What’s the difference between lossy and lossless image compression?

Lossy compression reduces file size by permanently removing some image data. While this creates smaller files, it can slightly reduce image quality. It’s ideal for web images where small quality losses aren’t noticeable.

Lossless compression reduces file size without losing any image quality by efficiently reorganizing image data. Files remain larger than with lossy compression, but no image detail is lost.

For WordPress sites, the Imagify plugin offers both compression types, letting you choose based on your needs. Lossy is recommended for most web images, while lossless is better for images requiring perfect quality.