Widgets inherit the attachment
Image, Image Box, Slides and background settings all point at Media Library attachments. Replace the attachment with WebP (or upload WebP and swap the widget) and every page using it gets lighter.
Why it matters
- One background image can appear on 20 landing pages.
- Elementor + an optimisation plugin is a common timeout combo on shared hosts.
- Client sites should not phone home to a compression SaaS.
How to do it
- List heavy files from Query Monitor or the Media Library sort-by-size.
- Bulk convert those files to WebP at 1920 px / 80%.
- Replace in the Media Library. Regenerate nothing if the original is already the right width.
Settings that work
Section backgrounds 1920 px / 75%. Content images 1200 px / 85%. Icons as SVG when possible, else 256 px WebP at 90%.