The Yahoo Smush project, launched in 2008 by Stoyan Stefanov and Nicole Sullivan at the Ajax Experience conference in Boston, marked the beginning of a significant advancement in web image optimization.
As an open-source service under Yahoo’s Exceptional Performance team, Smush.it was ingeniously designed to reduce image sizes for web use without compromising quality, thus contributing to faster and more efficient websites. Basically this is the point where the idea of image optimization was born 🙂
Despite its innovative approach, Smush.it encountered operational hurdles when its hosting provider restricted access to essential command line tools. Yahoo took the reins in 2008, managing the service until its unexpected discontinuation in 2015. This abrupt cessation, occurring amidst Yahoo’s extensive organizational restructuring and staff layoffs, left many web developers in need of alternative solutions.
The closure of Smush.it paved the way for the emergence of reSmush.it, a brainchild of Charles Bourgeaux.
Started in 2015 to 2024, reSmush.it was inspired by the goals of its predecessor, focusing on accelerating the internet by shrinking image sizes without quality loss. Unique to this service was its commitment to simplicity and efficiency, highlighted by the absence of authentication or payment requirements.
By 2024, reSmush.it had made notable strides, optimizing over 26 billion images and servicing more than 400,000 websites, including 200,000 WordPress one. It became the largest free image optimization API available, processing up to 20 million images daily.
In February 2024, reSmush.it was acquired by ShortPixel, the leading image optimization solution on the web in general and for WordPress in particular. ShortPixel is committed to continue offering resmush.it for free and to support and improve it.
Infrastructure
reSmush.it operated on a robust infrastructure of European servers located in Germany and Finland, emphasizing the use of renewable energy. The platform ensures user privacy and data security, neither selling images to third parties nor retaining personal user data.
Images are automatically deleted after a brief period, sufficient only for users to download their optimized versions.