Not seeing file savings unless I scale an image

  • Resolved TWD

    (@twd)


    5 years, 9 months ago

    When I upload a file (with Smush enabled) I am only seeing a minimal file size reduction.

    e.g. uploaded a 943kg JPG file. -> Media Library says it is now 866KB

    HOWEVER ….

    if I scale the image (even by the smallest fraction) I see substantial savings.
    e.g. same media file, scaled from 1000px x 664px to 999px x 663px
    File size goes from 866KB -> 133KB

    Of course it’s a bit of a pain to do this arbitrary scaling manually.

    Have I misconfigured something?

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • Anton Vanyukov

    (@vanyukov)

    5 years, 9 months ago

    Hi @twd,

    Can you please try to disable Smush and scale an image from 1000px x 664px to 999px x 663px? I think, WordPress has some default compression enabled by default, when you scale. In the end, the scaled image with WP (without Smush) should be bigger in file size than the same scaled image (with Smush).

    Best regards,
    Anton

    Thread Starter TWD

    (@twd)

    5 years, 9 months ago

    Yes. You are correct.
    If i scale the image with Smush disabled there is still a big file size reduction.
    866KB -> 139KB

    So what this is telling me is that Smush only delivers a file size reduction of about 8% on “normal” sized images, without manually doing the scaling procedure (which is a native WP feature anyway).

    It seems like the REAL value of Smush is in dealing with large pixel dimension images.
    For example if I try to upload a 3000px X 2000px image weighing 2.7MB, the Smush plugin will automatically scale the image to my maximum allowable image width of 2048px and massively reduce the file weight to 274KB.

    SADLY, this only seems to happen if I upload images directly via the Media Library image loader. If I upload files via a form plugin such as Caldera, Smush doesn’t do anything!

    So perhaps Smush WOULD have it’s uses for sites that allow users to upload their own images to your media gallery, IF it worked in conjunction with those form plugins.

    Otherwise, I’m a bit underwhelmed by the benefits.

    Any comments?

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by TWD.
    • This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by TWD.
    Anton Vanyukov

    (@vanyukov)

    5 years, 9 months ago

    @twd,

    The majority of user does not optimize images at all. So when you resize with WordPress, the image is saved with about 80% quality. I don’t remember the exact number, but you get the point. So if you try to resize an image and zoom in 100% to the original and the resized versions, in most cases you will see a difference. Smush, on the other hand, will not degrade your image quality. You will get almost exactly the same image with no quality loss, but smaller in terms of file size. Yeah, the reduction on small images is not huge, but you get a better compression rate for larger images. And you don’t loose in quality. That’s a huge advantage, in my opinion.

    For example if I try to upload a 3000px X 2000px image weighing 2.7MB, the Smush plugin will automatically scale the image to my maximum allowable image width of 2048px and massively reduce the file weight to 274KB.

    Again, Smush uses WordPress to resize. So you’re still getting this image optimized by WP + Smush. You can disable WP optimization by adding the following lines to your functions.php file:

    add_filter( 'jpeg_quality', 'disable_wp_compression' );
add_filter( 'wp_editor_set_quality', 'disable_wp_compression' );
function disable_wp_compression( $arg ) {
    return 100;
}

    Regarding Caldera – I’ve just tested, Smush is working fine. Image is compressed, when saving to the media library.

    Best regards,
    Anton

    mowen09

    (@mowen09)

    5 years, 8 months ago

    I am trying to do some SEO file size reduction and reducing the size of images seems an easy win. However, when you scale an image, do you need to make a new link to the scaled image from your post or page? Is the image path kept the same? Many thanks.

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by mowen09.
    • This reply was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by mowen09.
    Anton Vanyukov

    (@vanyukov)

    5 years, 8 months ago

    Hi @mowen09,

    Depends on how your theme handles images. Many themes register their own thumbnail sizes and then add different image sizes with srcset attribute. This way you do not need to change any images inside the posts.

    Best regards,
    Anton

    mowen09

    (@mowen09)

    5 years, 8 months ago

    Thanks Anton. I am using Divi if that helps at all?

    Anton Vanyukov

    (@vanyukov)

    5 years, 8 months ago

    @mowen09, if I’m not mistaken, Divi has this covered. If you scale down an image, you should be fine with the post content auto adjusting.

    Best regards,
    Anton

    mowen09

    (@mowen09)

    5 years, 8 months ago

    Thanks Anton. I had asked them a couple of days ago, but no response yet.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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