MiraQlum Image Optimizer

Description

MiraQlum Image Optimizer was created to remove a recurring manual step from real WordPress work: preparing every incoming image before upload. Site owners, maintainers and agencies often receive mixed image files from phones, cameras, clients or suppliers. Preparing them for the web can mean resizing, converting formats, removing privacy metadata, normalizing color handling, cleaning up filenames and optionally preparing ALT text. Repeating those steps image by image costs time and is easy to do inconsistently.

The plugin turns that repetitive preparation into a local, automatic workflow at upload time. Its value is not only compression: it is designed to make new uploads consistently web-ready while reducing manual preparation.

Created and maintained by Péter Márkus / MiraQlum.

The approach is intentionally narrow:
* It processes only new uploads and does not bulk-modify the existing Media Library.
* It does not require a cloud optimization service, CDN or external image-processing API for its core workflow.
* It is verification-first: generated output is checked for real file type, privacy metadata state and sRGB state where applicable.
* It is fail-closed: when a safe result cannot be verified, the plugin does not silently treat the operation as successful.
* It keeps the workflow inside WordPress instead of requiring a chain of separate converters, metadata tools and image-preparation steps.

Main features:
* JPG/JPEG -> WebP.
* JFIF validation and conversion -> WebP.
* HEIC/HEIF and Canon HIF -> WebP where the environment can decode them.
* TIFF/TIF -> WebP where the WordPress image editor supports the format.
* PNG: ask / keep PNG / convert to WebP.
* PNG size guard: if WebP is not smaller, a freshly re-encoded PNG is kept instead.
* WebP re-encoding and optimization.
* Static GIF -> WebP; animated GIFs are left unchanged to preserve animation.
* Configurable WebP quality and maximum image dimension.
* Configurable filename suffix; on new installations the default is derived from the site domain.
* Optional ALT prefill from the final normalized filename, only when ALT is empty, with generic camera/screenshot names skipped.
* EXIF/GPS/IPTC/XMP and text/privacy metadata removal with output verification.
* Mandatory sRGB normalization. With Imagick + LCMS the output is converted to the bundled standard sRGB ICC profile and only that known profile is re-embedded.
* Real MIME validation plus input-file and pixel-count safety limits.
* Media Library processing report so site administrators can see what happened to an upload.

Languages

The source strings are English and use the miraqlum-image-optimizer text domain. WordPress.org translations are managed through translate.wordpress.org and delivered through the standard WordPress language-pack system. The WordPress.org release package does not bundle PO/MO translation files.

Legal Notice

The plugin is provided under GPLv2-or-later on an “as is” basis. Regular WordPress, database and file backups are recommended. The user/site operator is responsible for copyright, licensing, trademark, privacy, personality/publicity and other usage rights relating to uploaded or published images.

Important

The PNG decision prompt works in the Plupload-based WordPress media uploader. On other upload paths, “ask” mode safely falls back to keeping PNG.

HEIC/HEIF/Canon HIF and TIFF support depends on the browser, WordPress upload path and/or the server image editor capabilities.

Canon CR2/CR3 RAW is not supported. These formats require a real RAW-development workflow.

Animated GIFs are not transcoded by the plugin so their animation is preserved.

Technical details