Website speed
Are large pictures slowing down your website?
Key takeaway
Large pictures can make a website slow even on good hosting. Prepare images for their displayed size, offer suitable phone versions and keep the main opening image easy to load. Lightning Web Hosting includes CloudFront delivery, and the Lightning plan includes supported changes to your uploaded images.
In this guide
Keep the original, publish a useful copy
A photograph from a phone or camera can be much larger than the picture your page displays. Making it appear smaller on the screen does not necessarily make the download smaller. Keep the original safely and prepare a separate website copy.
Start with the job the picture does. A wide opening image, a small team portrait and a downloadable product photograph may need different treatment. Check the result visually before replacing a clear image with something that looks rough.
Let a phone receive a suitable size
A website can offer several versions of the same image so the browser can choose a suitable file. That avoids making every small screen download the widest version. The layout and the image instructions need to agree about the space available.
Our help-centre covers use versions 320, 640 and 1280 pixels wide. That is a practical example from this website, not a fixed rule for every picture. A product close-up and a full-width banner may need their own sizes.
Other ways to make your website faster
Sources: MDN: serving images at suitable sizes (opens in a new tab)
Choose the format and quality together
WebP is a common format for efficient website photographs and illustrations. The right output still depends on the image and how much compression keeps it looking good. Compare the prepared picture with the original at the size customers will see.
Ask for legible product details, natural faces and clean edges rather than the smallest possible file at any cost. If customers need a print-quality original, provide that as a deliberate download rather than making it the default page image.
Load important pictures promptly
Pictures further down a page can often wait until the visitor gets close to them. This is called lazy loading. The main opening picture needs a different approach: making it wait can delay the first useful view of the page.
Allowing space for an image before it arrives also helps avoid a jumping layout. These decisions belong in the website template as well as the image file. They should continue to work when you change a picture later.
Understand loading and a stable page layout
Sources: Google: loading images when they are needed (opens in a new tab)
Make picture changes easy to request
On the Lightning plan, upload your picture in the private portal and tell Arc where it belongs. Supported image changes and moving existing items around a page are everyday inclusions, with a private proof before approval.
Both plans include CloudFront CDN for public delivery. If an existing gallery or page template needs a larger performance repair, we confirm that scope before starting separate work. Hosting is NZ$55 + GST a month on Thunder or NZ$99 + GST with Arc on Lightning, per website.
How to change pictures with ArcWhat the hosting plans include