File size of pic increases when uploaded!

  • I’m struggling a bit to understand how WordPress is creating the versions of pics I upload.

    I’m using WooCommerce 3.0.7 and it’s taken me a while to get to grips with how to establish the various settings for pic sizes in WooCommerce and in WordPress Media. I know I have the settings correct in WooCommerce, and I think they are correct in WordPress Media settings

    In Media Settings I have the following specs

    Thumbnail 156 x 156
    Medium 600 x 600
    Large 800 x 800

    In WooCommwerce I have the following

    Catalogue images 156 x 156
    Single Product 600 x 600
    Product Thumbnails 85 x 85

    The pics I upload all have a width of 600px. The various size versions created are all in accordance with above settings. However, WordPress also creates an additional version of the original which is a bigger file size!

    For example a pic called mypic 600px x 649px size 17 KB results in the following versions

    mypic
    mypic 85 x 85
    mypic 144 x 156
    mypic 156 x 156
    mypic 550 x 600
    mypic 600 x 600

    I’m not sure why the 144px x 156px, and 550px x 600px versions are being generated, but the last one 600px x 600px which is a cropped version of my original has increased in file size from 17KB to 26KB

    This is happening to all the pics I upload. I thought WordPress compresses images? I can’t understand why an image is reduced in dimensions having being cropped, yet increases in file size?

    Can someone explain what is happening here? Is there any way to stop WordPress increasing the file size of my pics??

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

  • You didn’t mention whether you have checked the option to crop images to exact size (a “hard crop) in Settings -> Media. If it is not checked (ie you want a “soft/proportional” crop), that might explain why you are getting a range of image sizes when you take Woocommerce’s settings into account.

    In terms of the image file size, that’s going to depend on your server – not WordPress. WP uses server-side image modules to carry out the final image generation.

    Thread Starter magicalwonders

    (@magicalwonders)

    Hello,

    Thanks for the advice. The “crop thumbnails” was unticked in Media Settings. I’ve now ticked it and that has stopped the extra versions being produced. ??

    I still don’t really understand why a full size version of a pic is made bigger though. I’m using WAMP to develop and test locally on my PC. I’ve just added a pic measuring 600 x 562 at 33KB. The generated pics include the original which remains at 33KB but also another version it calls mypic-600×562. This last one weighs in at 52KB.

    You say that image size is dependent on WordPress using server side modules. However, I’ve read that WordPress compresses images to 90% of their original size? Does this mean the results I’m getting are not typical? As you can see from the results I’m getting, the increase in file size is quite considerable.

    I’m guessing that the files sizes for my smaller pics generated should be even smaller than they are based on what is happening to my large size pic?

    The good news is that WooCommerce appears to be ignoring the large file size version and using my original. ??

    I’ll install WordPress in a live environment and see what happens there. Maybe my results are something to do with WAMP?

    Thread Starter magicalwonders

    (@magicalwonders)

    I’ve carried out some tests using a fresh install of WordPress on a live server, and the results are no better.

    I uploaded a pic measuring 600 x 562px 32.8KB and WordPress produced the following four pics –

    600 x 562px 32.8 KB
    85 x 85px 3.89 KB
    156 x 156px 9.97 KB
    600 x 562px 51.8 KB

    The last one is massive compared to the original. It’s bigger than the first three put together!!

    Why is it even producing a duplicate of the original? It seems like a complete waste of space. I’ve looked back on older sites and I can’t see that WordPress used to do this.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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