Reduce rendition image sizes on DAM

By default, upon image upload to AEM’s Digital Asset Management, a “DAM Update Asset” workflow would be triggered and one of the many processes inside the workflow is to generate a web rendition of the uploaded image. And the default setting of AEM’s Image API is to always render the web-enabled version of the uploaded image. This combination helps to limit the size and the quality of the image displayed thus reducing the page load time.

The OOTB setting for the web-enabled image dimensions is set to 1280 pixels by 1280 pixels. And the image quality is set to reduce to 90%. To change this setting, browse to AEM’s workflow console and select the “DAM Update Asset” workflow under the Models tab:

Inside the workflow model, select the Web enabled rendition step:

Then adjust the settings accordingly. In my example below, I have set the maximum dimension to be 640pixel by 640pixel. I have also reduced the quality of the images to 80%:

Preliminary testing shows that file sizes of this setting (in comparison with the OOTB 1280px by 1280px; 90% quality setting) is reduced by a third, while difference in image quality is minimal. Please adjust your settings accordingly.