australcode

Australcode Uniform Images solves the classic WooCommerce catalog problem: product photos with different proportions that the theme crops brutally to align the grid. This plugin makes them uniform without cropping — it adds smart padding over a colored canvas (white by default), optionally trims the uniform background first to normalize inconsistent margins, and delivers each thumbnail in AVIF + WebP + JPEG using the <code><picture></code> element.
<h4>Key differentiators</h4>
<ul>
<li>No accidental crops — the entire product fits inside the thumbnail, always. Compare with “smart crop” plugins that guess the subject and sometimes fail on small or asymmetric products.</li>
<li>Real <code><picture></code> markup — multi-source with AVIF + WebP + JPEG fallback. Survives any page cache (LiteSpeed, WP Rocket, Cloudflare APO, W3 Total Cache) because it does not use <code>Vary: Accept</code>. The browser picks the optimal format; the cache serves HTML without negotiation.</li>
<li>4-tier quality preset — Maximum / High / Standard / Economy with per-format values calibrated (e.g. Standard = AVIF Q60, WebP Q82, JPEG Q85 — visually indistinguishable from the original at half the size).</li>
<li>HPOS-ready from day one — declares <code>custom_order_tables</code> and <code>cart_checkout_blocks</code> compatibility without any setup.</li>
<li>Cloudflare Image Transformations (CIT) — optional integration to serve via Cloudflare edge (<code>/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto</code>) with automatic availability detection on your zone. If CIT is not enabled on your CF plan, the plugin keeps serving local derivatives without breaking anything.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Free (no license required)</h4>
<ul>
<li>Bulk regenerate with Action Scheduler — async processing resumable after worker death, error classification (<code>oom</code>, <code>missing_original</code>, <code>engine_failed</code>, <code>fs_permission</code>), scope filters (<code>auto</code> = products only based on Settings; <code>all-used</code> = every image referenced in posts/products/Bricks templates/terms).</li>
<li>Embedded sample test — processes 1-5 images on demand and shows the before/after grid with bytes and % savings. Available on the Settings page (“Quick preview”) and on Bulk regenerate (“Generate sample”).</li>
<li>Health page with CDN detection — engine diagnostics, encoders, filesystem permissions, detected competing plugins (Smush/EWWW/ShortPixel/Imagify), Cloudflare Polish status (alerts if active — incompatible with the plugin’s AVIF/WebP), Image Prioritizer (Performance Lab) status with automatic detection.</li>
<li>WP-CLI — 9 commands — 7 free: <code>wp acimg health</code>, <code>stats</code>, <code>regenerate</code>, <code>derivatives <id></code>, <code>purge-cache</code>, <code>restore-originals</code>, <code>migrate-from-sir</code>. 2 Pro: <code>wp acimg doctor</code> (extended diagnostics) and <code>wp acimg reset</code> (full state reset).</li>
</ul>
<h4>Pro (license required)</h4>
<ul>
<li>Cloudflare Image Transformations (CIT) delivery — emits <code><img></code> with CIT URLs (<code>/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto</code>) instead of local derivatives when CIT is enabled on your zone. Defensive automatic fallback to the normal path if CIT is unavailable.</li>
<li>Media Library audit + cleanup — orphan image detector that understands Bricks Builder (PHP serialize), <code>wp_termmeta</code>, WooCommerce shortcodes, custom meta. Trash mode with typed confirmation, immutable audit log, and an <code>untrash</code> endpoint for rollback.</li>
<li>Image Health Monitor — weekly cron that scans for missing derivatives, stale derivatives, Cloudflare Polish conflicts, and storage usage. Email digest to the admin only when there are actionable findings.</li>
<li>AI Alt Text BYOK — alt text generation per attachment via OpenAI Vision (<code>gpt-4o-mini</code>) or Anthropic Vision (<code>claude-haiku-4-5</code>). Bring Your Own Key (no Merchant of Record over AI costs). Context enrichment with WooCommerce product title + category + brand.</li>
<li>Catalog Watch + Auto-Heal — daily cron that detects ghost derivatives (DB rows without files), orphan files (files without DB rows), products with broken thumbnails. Auto-heal with dry-run preview + strict path validation. Persistent admin notice when there are actionable issues.</li>
<li>Multi-Site Manager (Agency) — centralized dashboard to monitor up to 25 client sites from a single wp-admin. BYO Application Password, aggregated metrics (derivatives + bytes + issues), automatic hourly sync + ad-hoc. No external services: direct wp-admin ↔ wp-admin communication via native REST.</li>
<li>CIT Cost Analyzer — daily pull from Cloudflare GraphQL Analytics API. MTD cost + monthly projection + peak day to identify spikes. BYO API token (CF authenticates directly).</li>
</ul>
<h4>Integration with other plugins</h4>
<ul>
<li>Image Prioritizer / Performance Lab — Australcode Uniform Images detects <code>fetchpriority="high"</code> and propagates correct loading/decoding to the final <code><picture></code>. Native LCP optimization.</li>
<li>Bricks Builder — supports <code>wp_get_attachment_image</code> and optional output buffer rewriter for themes/page builders that bypass that filter.</li>
<li>WP Rocket / a3 Lazy Load — compatible with <code>data-src</code>/<code>data-sizes</code> lazy loaders (reads both if present).</li>
</ul>
<h4>v1.0 non-goals</h4>
<ul>
<li>Smart crop — would break the “no cropping” promise. If you need that, this plugin is not for you.</li>
<li>SaaS-only / phone home — the plugin is 100% local. All optimization happens on your own server.</li>
<li>JPEG XL — format still immature in browsers. We will reevaluate in 2027.</li>
</ul>
<h4>How it compares</h4>
 Concern 
 Smush / ShortPixel / Imagify 
 Australcode Uniform Images
 Product photo cropping 
 Smart crop (algorithm guesses) 
 None — pads to a uniform canvas, full product always visible
 Modern formats 
 WebP / AVIF (Pro/paid tiers) 
 AVIF + WebP + JPEG via <code><picture></code> element
 Free bulk limit 
 Capped (e.g. 150 images on the leading “same size” plugin; monthly credit quotas on optimizers) 
 Unlimited — regenerate your whole catalog on Free
 Free formats 
 WebP/AVIF behind paid tiers 
 AVIF + WebP + JPEG, all free
 Page cache 
 <code>Vary: Accept</code> (breaks LiteSpeed, WP Rocket, Cloudflare APO) 
 <code><picture></code> element (cache-safe by design)
 Pricing model 
 $5-15/month SaaS subscription 
 Annual or lifetime license, no SaaS dependency
 WooCommerce-specific 
 Generic optimizer 
 Built for product grids — reads <code>wp_get_registered_image_subsizes()</code>, respects WC thumbnail_cropping setting
 Processing location 
 SaaS server (your images leave) 
 100% local on your server
The other plugins optimize any image. Australcode Uniform Images does one job extremely well: uniform product thumbnails for WooCommerce grids, served cache-safe. If you already have one of the big plugins active, you can run Australcode side-by-side — it only touches images on registered WooCommerce sizes.
<h3>External services</h3>
This plugin connects to external services only when you explicitly enable or 
use the corresponding optional feature. The free, core functionality (uniform 
images, AVIF/WebP/JPEG <code><picture></code>, bulk regenerate, health) runs 100% on your 
own server and contacts no external service.
<h4>Freemius (account, licensing & secure checkout)</h4>
Australcode uses Freemius as its billing and licensing platform (Freemius is the 
Merchant of Record for Pro purchases). Connecting to Freemius is optional: on 
activation you can click “Skip” and the plugin stays fully functional without 
ever contacting Freemius.
<ul>
<li>If you opt in (free or Pro), the plugin sends your admin email, site 
URL and basic environment data (WordPress, PHP and plugin versions) to the 
Freemius API (host <code>api.freemius.com</code>, path <code>/v1/</code>) to create your account and 
check for updates.</li>
<li>If you activate a Pro license, the plugin sends your license key and 
site domain to Freemius to validate the license and enforce the per-plan 
site limit. The license is re-validated periodically.</li>
<li>Purchases and license management happen on Freemius-hosted pages 
(hosts <code>freemius.com</code>, <code>users.freemius.com</code>).</li>
</ul>
No data is sent to Freemius if you skip the opt-in and do not enter a license key.
<ul>
<li>Terms of Service: https://freemius.com/terms/</li>
<li>Privacy Policy: https://freemius.com/privacy/</li>
</ul>
<h4>OpenAI / Anthropic (AI Alt Text — Pro, Bring Your Own Key)</h4>
If you enable AI Alt Text and provide your own API key, the plugin sends the 
image (as a base64 data URI) plus the related WooCommerce product context 
(title, category, brand) to the provider you choose, to generate alt text:
<ul>
<li>OpenAI Vision (<code>gpt-4o-mini</code>) — host <code>api.openai.com</code>, path <code>/v1/chat/completions</code>
<ul>
<li>Terms: https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use</li>
<li>Privacy: https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Anthropic Vision (<code>claude-haiku-4-5</code>) — host <code>api.anthropic.com</code>, path <code>/v1/messages</code>
<ul>
<li>Terms: https://www.anthropic.com/legal/consumer-terms</li>
<li>Privacy: https://www.anthropic.com/legal/privacy</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
This runs only when you trigger alt text generation and only with the key you 
supply. The plugin is not a Merchant of Record for these AI costs (BYOK).
<h4>Cloudflare (Image Transformations + Cost Analyzer — Pro)</h4>
If you enable Cloudflare Image Transformations (CIT), image URLs of your own 
site are served through Cloudflare’s edge (<code>/cdn-cgi/image/...</code>) so Cloudflare can 
transform them on-demand. If you enable the CIT Cost Analyzer, the plugin 
queries the Cloudflare GraphQL Analytics API 
(host <code>api.cloudflare.com</code>, path <code>/client/v4/graphql</code>) with the API token you provide 
and your zone identifier, to report usage and cost. The plugin also performs a 
 HEAD request to one of your own derivative URLs to detect whether CIT and 
Cloudflare Polish are active on your zone (no third-party data is sent in that 
detection).
<ul>
<li>Terms of Service: https://www.cloudflare.com/terms/</li>
<li>Privacy Policy: https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/</li>
</ul>

Australcode Uniform Images

Make WooCommerce product images the same size without cropping. Unlimited bulk, free AVIF + WebP, and cache-safe delivery. No catalog limit.

NinjaWeb

NinjaWeb Smart Media Optimizer is a local media optimization engine for WordPress site owners, maintainers, and agencies who want controlled image processing without relying on an external optimization service.
The plugin runs inside WordPress using the image tools available on your server. There are no API keys, no credits, no monthly image caps, no required CDN, and no subscription gate for the core workflow. You control when images are scanned, queued, optimized, retried, and restored.
The workflow is designed for transparency. Instead of hiding the process behind a remote service, the plugin provides a real-time Media Engine panel with progress, current job details, live activity logging, pause/resume/stop controls, failed-item retry, and clear restore options when backups are available.
Key features:
<ul>
<li>Local optimization using your WordPress/server image tools</li>
<li>No external API, no credits, no CDN dependency, and no required subscription</li>
<li>Real-time bulk optimizer with progress, pause, resume, stop, retry, and live activity log</li>
<li>Optimize used images, all pending images, the full Media Library, or selected images</li>
<li>Usage-aware scanner for featured images, galleries, common content embeds, and upload URLs</li>
<li>Local WebP generation for JPEG and PNG images when supported by the server</li>
<li>Search and filter Media Library images from one screen</li>
<li>Oversized-image detection based on your configured maximum width</li>
<li>Compression presets with simple guidance</li>
<li>Custom quality mode for advanced control</li>
<li>Maximum-width resizing for large uploads</li>
<li>Optional minimum file-size threshold so tiny images can be skipped</li>
<li>Optional PNG to JPG conversion modes for non-transparent PNG files, disabled by default</li>
<li>Transparent PNG protection</li>
<li>Backup originals before changes</li>
<li>Restore selected images or restore all originals when backups exist</li>
<li>Original Kept status when optimization would not reduce the file size</li>
<li>Regenerate WordPress attachment metadata after changes</li>
<li>Preserves attachment IDs instead of replacing posts or breaking relationships</li>
<li>Global dashboard stats for total images, optimized images, pending images, backups, and optimized media size saved</li>
</ul>
NinjaWeb Smart Media Optimizer is intentionally built for a deliberate, auditable workflow rather than remote black-box processing.
Official documentation, updates, and support: 
<a href="https://ninjaweb.com.au/products/smart-media-optimizer/" rel="nofollow ugc">Smart Media Optimizer by NinjaWeb</a>

NinjaWeb Smart Media Optimizer

Free local image optimizer. No API, credits, or CDN. Bulk optimize, WebP, backups, restore, and used-image queues.

Australcode Uniform Images vs NinjaWeb Smart Media Optimizer