This is often caused by failing to optimize uploaded content (images, pdf’s, videos, etc.). When you take a photo with your phone or your camera it is saved in a VERY high resolution which gives you multiple options in how you use that photo, including printing. However, if you then take that photo exactly as it is and upload it to your website without optimizing it first, the size of the image will take a huge toll on your websites performance. Multiple that effect by the number of images you’ve uploaded to your site and you can see how this can be a problem.
Take for example, these two images:
The image on the left is straight out of the camera and even when reduced by 50% it is still a whooping 7.68 MEGAbytes
however, the image on the left after being optimized is only 235.58Kbytes.
Or to make it a bit easier to compare, 7864 KB without optimization or 235 KB optimized.
And optimizing does NOT mean you lose anything in the quality of the image, these 2 photos show little to no difference visually, but a HUGE difference in size.
So before you upload ANYTHING to your website, be sure to optimize!
Need a free and handy tool to help you optimize like a pro? Try RIOT, it’s what we use.
