We are going to compare three online tools that will help us compress the images that we upload to WordPress: TinyPNG, Kraken and ShortPixel.
Optimize images in WordPress
When we talk about optimizing images in WordPress, we are referring particularly to reducing their weight and size so that we continue to maintain a minimum acceptable level of quality. This is highly recommended since it will provide us with several benefits that are surely of interest to us.
And it is that one of the main reasons why we should optimize the images that we use on the web is to reduce the loading time of our pages, which, as we surely know, improves the user experience and is a relevant factor in SEO positioning of our website. If you are interested in all this topic we recommend you take a look at the .
On the other hand, by reducing the weight of the files, we also reduce the space they occupy in our accommodation, we do not overload it, and we manage to optimize the resources we have.
As we see in this tutorial on , when uploading an image to WordPress, several replicas of it are automatically created in different sizes, which will be used later on the web, ideally depending on the size that needs to be displayed. Needless to say, this being the case, it still makes more sense to reduce the weight of the images we use.
Well, there are many online tools that will allow us to optimize images before uploading them to WordPress. In this case we have chosen to compare three of them: TinyPNG, Kraken and ShortPixel.
Let’s first see the characteristics and how to use each one, and then a real example where we will compare the level of understanding and quality that can be reached in their free versions.
Compressing images with TinyPNG
We could say that it is one of the most popular services when it comes to image optimization. It offers a free and premium quality service, as well as being useful and, despite its name, it allows you to optimize images with PNG and JPG extensions.
The only drawback that it could have is that its web interface is the least attractive of all that we are going to see, but hey, it is the least of it considering what it can provide us.
In its free version, which we access directly when entering its website, we have the possibility of uploading up to 20 images at a time, with a maximum limit of 5MB for each one, which is quite good in most cases.
To use it, it is not necessary to register, we will only have to drag the PNG or JPG files that we want to the corresponding box, and the compression process will begin. In a few seconds we will have the images ready to download.
It also has a paid version, with a fee of $25 per year, which allows, among other things, to upload more than 20 images at once whose limits can go up to 25MB in a single file. Apart from all this, it also has a WordPress plugin that we can download from the .
Image compression with Kraken
The next image optimizer we are going to look at is . According to its own developers, this tool works with the best algorithms of its class. Using it we will also be able to save storage space in our hosting, in addition to bandwidth, and we will reduce the loading times of our website. Kraken offers several plans:
Micro Basic Advanced Premium Business Plan Price/month $5 $9 $19 $39 $79 Images/month 500MB 2GB 5GB 15GB 60GB
These premium plans will give us access to some extra features, but really, if we want, we can only use its online optimizer completely free of charge, it doesn’t even require registration. To do this we have to go to the menu option “”. Although this option does not have all the possibilities of the paid versions, and only allows files with a maximum size of 1MB, it is fully functional.
In fact, we can upload images by dragging them to the corresponding box and compress them in several ways: Lossy, optimization with “intelligent” quality loss, LossLess, lossless optimization, and Expert mode, where we can vary some parameters. It also has a version to download from the .
Image compression with ShortPixel
Finally let’s look at the third tool. It is about , a current-style image compressor, which we can also use online. This tool allows you to compress JPG, PNG, and GIF images, including animated GIFs, as well as PDF documents. As in Kraken, ShortPixel offers several plans depending on the more or less intensive use that we are going to need:
Plan Free Short Large XXL Price/month Free $4.99 $9.99 $29.99 Images/month 100 5000 12000 55000
As we can see, it also has a free version. If we register and log in to it, it will allow us to upload files larger than 10MB, which may interest us at some point.
We can also perform the compression of up to 50 images at the same time, and choose between several levels, Lossy, Glossy and Lossless. All this is done from the “Compress” menu option.
ShortPixel also has a plugin with very positive reviews that we can find in the .
Optimizing images with TinyPNG, Kraken and ShortPixel
Well, now that we have seen the characteristics of each of these tools, we are going to compress an image to check the quality that we obtain with each of them and the level of optimization that we can achieve.
The original image in question has a size of 1200x800px, and a weight of 535KB, let’s see the compression that we achieve with these three services, also modifying the compression level:
Tool Compression Level Final Weight Saving ShortPixel Lossy 46.4KB 92% Kraken Lossy 61KB 88.5% TinyPNG – 116KB 79% ShortPixel Glossy 124KB 77% Kraken Lossless 498KB 7% ShortPixel Lossless 499KB 6.75%
As we can see, the maximum saving occurs when using ShortPixel at the Lossy level, with which we achieve a 92% compression of the image. It is followed by Kraken, also with a very good optimization in its Lossy compression, and then TinyPNG, which reaches 79%, which is quite acceptable, as well as ShortPixel with 77%. The last two options are discarded since the improvement is minimal.
Seen all these numbers, we have to say that the best compressions taking into account image quality, optimal loss, and size, we have achieved using TinyPNG and the ShortPixel tool with Glossy compression.
The first two, ShortPixel and Kraken at the Lossy compression level, present a bit more loss of image quality. It is a loss that is more noticeable to the naked eye, although it is still acceptable, so depending on the importance of our images on the web, or even in a specific post or page, we can use one or another service.
In any case, as we can see, these three online tools allow us to compress our images in a very simple way, so we encourage you to start using them if you haven’t already;).
Summary and conclusion
Optimizing the images we use in WordPress is important to reduce page load time, as we see in , improve user experience, SEO, and optimize the use of resources.
Some online tools allow us to compress our images. We have analyzed three very interesting ones: TinyPNG, Kraken and ShortPixel. All of them with free versions and with good results in the maximum and medium levels of comprehension.
And that’s all! As always, we recommend the courses, where you will find step-by-step guides 🙂
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