PixelDial Image Optimizer

PixelDial helps you make images on your WordPress website smaller. You see a real preview before you approve a change, so you can compare the result and choose the settings that suit each image. No subscription, API key or external image-processing service is required. Images are processed locally on your WordPress server. Choose how to work

• Automatic uploads: enable the switch, select a site-wide profile and let PixelDial process new Media Library uploads in the background. Automation is off until you enable it.
• One image: select a picture, compare Original and Proposal, adjust the quality or format, and approve only when you are satisfied.
• Multiple images: prepare and review proposals for several selected images.
• Optimize all: choose a profile, try a four-image sample, and start a managed batch when you are ready. Progress can be paused and resumed.

Your automatic profile Use a built-in profile or save one Custom profile in Settings and maintenance. Start with Quality first, Balanced or Smaller files, then choose the size/quality preference, Auto/WebP/AVIF output and a maximum width (0 keeps dimensions). Smaller images are never enlarged. Available formats depend on your server. The selected settings are captured for each new upload. Changing the profile affects future uploads, not queued or optimized images. You can separately choose Optimize remaining images for untouched eligible media. Optimized, kept, restored, deferred and protected images are skipped. Switching off cancels pending automatic work and keeps approved copies. Deactivation or starting cleanup also switches automation off. Background work uses WordPress scheduled tasks. Low traffic or disabled WP-Cron may delay it; Settings includes progress, errors and Run next step. Images and sizes that fail metadata, fidelity or file-size checks stay unchanged, even when a format or maximum width was requested. Keep the automatic image optimization feature of other plugins disabled when using this feature. What PixelDial does

• Shows actual encoded previews and measured before/after file sizes.
• Offers JPEG, PNG, WebP and AVIF processing when your server supports the format.
• Lets you change quality, set a maximum width and include existing WordPress image sizes and crops.
• Provides conservative, optional quality recommendations and keeps images when a proposal is not suitable.
• Keeps the original image files and WordPress attachment metadata. You can restore an image or temporarily display originals across the site.
• Preserves protected EXIF, ICC and XMP data when supported. If it cannot verify preservation, it keeps the original file instead of approving a lossy-metadata conversion.
• Recognizes verified Polylang media translations that share one physical image, while protecting ambiguous duplicates.
• Maintains saved profiles, batch progress and approximate savings statistics.

PixelDial does not promise a fixed percentage of savings or identical visual quality. Review previews when working manually; test your profile before enabling automatic application. The savings estimate compares current approved files with original file sizes. It is not a measurement of server disk space or page traffic. Scope and compatibility PixelDial works with supported local still images in the WordPress Media Library. Existing WordPress image sizes are reviewed individually. GIF animations, SVG, HEIC, external images and media managed entirely by third-party scripts are not optimized. Support for WebP and AVIF depends on your hosting server. Approved files are served in supported WordPress page markup. Images in external CSS, remote services, or custom JavaScript integrations may need additional integration. Private-media plugins require their own integration to avoid exposing protected images. Full-template HTML enhancement requires WordPress 6.9 or newer. For a step-by-step guide, see the included docs/GUIDE-EN.md or visit https://pixeldial.mbim.ca/. The plugin does not contact the project website automatically.

1. In WordPress, go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin and install PixelDial. Activate the plugin.
2. In the admin menu, open PixelDial (or Media > PixelDial).
3. Click Refresh inventory.
4. Open One image, review the side-by-side preview, adjust the settings, and click Apply these settings only if the result is right for you.
5. For multiple images or batches, select the relevant PixelDial menu. Review the proposed changes before approving them.
6. After applying changes, clear any website/CDN cache and check the public page.

Requirements: WordPress 6.5+, PHP 8.1+, GD or Imagick, codec support for the desired format, OpenSSL AES-256-GCM, and writable WordPress uploads and temporary storage.

1.5.0

• Add opt-in automatic optimization for new Media Library uploads, with a shared header switch and site-wide profile selector.
• Add a saved Custom profile with size/quality preference, Auto/WebP/AVIF format and maximum width.
• Offer a separate, resumable queue for remaining untouched eligible images.
• Preserve upload-time settings, originals, protected decisions and manual batch workflows. Add queue progress, retry controls and cleanup/deactivation handling.

1.4.10

• Improve verification of JPEG-to-WebP EXIF, ICC and XMP metadata; reject proposals if protected data cannot be retained.
• Keep originals, metadata and verified shared-media protections in place.
• Correct a translation comment identified during Plugin Check review.

1.4.6

• Use the WordPress-managed template output enhancement on compatible WordPress versions; remove process-wide error reporting adjustments.

1.4.5

• Add verified Polylang shared-media handling with safety checks and batch deduplication.

1.4.4

• Prepare WordPress.org name, slug, translatable English source and readable JavaScript source.