Image Optimization¶

Image Optimization Summary Tab¶

Tip

Check out the Media Troubleshooting page for help with some common issues.

LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress can optimize your images, making them smaller and faster to transmit. You may manually press a button to optimize each new batch of images or configure optimization to run automatically.

Warning

Do not use other image optimization plugins at the same time as LSCWP's image optimization. This can cause undesirable behavior, including processing errors that require LiteSpeed staff to clear manually. Choose one image optimizer and stick with it.

Before you begin¶

About QUIC.cloud¶

All of LiteSpeed's online services, including Image Optimization, are hosted at our QUIC.cloud site. You don't need to have a QUIC.cloud account if you don't want one, but you do need to enable QUIC.cloud services in the plugin's General section.

Image Optimization happens via one of two queues:

Standard Queue, which is free for everyone, and usage is unlimited.
Advanced Queue, which comes with a free monthly quota. If you want to continue to use the Advanced Queue after your free quota runs out, you may purchase more quota. A QUIC.cloud account is required to purchase quota. More details are available at QUIC.cloud.

Media settings¶

There are a few settings you may want to adjust before you request image optimization. For instance, by default, only JPG and PNG images are optimized. The plugin does not create next-generation image formats, such as WebP and AVIF, for each image unless you enable that behavior. You may also choose to create only next-generation images and forgo JPG optimization.

See the Image Optimization Settings tab for more information.

Optimization Summary¶

Submitting your first request¶

Press the Send Optimization Request button to start your first round of Image Optimization. Only one group of images is sent the first time. We want to make sure everything is working well between your server and ours, so we start small. You don't need to wait on this page; you can go away and do something else.

Once your first group of images has finished optimizing and has been pulled back to your system—automatically through cron or manually by pressing the Pull Images button—LiteSpeed will slowly start sending larger groups of images. Press Send Optimization Request again to send the second batch.

You'll see status messages below showing how many images were requested, how many were pulled, and whether there were any errors.

When images are ready to pull, press the Pull Images button to start the process manually.

After a few batches, the batch sizes will reach 200 images.

To automate the process, make sure your system cron is working. Then, switch to the Image Optimization Settings tab, set Auto Request Cron to ON, and set Auto Pull Cron to ON. Save your settings, and then your site's images will optimize and pull in the background.

Tip

You may have noticed the small QUIC.cloud logo in this area. If you're having a problem with your QUIC.cloud services, try clicking the symbol to redetect your closest available service node(s). If your previously available node has gone down, a new node will be selected, and services can continue.

Optimization Status¶

Clean up unfinished data¶

If you encounter errors during optimization and can no longer continue, press this button. It wipes all data related to optimization requests that did not complete from the database, allowing you to continue optimizing. Any images that were in progress will be treated as new the next time you request optimization.

Tip

If you do not find and address the underlying cause of the errors, they are likely to continue occurring and clog up your optimization feed again.

Storage Optimization¶

After you've optimized your images, there may be three copies of each image stored on disk: the newly optimized version, a next-generation format, and a backup of the original, unoptimized version.

Calculate backup disk space¶

This button calculates the total disk space used by the original, unoptimized images.

Remove original image backups¶

Click this link to delete all backups of the original images.

Danger

This is irreversible. You will be unable to revert optimization once the backups are deleted, so be certain before proceeding.

Optimization Tools¶

Use original files¶

If you decide that you no longer want optimized images on your site, you can use the Use Original Files link to restore the original files, as long as you have not previously used the Remove Original Image Backups function.

Use optimized files¶

If you change your mind again and decide that you want the optimized images, you don't need to send a new request. Click the Use Optimized Files link to restore the optimized versions.

You can use the two links above as often as you like. As long as both versions are on your server, you can switch between them at will.

Soft reset optimization counter¶

If you have already optimized some of your images but something changes in your settings—for example, you switch your next-generation image format from WebP to AVIF—you can use this button to reset the counter.

Resetting the counter means that Image Optimization will start again at the beginning of your media library, but it won't regenerate optimized original images or next-generation formats if they already exist.

Destroy all optimization data¶

Sometimes you may want to start over from scratch. This link gives you a clean slate. It deletes the image optimization information from the database and reverts all completed optimizations.

Danger

There is no way to undo this process, so press Destroy All Optimization Data only if you are absolutely sure.

How image optimization works¶

You may wonder what happens behind the scenes when images are optimized. There are two parts: the process followed when you submit a request and the actual optimization steps performed on your images.

What is an image group?¶

In Image Optimization, we refer to both “images” and “image groups.” What do we mean by that?

When you upload an image to your Media Library, a collection of differently sized versions of that image is created. These versions make up an image group.

Example

You upload an image called 770.jpg.

WordPress creates a collection of new images from that one:

770-1024x701.jpg
770-150x150.jpg
770-300x205.jpg
770-348x445.jpg
770-568x725.jpg
770-768x525.jpg
770-78x99.jpg

These new images, plus the original, make an “image group.” The sizes in this example may vary from those created by your WordPress installation, depending on your media configuration.

When you run Image Optimization, all images within the group are processed together, adding .webp, .avif, and .bk files to the group where appropriate.

Changing your mind image by image¶

If you want to revert all your images to their originals, use the Revert Optimization buttons described above. If you decide to revert just one image, you can restore its pre-optimization version from within the Media Library.

From the WordPress Dashboard, navigate to Media > Library. If optimized versions of the image exist, notes in the LiteSpeed Optimization column show how much space optimization saved. If the optimized files are in use, there will be an optm link. If the original files are in use, the link will say non-optm. Click the link to toggle between the optimized and unoptimized versions.

Note

The WebP or AVIF indicator next to a Media Library image indicates that next-generation images were generated for at least one of the image sizes in that group. Some image sizes may not have corresponding WebP or AVIF versions. This usually happens because the next-generation image was not smaller than the JPG or PNG. If a next-generation image does not provide any savings for a particular image size, it is discarded.

Troubleshooting¶

You may see several warning or error messages after sending an image optimization request. See our Media Troubleshooting Guide to learn what you can do about them.

Server list¶

You may need to allowlist our QUIC.cloud servers so that they can communicate with your server to transfer images. See the QUIC.cloud docs for more information.

Image Optimization Settings Tab¶

Auto Request Cron¶

OFF

When this option is ON, image optimization requests are sent automatically via cron for new Media Library uploads.

Auto Pull Cron¶

This setting has been deprecated in LSCWP v7. Auto Pull Cron is now enabled by default. To disable it, add the following line to your wp-config.php file:

define('LITESPEED_IMG_OPTM_PULL_CRON', false);

If you disable this setting, you will need to fetch newly optimized images manually with the Pull Images button in the Image Optimization Summary tab.

Optimize Original Images¶

ON

When Image Optimization runs, JPG and PNG images are optimized, and backups are saved. For example, if the image image.jpg can be optimized, a copy is saved as image.bk.jpg. The newly optimized version is then saved as image.jpg. Set this option to OFF if you do not want JPG and PNG files to be optimized.

Remove Original Backups¶

OFF

Danger

Be careful: this action is irreversible.

When this option is ON, Image Optimization automatically deletes your original images after fetching the optimized versions. You will be unable to Revert Optimization if the backups are deleted.

Optimize Losslessly¶

OFF

When JPG and PNG images are optimized, lossy compression is used by default. Set this option to ON to use lossless compression. This can improve image quality, but may result in larger images than lossy compression.

Optimize Image Sizes¶

All Sizes Selected

By default, the Image Optimization service processes all of your site's image sizes. If there are sizes you prefer not to optimize, you can deselect them here. Those sizes will no longer be sent to QUIC.cloud for optimization or conversion to next-generation image formats (WebP/AVIF).

The uploaded image and all other selected sizes will be optimized and/or converted to next-generation image formats as usual.