Auto WebP & Alt Optimizer

As a foreign trade or B2B website operator, you know that Site Speed and SEO are the keys to success.

Auto WebP & Alt Optimizer is a lightweight yet powerful tool designed to solve two major problems automatically:

1. Image Size (Speed): It automatically converts your uploaded JPG/PNG images into the modern WebP format. WebP images are significantly smaller (often 30-50% smaller) than standard JPEGs.
   • New in 1.4: We now use the native PHP GD library (imagewebp) to ensure compression settings work on all server environments, bypassing common WordPress cache issues.
2. Image SEO (Ranking): It automatically cleans up your image filenames (removing hyphens and underscores) and sets them as the Alt Text. Google relies on Alt text to understand images, and this plugin ensures you never forget to fill it in.

Key Features

• Native WebP Conversion: Uses low-level GD functions to guarantee file size reduction.
• 4 Quality Levels: Choose from Low (20), Medium (50), High (80), or Very High (90) quality presets to suit your needs.
• Auto Alt Tags: Converts my-product-photo.jpg to “My Product Photo” automatically.
• Zero Bloat: No complex configuration. Just install, select a level, and forget.

Why use this plugin?

• Boost Core Web Vitals: Smaller images mean faster LCP (Largest Contentful Paint).
• Save Storage: Stop storing duplicate versions of images. original files are replaced to save space.
• Automate SEO: Save hours of manual work filling in Alt tags.

Note: This plugin processes images upon upload. It does not currently process images already existing in your Media Library.

1. Upload the plugin files to the /wp-content/plugins/auto-webp-alt-optimizer directory, or install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly.
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress.
3. Go to Settings -> WebP & Alt Settings to configure the plugin.
4. Enable the switch and select your desired Quality Level (Recommended: High – 80).
5. Done! Upload a new image to test it out.

1.4

• Changed quality selection to fixed presets (Low, Medium, High, Very High) for better usability.
• Switched to native PHP GD library functions (imagewebp) to solve server compatibility and caching issues.
• Added support for retaining PNG transparency.

1.3

• Improved image resizing logic to force cache refresh.

1.2

• Fixed Text Domain mismatch issues.
• Improved sanitization and security.

1.0

• Initial release.