Optimizing Images with Cloudinary

Why Image Optimization Matters

Images often make up the majority of a website's page weight. Optimizing them is crucial for performance, especially on mobile devices.

Automatic Format & Quality Optimization

With Cloudinary's f_auto and q_auto parameters, you get:

• Automatic format selection - WebP for Chrome, AVIF for modern browsers, JPEG fallback
• Quality optimization - Reduces file size while maintaining visual quality
• Responsive delivery - Serves appropriately sized images based on device

Example: Restaurant Website

Here's a screenshot from a production website I built, served from Cloudinary:

Notice how the image:

• Loads quickly from Cloudinary's global CDN
• Automatically serves WebP format to supported browsers
• Includes a subtle hover effect
• Has a beautiful shadow that matches our theme

Code Example

Here's how simple it is to use Cloudinary images in MDX:

<CloudinaryImage
  src="Portfolio/my-image.png"
  alt="Description"
  caption="Optional caption"
/>

Or with a full URL:

<CloudinaryImage
  src="https://res.cloudinary.com/your-cloud/image/upload/..."
  alt="Description"
/>

Benefits

Using Cloudinary for image delivery provides:

1. Automatic optimization - No manual work required
2. Global CDN - Fast delivery worldwide
3. Reduced build size - Images aren't in your repository
4. Format flexibility - Supports all modern formats
5. Transformations - Resize, crop, and transform on-the-fly

Conclusion

Cloudinary makes image optimization effortless. Combined with Next.js's next/image component, you get automatic lazy loading, blur placeholders, and responsive sizing - all with minimal configuration.