Getting Started with WebberZone Image Optimizer
WebberZone Image Optimizer converts the images already in your media library to WebP and AVIF, and serves each visitor the smallest file their browser can read. Images are typically 40–60% smaller with no visible difference, and everything happens on your own server — there is no external service, no API key, no account and no upload limit.
What your server needs
WordPress cannot crop or resize an uploaded image without either the Imagick or the GD extension, so every working WordPress install already has one of them, and both have been able to write WebP for years.
- WebP works on virtually any current host.
- AVIF is newer. It needs either PHP 8.1+ with GD built against libavif, or Imagick with an AVIF delegate. Not every host has it yet.
The plugin does not trust what the extension claims to support — it tests your server by actually encoding a small image with each backend at activation, and the settings screen shows exactly which formats came back working. If AVIF is unavailable, the option is marked as such and WebP carries on normally.
Two things worth knowing before you start
Your originals are never modified. By default, each optimized copy is written alongside the original with the new extension appended, so photo.jpg gains photo.jpg.webp. The Optimized file naming setting can switch this to replacing the extension instead (photo.webp) — see the settings screen for the trade-off before turning it on. Either way, nothing overwrites, replaces or re-saves your original file. Deactivating the plugin returns your site to serving the originals immediately, and no URL ever breaks.
Delivery survives caching. Images are wrapped in a <picture> element, so the browser chooses the format — not the server. The common alternative, varying the response on the Accept header, returns different bytes for a single URL; any cache in front of that which ignores Vary will happily hand a WebP file to a browser that cannot display it. A <picture> element has no such failure mode.
Installation
- Download the latest release from GitHub and upload the
webberzone-image-optimizerfolder to/wp-content/plugins/. - Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu.
- Visit Media → Image Optimizer to choose your formats — see Image Optimizer Settings.
- Visit Media → Bulk Optimize and press Start optimizing — see Bulk Optimize in WebberZone Image Optimizer.
New uploads are converted automatically from then on, and existing images are optimized the first time they’re viewed on the front end even if you never run the bulk screen, as long as Queue images on first view is enabled.