There are several reasons why you should optimize images. First, is simply because when you optimize image/s, the faster your web page can load. Plus, you can also save storage and bandwidth space consumption. To put it simply, it will speed up your website, which means that it can easily be viewed by your visitors without the trouble of waiting for the images or graphics to load.
When you choose to optimize images, put in mind that it does not mean you choose to go for a lower quality. Optimizing image does lower the size of the image but does not affect the quality.
There are several websites that offer image optimization for free. Since it is available online, you would definitely need an internet connection to be able to optimize the image. Most websites that offer this service will ask you to upload the image by simply clicking the browse button or by entering the URL of the image. If you choose to browse, just select which image you want to optimize from the files on your computer. The great thing about optimization tools online is its convenience especially if you have a good internet connection. All you have to do is go to the website and upload your image and then download the optimized image. You don’t have to install the software to your computer. Most, if not all websites that offer free optimization will only allow you to optimize one image at a time. Although there are websites that offer bulk or batch conversion, it still does not guarantee convenience since they have limits on the image size you can upload for optimization. Sometimes, not all file formats are accepted when you optimize images online.
The issue when you optimize your image/s online is the speed. Remember that when you upload, it takes time to send all the data to the server, same to downloading the optimized image. If you compare it to converting the images using software installed on your computer, it will be faster and more convenient to use especially if you need to optimize a lot of images.
For web and graphic designers who use Adobe Photoshop in designing, this is the best tool for you. Why waste time and effort installing other software to optimize images if you can do that through Adobe Photoshop? Adobe Photoshop is not only for web and graphic designers though, anyone can use it to optimize their images, and it’s not rocket science. But if all you ever want to use it for is to optimize images, then better look for other software with less space and memory consumption.
There are a lot of available free image optimization websites and software you can choose to visit or download on the internet.
This is one of the most commonly used web-based or online image optimizing tool. You can optimize a few images at a time. After uploading your files, it will show a detailed data on how your files were compressed. You have to download all your “smushed” or optimized images in a zip file. The best thing about this is that you don’t need to sign up or register in order to use it. Just visit the website and you can immediately start using it.
This site offer online image optimization and software installation for offline use. They offer these services all for free. If you use this online, you can only compress one image at a time. But when you install the software on your computer, you can resize and compress your images in bulk. So if you have hundreds of images to optimize for your website, this is the best option for you.
WebGraphics Optimizer is best for optimizing and compressing images for web use. It provides tons of very useful features especially to web designers. It also supports bulk optimization up to thousands of images. The best is that it supports 38 image file formats! Including very uncommon graphic formats like EMF, CLP, IFF,PBM, CUT, XWD, DXF, XPM, PLT, ITG, DGN, XBM and more! It can be downloaded for free but some features are available only to those who bought the professional version.
