reSmush.it plugin review and common issues

reSmush.it failures are most often caused by API downtime (the service has occasional outages as a free community API), images exceeding the 5MB limit, or outbound connection restrictions on your server. Check: (1) test the API directly at resmush.it — if the site is unreachable, wait and try later; (2) verify your images are under 5MB; (3) check if your hosting firewall blocks outbound API connections — some security-hardened hosts restrict outbound HTTP requests. If consistent failures occur, consider switching to EWWW Image Optimizer for local processing without API dependency.

reSmush.it does not back up original images before compression. Once optimized, the original is overwritten. To restore originals, use a site backup created before running bulk optimization. Going forward, enable a site backup before any bulk image optimization operation. If you frequently need to restore originals, use ShortPixel or Imagify instead — both offer backup of originals as a built-in feature.

reSmush.it allows setting image quality from 0 (maximum compression, lowest quality) to 100 (no compression). The default is 82, which balances file size reduction and visual quality for most use cases. For photography or product images where quality is important, use 85–90. For thumbnails and small images where quality matters less, 75–80 is acceptable. Avoid values below 70 — visible quality loss becomes apparent to most viewers, and the SEO benefit of smaller files does not compensate for poor image presentation.

In reSmush.it WordPress plugin settings, enable the “Lossless compression” option. This changes the optimization from quality-based (lossy) to metadata removal and lossless encoding only. Lossless compression yields smaller file size reductions than lossy but makes no quality changes to the image content. Use lossless for images where any visual change is unacceptable — product photos used for print, medical images, or legal documents stored as images.

Yes — by default, reSmush.it compresses images automatically when they are uploaded to the WordPress media library. This auto-optimization on upload is the default behavior and requires no additional configuration. The bulk optimization option is a separate process for images that were uploaded before the plugin was installed. Both operate independently — enabling bulk optimization does not disable or change the on-upload behavior.

For low-traffic business sites without aggressive performance requirements, reSmush.it provides adequate image optimization at no cost. The API reliability and lower compression ratios are the main concerns. For business sites where page speed directly affects conversions or customer experience (e-commerce, service booking, high-traffic blogs), the better compression of ShortPixel or Imagify is worth the free account registration and modest credits cost.

No — reSmush.it does not convert images to WebP or AVIF. It only compresses JPEG, PNG, and GIF images in their original format. For WebP conversion, use ShortPixel, Imagify, EWWW Image Optimizer, or a dedicated WebP conversion plugin like WebP Express.

Yes, that can happen, especially on older sites with many plugins. This usually happens when the plugin, theme, and add-ons are updated out of sequence. In most cases, testing on staging catches the issue before it reaches the live site. From experience, backups and changelog reviews save a lot of cleanup time.

Start by checking whether another plugin already does the same job. In most cases, overlap is what creates avoidable conflicts and performance issues. A common issue is installing a plugin because it looks convenient without checking the stack first. From experience, a short compatibility review avoids most of the pain later.