Image+ does many things to optimize the speed of your image delivery, compared to regular images.
BENEFIT: better site performance, higher SEO rankings, better results from your images.
Click on “Speed” to access Image+ speed settings.
Detect viewer location, and deliver images from nearby servers
Image+ detects the location of each of your viewers and delivers their images from nearby servers, to maximize the speed of delivery. Image+ uses the Amazon Cloudfront network of data-centers.
Detect screen size, and deliver images of optimal size
Image+ detects the size of each viewer’s screen, whether it is on a desktop or laptop computer, or a mobile phone, and delivers the optimal image resolution for each viewer. Higher resolution images are sent to retina displays.
Also taken into account is whether the image has a zoom effect that requires additional resolution to maintain high quality.
Detect browser support for new image formats, and deliver the best format
Image+ delivers JPEG, WEBP and AVIF images, whichever is supported by each viewer’s device and browser software, and whichever gives the best quality experience for each viewer. The filesize and quality of each image is taken into consideration, rather than simply assuming that all WEBP or AVIF images are superior, which is often not the case.
Image+ also compresses your images to reduce their filesize, like other image optimization plugins, without any perceptible degradation in image quality.
Image+ will continue to deliver new image formats as and when they become supported by various devices and browser software, so you don’t have to worry about that.
Detect mobile devices in ‘low data’ mode
Some mobile devices on older mobile networks, or devices running in low power mode, send a signal to websites requesting that minimal data is delivered. See “Save-Data” https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Save-Data
Most websites ignore this signal. Image+ delivers special ‘low data’ images when requested.
Loading Speed
BENEFIT: Focus bandwidth on your hero images.
“Instant” loading speed is recommended for your hero images that are displayed above the fold, not requiring your viewers to scroll the page. Using this setting, a low-resolution version of your image is displayed instantly – as part of the page itself – for the few milliseconds your image is being transmitted over the internet.
“Lazy” loading speed is recommend for all other images. Using this settings, images are loaded just before the viewer scrolls them into view. This saves you the cost of unseen image views, and also improves the viewer experience, as bandwidth is not wasted on images that remain unseen.
“Normal” loading speed is a middleground if that is required for other reasons. Images are loaded as soon as the web browser can, even if they are out of view.
Caching instructor
Image+ does many other things to optimize the speed of image delivery, compared to regular images. This includes instructing web browsers to cache a copy of your images on each viewer’s computer, so that they do not have to be delivered over the internet every time. This caching saves bandwidth for your users, and makes the Image+ service more affordable for all Marketers.
Caching analytics
Uniquely, Image+ detects when cached images are being viewed, and this data contributes to working out which of your images are over-performing or under-performing.
And there’s more…
Continue reading to learn more about how Imgae+ helps you control your images to secure your brand marketing and reduce costs.