Names & delivery · Beginner · an hour for the backlog, seconds after that
How to optimize images for the web — Compress the Images, Then Look at Which Hostname Is Serving Them
Half the weight problem is the files themselves; the other half is where the browser has been told to go and fetch them from.
The short answer
Export at the size of the slot, serve WebP, compress to around quality 80 and lazy-load anything below the fold — then read the page source for the hostname on those image URLs, because after a rename or a migration they are frequently still absolute URLs on a domain you no longer intend to keep renewing.
Below: the four file-level wins in order of payoff, the one-off sweep of the historical uploads, and why an extra hostname for assets is a decision with a DNS cost attached.
By the Hosting & Domains team · Reviewed 24 August 2026
Beginner
Level assumed
Quick
Time to set aside
5
Stages in the procedure
24/7
Desk hours
No background assumed beyond an account and a browser. Budget an hour for the backlog, seconds after that. Every instruction is written against our own panel, and anything that belongs to the registry rather than to the host is labelled as such.
Read the trap section before you start rather than afterwards. It was assembled from the tickets of everybody who tried the other order.
The four file-level wins
Size first: drop a 4000px camera original into an 800px slot and you have shipped five times the pixels anybody will ever look at. Resize to the display dimensions and double them for retina, or hand the job to the platform's own size generation. Then format: WebP, and AVIF where the browser allows it, matches photographic quality at a fraction of the bytes, and on this hosting the LiteSpeed plugin handles both conversion and delivery.
Then compression: quality around 80 is indistinguishable from 100 at roughly half the payload, and the optimisation pipeline applies it automatically. Then lazy-loading: anything below the opening viewport can wait until the visitor scrolls towards it, which native loading=lazy or the plugin option arranges. The hero image is the exception worth attention, because the largest above-fold image is usually the element the Core Web Vitals measure.
The historical sweep, done once
Years of accumulated originals go through in a single bulk optimisation run, and on most sites that is the largest weight saving available. It is also the one people postpone indefinitely because it feels like a project.
It is not. Take a copy, run it, spot-check a gallery page afterwards. The publishing habits established above are what stop the backlog rebuilding.
The hostname on the URL
Now read the source of a page and look at the src attributes. On a site that has ever changed name, or moved between hosts, a proportion of image URLs are frequently still absolute and still pointing at the old hostname. Everything works, which is why nobody notices — right up until that registration lapses or its DNS stops answering, at which point images disappear from pages nobody thought were connected to it.
The fix is a search-replace through the database for the old hostname, run after taking a copy. And the wider lesson, which applies well beyond images: anything referencing a name you are thinking of letting go should be found before the expiry date rather than after it, because after expiry come the grace period, redemption at several times the renewal price, and eventually an open auction.
A separate hostname for assets costs a lookup
Serving images from a subdomain or a CDN hostname is a reasonable arrangement, and it is not free: a hostname the visitor has not resolved yet adds a DNS lookup and a connection before the first image arrives. Where that hostname is a CNAME into a provider's network, add the chain to the bill.
It usually pays for itself on image-heavy sites and rarely on light ones. The point is to make it a decision rather than a default, and to remember that the record you publish is what puts the extra lookup in front of every first-time visitor.
Hotlinking is your bandwidth on somebody else's page. When another site embeds your image by its URL, your server serves it and your account pays for it, on a page you have no control over. Hotlink protection in the panel refuses requests whose referring page is not one of your own names.
List every name you own when you configure it. The classic mistake is protecting the main domain and quietly breaking images on an addon domain that was serving them perfectly happily the day before.
The account these steps were written against
Every walkthrough here is run on the platform we actually operate — cPanel with a full zone editor, LiteSpeed, NVMe, one-click installs — so the screen the words describe is the screen in front of you.
Mailboxes at your own name are part of the plan rather than a line added back at the checkout.
- Written against the real zone editor, not a generic one
- What the registry decides, and what the panel decides
- The reversal written next to the risk
- People reachable whenever a name goes wrong
Why Hosting & Domains
Standard on every plan
Screens that match the words
Written against the panel your own account opens, so the buttons sit where the page says they sit.
The clerical half is already done
Certificates issue themselves, the daily copy is taken without being asked, and the records are written when a name is added — so the guide covers only the decisions that are genuinely yours.
Sized honestly, not flattered
Cut the file weight, then check which hostname your image URLs are still pointing at is a beginner-level job — set aside an hour for the backlog, seconds after that, with the steps the platform already absorbs marked as such.
Someone awake when a name breaks
Expiry dates and DNS faults keep no office hours, so the desk answers at whichever hour you find one.
Five stages, none of them filler
Each stage is a short spell of deliberate clicking, and the ones that are genuinely fiddly are labelled fiddly.
The trap named before step one
The classic mistake on this particular task is named before you begin, which is the difference between the time estimate above and a lost evening.
Quick Start
Order placed to site online
- 1
Resize to the slot before you upload
Resize to the display dimensions before uploading, doubled for retina, or let the platform's own size generation do it. This is the largest single saving on most pages.
- 2
Serve WebP, and let the browser choose
WebP, with AVIF where it is supported, at a fraction of the bytes. The plugin handles both the conversion and picking the right format per visitor, fallback included.
- 3
Compress to about quality 80, and lazy-load below the fold
Half the payload for a difference nobody can see. Then defer anything below the opening viewport, leaving the hero image alone because it is usually the measured element.
- 4
Sweep the backlog once
Run a bulk optimisation across the historical uploads. Take a copy first, then spot-check a gallery page afterwards.
- 5
Read the hostnames on your image URLs
Absolute URLs on an old domain are invisible until that name stops answering. Search-replace them to the current hostname, and check hotlink protection lists every name you own.
Built In
Fitted to every plan
- A staffed desk every hour of every day
- Plan changes applied in place, with no migration to arrange
- WebP image optimisation built in at no extra charge
- A 99.9% uptime target, watched every hour of the day
- LiteSpeed caching inside the server, not bolted on by a plugin
- Softaculous included, for installs that take one click
- A free certificate on every plan, reissued before the current one lapses
- cPanel, the panel most of the industry already runs
- Money back inside 30 days on hosting plans, 7 on reseller
- No set-up charge and no joining fee at any point
Frequently Asked
Questions we field again and again
My images still load from a domain I used to use. Does it matter?
It matters on the day that registration lapses or its DNS stops answering, at which point images vanish from pages that appear to have nothing to do with it. Until then everything works, which is exactly why it goes unnoticed. Run a search-replace through the database for the old hostname, take a copy first, and check both post content and theme settings.
Should images live on their own subdomain?
Sometimes. A separate hostname adds a DNS lookup and a connection for first-time visitors, plus any CNAME chain into a provider's network, and it pays that back on image-heavy pages by parallelising downloads and keeping cookies off the requests. On a light site it is usually a cost with no matching benefit. Measure the opening segment of the waterfall before and after rather than assuming.
If I stop renewing an old name, what actually breaks?
Anything still referencing it: absolute image URLs, hard-coded links, email addresses at that name, and redirects pointing to or from it. Find them before the expiry date, because afterwards there is a grace period of around thirty days, then redemption at several times the renewal price, then the name is released. Recovering it to fix a forgotten image URL is a poor way to spend the money.
Which image format does the platform actually serve?
Whichever the visitor's browser accepts, with a fallback, so the decision never really reaches you. WebP is the universal default and AVIF compresses harder where it is supported. WebP optimisation is built in at no extra charge, and the conversion happens as part of delivery rather than as something you run by hand.
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