By default, when you upload an image into your Media Library, WordPress automatically saves up to 3 more duplicate copies of the original image at various sizes. Now if you have no intentions of ever using those other sizes, they will have an impact on your overall website performance.
WHAT ARE THESE OTHER DUPLICATE IMAGES SAVED?
In the above image you will see the default WordPress settings for the Media Library. What this is showing you is that in addition to the sized image you upload and save, WordPress will also save duplicate copies in the sizes of 150 x 150 pixels, 300 x 300 pixels, and 1024 x 1024 pixels.
You can see the different sized images after you upload into your Media Library within the Attachment Display Settings for each image. In the above image I just uploaded an image in the original "Full" size of 800 x 533. Since its original "Full" size is under the max setting size of 1024 x 1024, only 2 duplicates are saved.
However, as seen in the above image, I uploaded an image with an original "Full" size of 1373 x 976, which happens to be larger than the max setting of 1024 x 1024. In this instance WordPress will save 3 duplicates in addition to my original "Full" size. This is why a majority of us have performance issues with images.
What can you do to reduce the unwanted duplicate images being saved in your Media Library? Well for starters, always optimize your images to a size you intend to use before uploading them. I personally do this within the free Windows application of MS Paint that all Windows OS computers have.
Then once you place these images into your content, if you want that original "Full" size image to be a bit smaller, you can use the image corner adjustments to size it smaller. Never size an image larger because it can alter clarity. But there is also another easy solution to the duplicate image problem.
NEXT UP = How to change the WordPress Media Library Settings
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That is an interesting problem you are having. Once you get that image fixed, let me know if having only one sized image instead of duplicates, makes a difference. I would like to know.
You will however probably have to do another fetch as Google of that particular post and wait a couple of days to see if the change in the image has fixed the problem or not.
Ralph
Also do the images added in the new Content feature take care of size automatically or do they need to be fixed too.
Thank you for this training, Robert. Wish I would have known this before I had so many images. :)
As for images already uploaded there are no up to date plugins I know of that will cleanup the unwanted image sizes in your media library.
So going back and deleting then uploading the image again will fix the issue, but could take some time depending on how many images you have.
For me this is a process I will take my time with because it is not something that needs to get done right away. This is more of a cleanup that can happen over the course of time.
As for all future images you upload, just upload images that are pre-optimized to a size close to how you will use it in your website.
Then if you have the EWWW Image Optimizer installed, or another similar plugin, the image you upload will be further optimized automatically before being saved in the media library.
Did I answer your questions enough?
Anyway, I'd like to add a well-known and recommended plugin to my current site as a test to see how it works in removing 2/3 (not actually of course) of my Library. I really don't care what happens to this site version as it will be replaced in a week or so.
