The average page size of the Top 100 websites is 1.6 MB. This is a hefty download for smartphones when WiFi is not available. Almost 70% of that 1.6 MB is images. Making sure that these images are optimized for the Web is of vital importance.
Tweaking settings in Photoshop when saving images for the Web can reduce the file size greatly. But there is a wonderful free tool that manages to squeeze out even more bytes without affecting the image quality: ImageOptim – a simple tool with a simple interface, but oh so very powerful!
Using it is easy: drop one or more images onto the ImageOptim app’s window and ImageOptim will optimize the image(s) and save them back to the original file, now as optimized as it can be.
ImageOptim is lossless, that means it reduces the file size without touching the actual pixel and therefore does not lower the image quality. Instead it optimizes compression parameters, removes junk metadata and unnecessary color profiles.
Here is a screenshot of the ImageOptim app:
When my Mac saves a screenshot the file size tends to generally be quite high. In this case: 21 KB. ImageOptim was able to reduce the file size by more than 63%. And all I had to do was drag it onto the app!
ImageOptim can optimize PNG, JPG and GIF file formats. It is mind-blowingly simple and effective at the same time. And it’s a free open-source app that can be downloaded here…