crisp ¹ · What happens to one upload
You upload one photo. Every visitor gets the lightest copy their browser can use.
- 01
You upload, as usual
Switch on automatic optimization once, and nothing else changes in how you work. Existing images are handled by Bulk Optimize.
- 02
Our service does the heavy work
Compression runs on the ImgCrisp service, not on your hosting. Your site stays fast while it happens.
- 03
Every size, every format
A recompressed original plus WebP and AVIF of each size WordPress makes. Photo-like PNGs also get a JPEG; transparent ones a compact PNG.
- 04
The right file reaches each visitor
Modern browsers get AVIF. Older ones, search crawlers and social shares get the light fallback, not the heavy original.
- 05
It goes on the record
The ledger notes what changed and what it saved. The original waits in a backup in case you want it back.
It also catches the images themes forget. When a template prints a full-size photo with no smaller options, ImgCrisp offers the sizes WordPress already made, so a phone stops downloading a desktop-sized file.
The detail behind each step.
One file goes up, every size comes back
Your site sends only the full-size image. The service makes every size WordPress uses from it, including the extra sizes your theme and plugins register, so one upload costs one trip.
Smaller, or left alone
A recompressed file replaces yours only when it is smaller. If your original can’t be made smaller, it stays exactly as it was, and the report says “already optimal” rather than claiming a 0% saving.
The original is copied first
Before anything is changed, the original goes into a backup folder on your own site. If the copy can’t be made, the image isn’t optimized at all.
Busy is not a failure
When the service is busy, an image waits 30 seconds and tries again, without using up one of its three tries. After ten real failures in a row the queue pauses itself, rather than failing through your whole library.
Checked on disk
Verify re-reads every optimized image from disk and marks any that are missing, larger than the original, or missing a WebP or AVIF version.
New uploads too, when you choose
Switch on Optimize new uploads automatically in Settings and each new image is optimized as it is uploaded, right after WordPress makes its sizes. It is off until you do. Your existing library is handled by Bulk Optimize.
What each visitor is sent.
The image tag on your page becomes a short list of choices. Each browser takes the first one it can use.
| Who’s asking | What they get | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Current Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge | AVIF | The smallest file, in every size the page asks for. |
| Browsers with WebP but not AVIF | WebP | Next smallest. |
| Older browsers and search crawlers | Recompressed JPEG, or the lighter fallback for a PNG | A JPEG copy of a photo-like PNG, a compact PNG for a transparent one. |
| Social shares and image sitemaps (Yoast SEO) | JPEG instead of a heavy PNG | So Facebook, X and crawlers stop downloading multi-megabyte PNGs. |
This works for images in your posts and for images your theme prints with WordPress’s own functions. What it works with.
Where you see what happened.
The Optimization Report
A row for every image: done, already optimal, failed or skipped, with the reason. Filter it, search it, and export it as a spreadsheet. Reading the report.
Your Media Library
An ImgCrisp column on every image, linking to its row in the report, where you can restore the original.
The dashboard
How much smaller your images are for each kind of browser, counted across every size, not just the full-size file.
Exactly what leaves your server.
Sent, when an image is optimized
The image file, its file name, your quality and format settings, and your API key. For an AI upscale, the service passes that one image to the specialist provider that runs our super-resolution model. Your site never contacts that provider itself.
Never sent
Your posts, your visitors’ data, or anything else on your site. Health reports are off until you switch them on, and even then they hold counts and versions, not images.
Install it. Read the receipt. Undo it if you don’t like it.
Your first 50 images are free for 30 days. No card needed.
This page 58 KB on first load (phone, AVIF, fresh visit). How we measure