Large Unoptimized Images
Oversized images are the most common cause of slow websites. Unoptimized images waste bandwidth, increase load times, and hurt Core Web Vitals scores.
What You're Seeing
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) over 2.5 seconds
- Page size exceeds 3MB
- Images visibly loading slowly on page
Why This Happens
- 1Uploading full-resolution camera images without compression
- 2Using PNG format for photographs instead of JPEG/WebP
- 3No responsive image sizes for mobile devices
- 4Missing lazy loading for off-screen images
How We Fix It
Our senior engineers follow this systematic approach to resolve the issue quickly and permanently.
Audit: Use Chrome DevTools Network tab to identify largest images.
Convert Formats: Use WebP for photographs (90% quality), SVG for icons and logos.
Resize: Never upload images larger than the display size. Create responsive variants (320w, 640w, 1024w, 1600w).
Lazy Load: Add loading='lazy' to images below the fold.
For WordPress: Install an image optimization plugin like ShortPixel or Imagify.
Preventing This Issue
Establish image size guidelines, use automated compression in your build pipeline, implement responsive images with srcset, monitor page weight regularly.
Related Guides
If you're experiencing this issue, you may also want to check these related problems:
- WordPress Memory Limit Exceeded - PHP running out of allocated memory, causing crashes or failed operations.
- Slow Page Load Speed - Website pages load slowly, causing high bounce rates and poor search rankings. Slow website speed affects user experience, conversions, and SEO performance.
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