These days, everyone with a WordPress site wants to know more about image resizing. Why? The answer is simple. Compressed images help your site load faster.
If you are reading this, chances are you know how modern internet users browse different websites. First, they open a site and wait. How long? They wait no more than 3 seconds.
The majority of online users don’t bother to stay on a site that takes greater loading time. This number will increase with better internet speed and a swift lifestyle.
Since 39.5% of all websites run on WordPress, it’s lucrative to know about WordPress image sizes. In this blog, we tell you every factor related to WordPress images and their nuances.
Why Resize Images On WordPress?
You must know why many website owners emphasize image resizing. The reason for this is purely technical.
First, compressing images is the initial step to optimize your website. Nobody wants to visit a site that keeps buffering without any value to the visitor.
Images are paramount for any online content. Without relevant graphics, a website looks bland. Hence, it’s crucial to use images the right way.
When you resize WordPress images, there’s a significant impact on:
- Website performance
- SEO
- Server space
But choosing the correct WordPress image sizes has a direct relation with page speed and image quality. Let us understand how.
Page Speed
Full-sized images on your WordPress site lead to slow page loading. Such images have high resolution and pixels. Thus, the server needs more time to display such photos.
Moreover, image resizing is directly related to page speed. When you edit images to a lower resolution, the website consumes fewer resources to display the image.
So, the page speed increases significantly. We will discuss how to resize WordPress images and increase your page speed in the subsequent sections.
Image Quality
You must be thinking – Does resizing affect my image quality? Not really. Image resizing does not degrade the overall quality of your image on the web.
On most occasions, you need the best image quality, mainly for printing purposes. In the case of the internet, lower resolution images won’t hamper the aesthetics of your picture.
WordPress Image Size By Default
Before you resize image in WordPress, it is vital to understand the basics. By default, WordPress uses predetermined sizes.
These sizes are:
- Thumbnail size
- Medium size
- Large size
- Full size
This table depicts the maximum resolution of each of the above image sizes:
To ensure crisp website performance, choosing the best image size according to your blog is vital.
How To Find The Right Image Size?
In some cases, the default WordPress image sizes do not suit your theme or content. Hence, you need to use the recommended image size depending on the type of content.
You can use two approaches for choosing the right image size. The first one involves entering the ideal image resolution suggested by several experts. Here are the suggestions in a nutshell:
On the contrary, you can follow the column width approach. For this process, you need to follow these steps:
- Use the ‘inspect’ option by right-clicking on your WordPress content.
- The new window displays a code with highlighted lines.
- The code will provide your theme content width.
- Depending on this width, you should upload an image with a lower resolution.
For instance, if your width is 1000 pixels, the WordPress image size should be less than 1000 pixels in width.
How To Scale Images On WordPress?
Scaling an image in WordPress is a simple process. All you need to do is follow a couple of steps and enter relevant values.
If you aren’t familiar with image resolution, you can use the above-recommended sizes to edit images. If you can, use the ‘width’ approach to decide the best image size.
You can use different image editor software for this purpose. But WordPress can perform all these tasks with ease. For proper scaling, you need to:
- Upload the image in your post.
- Edit the image.
- Under the ‘scale image’ section, enter the new width.
- Click on ‘scale’ and voila! Your WordPress image is now ready.
For more detailed steps, the next section will explain everything for beginners.
What Are The Steps For Image Resizing On WordPress?
In many scenarios, you will need to modify WordPress images due to the type of content. For instance, it may be a logo, a widget, or an original photograph. Thus, it makes sense to control image resizing on your own.
Generally, you won’t need to attend a course or watch long videos for this procedure. Follow the steps below and resize WordPress images with ease:
Step 1
Open your WordPress site’s dashboard. From the dropdown, go to the media option. Then, click on the ‘library’ section of your website from the media option.
This section contains all the images on your WordPress account. If you want to add new photos, there is a separate option to upload.
Step 2
Next, click on the image you desire to edit. Under the image, there is an option named ‘edit image.’
This option assists you in editing images with ease. Importantly, you can resize, adjust different settings, add text, etc., through this section.
Step 3
Browse to the ‘scale image’ heading. The section will show the original image dimensions. Under this portion, you can enter new dimensions. Thus, image resizing is a matter of three simple steps.
You can use the WordPress image sizes from our table or choose any suitable resolution.
Can WordPress Resize Images Automatically?
It’s natural for beginners to have basic questions about image resizing. After all, everyone wants to save time and effort to resize WordPress images.
So, can WordPress resize images automatically? The short answer is ‘yes.’ You don’t have to go through the hassle of resizing images manually. With a simple plugin, your focus can shift to content creation and choosing the best photos.
Gumlet is a company that indulges in website automation. Importantly, we cover image scaling and optimization to minimize your efforts. So, you can leave image resizing to the automation of a simple WordPress plugin.
Generally, the steps to resize images automatically includes the following:
Step 1
Hover to the ‘plugins’ option from the WordPress admin dashboard. Then, you need to type ‘Gumlet’ in the search box.
The gumlet WordPress plugin optimizes the image resizing process with ease. You don’t need to look into any manual settings.
Step 2
The next step after installing the plugin is to activate it on your WordPress site. This step is crucial to proceed in choosing the desired WordPress image sizes.
The plugin settings resize images automatically depending on the user screen size. Thus, integration of this image resizing software is smooth and hassle-free.
Step 3
This final step of auto image resizing includes changing the settings on the gumlet plugin menu. Remember to deactivate other image optimization plugins.
On the settings page, you can see significant options like:
- Auto-compress images
- Image quality
You can decide in-depth WordPress image sizes settings through the advanced menu.
FAQs
Now, you can resize an image in WordPress manually or automatically. Still, it’s important to clear some related doubts in this section.
1. How to restore image size on WordPress?
WordPress keeps an original copy of your uploaded image in the media library. Hence, you can use this copy after image resizing from the media library section.
You need to choose the image and recall the original copy for restoring the image size. So, it is beneficial to keep the upload settings as per WP default preferences.
At this time, manual restoration is the only possible way for adjusting an image to its original size. Some plugins do offer more flexibility for such user needs.
2. Why is WordPress automatically resizing my images?
Image resizing on WordPress often merges with the auto-generation feature. When you upload an image on your WP site, the platform saves copies of the original image.
These copies have a different resolution (in pixels). You can recall the large, medium, and thumbnail sizes in this blog. By default, WordPress saves the image in these sizes.
WordPress theme modifies the image to ensure the best page speed. Thus, you can see different WordPress image sizes. To change this function, you need to modify the theme code.
From functions.php, just type in the following codes:
remove_image_size(‘large’);
remove_image_size(‘medium’);
remove_image_size(‘thumbnail’);
Consequently, WP will stop resizing images automatically.
3. What is the correct image size for WordPress?
The ideal resolution that won’t require you to resize images on WordPress is 1200 x 628 pixels. This size is optimal for featured images.
If you are uploading thumbnails, ensure the maximum size to be less than 150 pixels. Furthermore, the PNG format is best for uploading digital WordPress images like logos and icons.
Overall, WordPress image sizes have recommended values. However, there is no single ‘correct’ size. It is helpful to choose an image resolution less than your content width.
4. How to crop and edit an image on WordPress?
To crop and edit images on WordPress, you need to follow steps similar to resizing. First, open the image editor.
Next, click the crop icon and bring the pointer to the image. Drag the square area as per requirement. Remember to select the important content of the image precisely.
After finalizing the crop area, the image resizing panel on the left displays resized dimensions. You can repeat the same steps to change the resolution as per requirement.
Another alternative to the above method is the aspect ratio crop. Under the image crop section, enter the required aspect ratio. Next, hold the shift key and click on the image.
The area will crop depending on your aspect ratio. This option is more precise than the manual crop one.
Wrapping Up
Customers trust businesses with a fluent website. Along with genuine and consistent content, you need to pay attention to other technical aspects too. SEO, page speed, and metadata are some vital pointers that improve your site’s reputation.
Image resizing is one such small yet significant aspect. Images with optimum resolution can increase your WordPress site’s speed drastically. This fluent pace keeps users intrigued and glued to your site. Undoubtedly, everyone knows the importance of user engagement.
You can adjust WordPress image sizes manually or using plugins. Image optimization plugins can save your time and help you focus on the core of your website. Hopefully, these tips help you optimize your WordPress site and get the audience you deserve!
