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Quality

Use the quality transformation to control the compression quality of a delivered image variant. Use quality=auto when you want Imgwire to choose a practical quality setting for public delivery.

Overview​

Quality affects the delivered image bytes, not the original upload. Lower values can reduce file size at the cost of visible detail. Higher values preserve more detail but usually produce larger responses.

Use quality settings when you need to balance image fidelity, bandwidth, and page performance.

Syntax​

FieldValue
Canonical parameterquality
Aliasq
Accepted valuesInteger 1 through 100, or auto

Example​

https://cdn.imgwire.dev/{organization_id}/{environment_id}/{image_id}?width=1200&format=auto&quality=auto
image.url({
  width: 1200,
  format: 'auto',
  quality: 'auto',
});
imgwire images url img_123 --width 1200 --format auto --quality auto

Live examples​

Compression differences are easiest to see in fine texture, edges, and gradients.

Quality 90Quality 45Quality 15
Demo image delivered at quality 90Demo image delivered at quality 45Demo image delivered at quality 15

Best practices​

  • Use quality=auto with format=auto for most responsive and public images.
  • Use explicit numeric quality when you have a known visual or file-size requirement.
  • Test quality on image types that match your real content, such as portraits, product photos, screenshots, or generated images.
  • Avoid using very low quality for UI-critical images where compression artifacts would be distracting.

Common mistakes​

  • Treating one quality value as ideal for every image and format.
  • Using quality as a substitute for resizing. Resize large images first, then tune quality.
  • Assuming quality changes the original upload. It only affects the delivered variant.

Last updated at: May 9, 2026