In today’s digital age where content is king, you not only need to make sure your online presence is credible and interesting, but you also need to make sure it’s easy to use, and offer an optimal user experience for visitors. One of the easiest ways to do this is to make sure that the images you’re featuring on your website are compressed to easily readable file sizes, that render quickly and smoothly on user’s screens. The good news is that there are a number of free, premium image compression tools. Here are some of the best ones.
1. JPEG Optimizer
One of the most popular and easiest to use image compression tools is JPEG Optimizer. JPEG Optimizer is a simple image optimization tool that allows you to upload and compress the photos online. In addition, you can quickly resize images in JPEG Optimizer, so the image file size can be reduced and it loads faster on your site. It also has an EXIF reader.
The only drawback of JPEG Optimizer is that, as the name implies, it only works on JPGs You won’t be able to compress PNGs or GIFs through this tool.
2. Optimizilla
Optimizilla, or imagecompressor.com, is a very user-friendly option for image compression. This online image optimizer uses a smart combination of 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.
Another advantage of this tool is that you can upload up to 20 images at a time and compress them all at once. You can also alter the compression level via a cool slider tool in the interface. This tool also shows you the before and after version of the images, so you can see any difference in quality.
3. ImageRecycle
ImageRecycleis a great option because it handles all file types: it compresses your JPEG, PNG, GIF and PDF images with impressive results. The drag-and-drop function is easy to use, to drag files into the compressor. There’s also an option on the home interface to get your website analyzed via a “Free Report” tool, which is a nice bonus. This report will help you get an even better understanding which images on your website need optimization to increase the performance and site speed of your website.
In addition, ImageRecycle has a number of extensions and plugins, including WordPress, so you can install the plugin and work within your WordPress platform instead of navigating to the tool site each time you want to compress images.
However ImageRecycle is a paid tool, which may not fit your budget. They do offer a 15 day free trial with 100 MB limit.
4. CompressNow
CompressNow is another simple interface, easy to use optimization tool. It offers bulk upload, where you can upload up to 10 images at once, either JPEG, PNG or GIF image. You can also set a specific compression percentage for the image and then download it to use on your site. You can export the images one by one, or download them as a zip file. You can upload images up to 9 MB for compression on CompressNow.
5. Tiny PNG
Tiny PNG is one of the oldest and most popular free image optimisation tools (and perhaps most well-known for its adorable panda imagery on its home screen). Despite the name, this tool accepts JPEG and PNG images for compression (not just PNGs).
Tiny PNG also allows for bulk upload: you’re allowed to upload up to 20 images at once (and up to 100 images a month). The image size for each image should not be more than 5 MB. After you finish compressing your files, you can download the images to your computer or save them in Dropbox.
Like ImageRecycle, Tiny PNG also has a WordPress plugin (as well as a Magenta extension) to avoid having to go to their website to compress your images.
You go through a lot of trouble to take photos and then upload them to your computer via a cable (like the ones that redirect to koincable.com), or to download professional photos for use online. Make sure you’re maximizing the visibility and rendering of these photos by using one of these free image compression tools. Even if you’re not sure that this is something your website needs, you’re better off in getting in the habit of using these tools and compressing your images, so that you set your website up for success from the get-go.
