Compress Images for Faster Websites Without Ugly Artifacts
2026-05-05
Practical guidance on quality settings, formats, and when lossy compression is worth it for LCP and bandwidth.
Large hero images are a top cause of slow LCP; shrinking file size often beats lazy-loading alone.
Start with moderate quality for photos and step down until you notice visible banding or blur on real devices.
Prefer the right format: photos usually favor lossy codecs; graphics with sharp edges may need PNG or SVG.
Keep originals archived; export compressed copies for production so you can re-tune without quality loss stacking.