Do you take a photo with your iPhone and upload it straight to your website? Then that photo is probably 4 to 8 MB. On a page with 10 photos, you're easily at 80 MB. That's enough to make frustrated mobile visitors click away.
What's a good maximum size?
- Under 100 KB: light. Loads super fast on any connection.
- 100-200 KB: normal. Fine for most sites.
- 200-500 KB: heavy. Only if it really is a large hero photo.
- Over 500 KB: a problem. Especially on mobile, visitors will notice the delay.
Two things that determine size
- Dimensions (pixels): a 6000x4000 pixel photo is 4x larger than a 3000x2000 one. You rarely need more than 2000 pixels wide for most websites.
- Compression: an original photo is 'raw' and huge. Compression removes excess data without any visible loss in quality. That often saves 70-80% in size.
What can you do? (concrete steps)
For existing photos on your site
Use a free tool like squoosh.app or TinyPNG. Drag your photo in, choose a compression level (60-80% quality is usually fine), download the smaller version and upload it to your site.
For new photos
Before you upload anything: check the size. If it's over 500 KB, compress it first.
For the long term
Install a WordPress plugin like ShortPixel, Smush or Imagify. They automatically compress every new image you upload. Set it and forget it.
Bonus: use modern formats
WebP and AVIF are modern file formats that are 40-70% smaller than JPG/PNG at the same quality. If your hosting supports them, that's an easy extra win.