losing quality.
I seldom use them for projects which are not related to Word Press or blogging, but you can use them however you like.
Now, it’s your turn to contribute. Let us know your favorite image optimization tools in the comments section below.
If you’ve enjoyed learning about these tools, show your love by sharing this post on Face book & Twitter.
