Description
Digital Creatings AVIF WebP Image Optimizer is developed by Puneet Tiwari and built for practical, server-friendly image optimization on real WordPress sites.
Instead of converting images only during page requests, it can queue conversion jobs and process them in controlled batches via WP-Cron (and optional shutdown processing). This helps reduce page-time CPU spikes on medium and large media libraries.
Key capabilities:
- Converts images to AVIF and/or WebP depending on your selected mode and server support.
- Supports responsive desktop/mobile variants with configurable quality and max width.
- Scans your media library and queues missing variants with progress reporting.
- Background queue controls: batch size, time limit, cron interval, retry failed, clear pending/failed, stop and clear queue.
- Optional lazy loading support for image tags.
- Optional Gravatar caching to local disk (with optimized variants where possible).
- Optional CSS background processing for inline
styleattributes and<style>blocks. - Live admin dashboard for queue and cache status.
Designed for production safety:
- Queue-based processing to avoid heavy one-request workloads.
- Pending queue guardrails to prevent unbounded backlog growth.
- Recovery-oriented controls for scan pause/resume and queue maintenance.
About Digital Creatings:
Digital Creatings AVIF WebP Image Optimizer is maintained by Puneet Tiwari (puneetbca) to provide reliable, performance-focused WordPress tooling for businesses and agencies.
Website: https://www.digitalcreatings.com
Support: https://www.digitalcreatings.com/contact/
External services
This plugin can optionally connect to Gravatar (Automattic) to download comment author profile images when Cache Gravatars is enabled in the plugin settings.
- What it is used for: Gravatar supplies default avatar images for WordPress comments and author profiles. The plugin downloads those images once, converts them locally to AVIF/WebP when possible, and serves cached copies from your site to reduce third-party requests.
- What data is sent and when: Only when Gravatar caching is enabled and a page or comment displays a Gravatar URL (typically
secure.gravatar.com), the plugin sends an HTTP GET request for that avatar image URL and size. No WordPress user account data, email addresses, or site content beyond the public Gravatar URL is transmitted by this plugin. - Service provider: Gravatar (Automattic) — Terms of Service, Privacy Policy.
All other image optimization is performed locally on your server. Original uploads and generated cache files remain on your hosting unless you configure separate CDN or backup services outside this plugin.
Technical Notes
If you are integrating or extending behavior, these hooks are available:
dcawio_defaults– Filter default settings.dcawio_is_excluded– Filter image URL exclusion behavior.dcawio_skip_img_rewrite– Filter per-image rewrite skip logic.dcawio_max_queue_batch_size– Filter maximum allowed queue batch size.dcawio_admin_queue_jobs_limit– Filter number of jobs shown in admin queue list.
Cache and queue behavior depends on server CPU, available image libraries, and cron reliability. For large libraries, prefer queue mode with conservative batch/time limits and monitor progress from the dashboard.
Installation
- Upload the plugin folder to
/wp-content/plugins/, or install via Plugins > Add New in wp-admin. - Activate Digital Creatings AVIF WebP Image Optimizer.
- Open Image Optimizer in wp-admin.
- Configure:
- Preferred output format (
Auto,AVIF only,WebP only) - Desktop/mobile quality and max widths
- Queue settings (enabled, batch size, time limit, interval)
- Preferred output format (
- Click Queue All Files to build background jobs for existing media.
- Let WP-Cron process jobs or run Process Queue Now from the dashboard.
FAQ
-
Does this plugin modify original uploaded files?
-
No. Original uploads are kept. Optimized variants are generated in the plugin cache directory and served when available.
-
Where are optimized files stored?
-
By default in:
wp-content/uploads/dcaw-cache/Gravatar cache files are stored inside:
wp-content/uploads/dcaw-cache/gravatars/ -
What image formats are supported for conversion input?
-
Typical raster uploads such as JPEG and PNG are supported, based on your server image libraries and conversion tools.
-
What does “Auto” format mode do?
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Auto generates both AVIF and WebP variants (when supported). Delivery prioritizes AVIF with WebP fallback behavior.
-
Why do queue jobs stay pending?
-
Common causes:
- WP-Cron not firing regularly on your host.
- Batch/time limit too low for your server speed.
- Temporary lock/queue pressure from a very large scan.
Use Process Queue Now, verify WP-Cron, and tune queue settings.
-
Does CSS background optimization include external CSS files?
-
The current implementation optimizes background image URLs found in inline styles and
<style>blocks emitted in page HTML. -
Can I exclude specific images or paths?
-
Yes. Use Excluded Paths and provide comma-separated URL substrings to skip conversion for matching files.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Digital Creatings AVIF WebP Image Optimizer” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
ContributorsTranslate “Digital Creatings AVIF WebP Image Optimizer” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.5
- Added Dashboard server status panel (above Quick start) that explains AVIF/WebP readiness and lists what is not configured on the host.
- Added Digital Creatings support contact (puneet@digitalcreatings.com) with mailto help for server-side AVIF/WebP setup.
- Added shortcut to open the Server & Help guide from the dashboard status panel.
1.0.4
- Updated Tested up to for WordPress 7.0.
- Documented optional Gravatar external service usage in readme.
- Replaced nested output buffers with a single HTML buffer (fixes unclosed ob_start review item).
- Migrated legacy
sio_*storage keys todcawio_*with automatic upgrade routine.
1.0.3
- Flattened plugin layout: removed nested
smart-image-optimizer/folder; source now lives at plugin root. - Renamed admin UI/CSS/JS identifiers from
sio-todcawio-for consistent branding.
1.0.2
- Aligned plugin slug, text domain, and code prefix (
dcawio) for WordPress.org Plugin Check compliance. - Fixed escaping, translators comments, and filesystem helper usage flagged in review.
- Updated Tested up to header and readme short description/tags for directory requirements.
- Removed legacy theme bootstrap and manual textdomain loading (WordPress.org auto-loads translations).
1.0.1
- Fixed queue clearing flow so clearing all jobs no longer leaves a stale scan-cancelled flag that can block fresh enqueues.
- Standardized plugin text domain usage in admin and compatibility strings for better translation consistency.
- Added plugin text domain loading on
plugins_loaded. - Improved admin flush button label consistency after AJAX actions.
- Added WordPress.org-compliant readme and expanded metadata for submission readiness.
- Rebranded plugin naming to a more distinctive identity for directory review compatibility.
- Moved generated cache storage into the uploads directory with a plugin-specific subfolder.
- Replaced brittle ABSPATH-only path mapping with upload/content-aware URL-path resolution.
- Added explicit output-buffer shutdown handling for HTML/CSS buffer callbacks.
1.0.0
- Initial public plugin release.
