Where to Get FREE Images for Your Website And Optimize Them!

panmatech
Blog
May 31, 2025

Finding free images for your website and optimizing them is essential for both aesthetics and performance. Here’s a breakdown of where to find free images and how to optimize them effectively:  

Where to Get FREE Images for Your Website

Here are several excellent sources for free stock photos and illustrations:

Royalty-Free with Broad Usage Rights (often under Creative Commons Zero – CC0 License or similar):

  • Unsplash: Offers a vast collection of high-quality, modern-style photos contributed by a community of photographers. Their license generally allows you to use the images for free for commercial and non-commercial purposes without attribution (though it’s always appreciated).  
  • Pexels: Similar to Unsplash, with a large library of free stock photos and videos. Their license also permits free use for both personal and commercial projects without attribution.  
  • Pixabay: Provides a wide range of free stock photos, illustrations, vectors, and videos. Images are licensed under Creative Commons CC0, allowing use without permission or attribution.  
  • StockSnap.io: Curates a selection of high-quality free stock photos with new images added daily. They use the Creative Commons CC0 license.  
  • Burst (by Shopify): Offers free stock photos specifically geared towards business and e-commerce. They have their own license that allows free commercial and non-commercial use without attribution.  
  • FreeImages: A large collection of free photos across many categories. Be sure to check the specific license for each image, as they may vary.  
  • Vecteezy: Offers a wide variety of free photos, vectors, and videos. Free resources often require attribution under their free license. They also have a premium option without attribution.  
  • Freepik: Provides a large selection of free photos, illustrations, vectors, and PSD files. Free content usually requires attribution. They also offer a premium subscription for no attribution and more resources.  
  • Gratisography: Features unique and often quirky, high-resolution photos that are free to use for personal and commercial projects. They have their own “almost anything you can think of” license.  
  • Life of Pix: Offers high-resolution photographs with no copyright restrictions for personal and commercial use.  

Other Options:

  • Google Advanced Image Search: You can filter your image searches by “Usage Rights” and select “Creative Commons licenses” or “Commercial and other licenses” to find images you can use for free. Always double-check the specific license associated with each image.  
  • Flickr: A photo-sharing platform with a vast collection. You can filter searches by Creative Commons licenses to find images available for free use, but pay close attention to the specific terms of each license (attribution, non-commercial use, etc.).  
  • Canva: This online graphic design tool also has a library of free and premium stock photos that you can use within your designs. Their free content license has specific terms, so review them carefully.  

Important Note: While these sites offer “free” images, always verify the specific license associated with each image before using it, especially for commercial purposes. Understand the attribution requirements (if any) to avoid copyright issues.

How to Optimize Images for Your Website

Optimizing your images is crucial for improving your website’s loading speed, SEO, and user experience. Here’s how to do it effectively:  

1. Choose the Right File Format:

  • JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg): Best for photographs and images with lots of colors. They use lossy compression, which reduces file size by discarding some data (ideally with minimal visible quality loss).
  • PNG (.png): Ideal for images with transparent backgrounds, logos, icons, and graphics with text. PNG uses lossless compression, which preserves image quality but often results in larger file sizes than JPEGs. For simple graphics with few colors, PNG-8 can be a good option for smaller file sizes while retaining transparency.  
  • GIF (.gif): Primarily used for simple animations and images with limited colors. It uses lossless compression but is generally not suitable for photographs due to the limited color palette (256 colors). The Graphics Interchange Format was developed by Stephen Wilhite.  
  • WebP (.webp): A modern image format developed by Google that provides superior lossless and lossy compression for images on the web compared to JPEG and PNG, often resulting in smaller file sizes with better quality. Many modern browsers support WebP.  
  • AVIF (.avif): Another next-generation image format that offers even better compression efficiency than WebP in many cases. Browser support is growing.

Generally, for photos, use JPEG or WebP. For graphics with transparency, logos, and icons, use PNG or WebP. GIF is specifically for animations. The GIF format does not generally result in smaller file sizes with better quality than JPEG and PNG for static images.  

2. Resize Your Images:

  • Use the Correct Dimensions: Upload images that are close to the actual size they will be displayed on your website. Don’t upload a massive 3000px wide image if it will only be shown at 600px. Resize your images using image editing software (like GIMP, Photoshop, or online tools like Canva) before uploading.  
  • Consider Responsive Images: Use the <picture> element or the srcset attribute in the <img> tag to provide different image sizes for various screen sizes and resolutions. This ensures that users on mobile devices don’t download unnecessarily large images.

3. Compress Your Images:

  • Lossy vs. Lossless Compression: Understand the difference. Lossy compression reduces file size by permanently removing some image data. Lossless compression reduces file size without losing any data, but the reduction is usually less significant.
  • Image Optimization Tools: Use image optimization tools to compress your images without significant quality loss. Here are some popular free options for 2025:
    • Online Tools:
      • TinyPNG/TinyJPG: Excellent for compressing PNG and JPEG files using smart lossy compression.
      • Compressor.io: Supports JPEG, PNG, GIF, and WebP with both lossy and lossless options.
      • Optimizilla: An online JPEG and PNG optimizer that allows you to control the compression level.
      • Squoosh (by Google): A web app that lets you compare different compression methods and formats.
      • ImageOptim: A free open-source app for Mac.
      • ShortPixel: Offers a free online compressor and WordPress plugin with a limited number of free compressions per month.
      • Optimole Image Compressor: A free online tool for JPEG, PNG, and WebP compression.
    • Desktop Software:
      • GIMP (Free): Offers various export options and quality settings for compression.
      • RIOT (Radical Image Optimization Tool) (Free for Windows): A standalone application with a user-friendly interface.
    • WordPress Plugins:
      • Smush: Offers lossy and lossless compression, resizing, and lazy loading (free and paid versions).
      • ShortPixel: Automates image optimization and offers WebP conversion (freemium).
      • Imagify: Provides different compression levels and WebP conversion (freemium).
      • EWWW Image Optimizer: Offers both local and cloud-based optimization (free and paid versions).
      • Image Optimizer by Elementor: A free and efficient option, especially if you use Elementor.
      • TinyPNG (plugin): Integrates the popular TinyPNG service into WordPress.

4. Optimize Filenames:

  • Use Descriptive Keywords: Instead of generic filenames like “IMG001.jpg,” use filenames that describe the image content (e.g., “blue-widget-product-view.jpg”). This helps with SEO.
  • Use Hyphens: Separate words in filenames with hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) or spaces.

5. Use Alt Text (Alternative Text):

  • Describe the Image: Add descriptive and relevant alt text to your <img> tags. This text is displayed if the image fails to load, and it’s crucial for accessibility (screen readers for visually impaired users) and SEO.
  • Be Concise and Accurate: Keep your alt text brief but informative. Include relevant keywords where appropriate but avoid keyword stuffing.
  • Decorative Images: For purely decorative images that don’t add meaning to the content, you can use an empty alt attribute (alt="").

6. Implement Lazy Loading:

  • Defer Loading of Offscreen Images: Lazy loading is a technique that delays the loading of images until they are about to enter the viewport (the visible area of the screen). This significantly improves initial page load time, especially for pages with many images below the fold.
  • Use the loading="lazy" Attribute: Add the loading="lazy" attribute to your <img> tags: <img src="your-image.jpg" alt="Descriptive alt text" loading="lazy">.
  • WordPress Plugins: Many optimization plugins (like Smush, ShortPixel, and Optimole) offer lazy loading features.

By implementing these strategies, you can significantly improve your website’s performance, user experience, and SEO by using free images effectively and optimizing them properly. Remember that finding the right balance between image quality and file size is key.

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