Conversion is half the job — serving is the other half
delivers ADeeMode 1 — Picture tag (default, recommended)
<picture>
<picture>
- Zero server configuration — works on nginx, Apache, LiteSpeed, managed hosts, everything.
- Invisible to SEO — the original URL stays in the markup as the fallback; crawlers see normal images.
- Self-contained — survives every cache, CDN and page builder.
The only cost is a few dozen bytes of markup per image — utterly negligible next to the hundreds of kilobytes each converted image saves.
Mode 2 — Server rewrite (fastest)
Accept
photo.jpg
photo.jpg.avif.webp
Apache and LiteSpeed:
.htaccess
nginx:
.htaccess
Help tab
Mode 3 — URL swap (legacy)
<picture>
Side-by-side comparison
| Mode | How it delivers | Config needed | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Picture tag | Browser picks inside <picture> wrapper | None | Everyone, managed hosts, page builders |
| Server rewrite | Content negotiation at server level | .htaccess (auto) or nginx snippet | Maximum speed, server you control |
| URL swap | URLs rewritten in cached HTML | None + cache purge | Legacy edge cases |
How to choose in 10 seconds
- Managed hosting, or you cannot edit server config? → Picture tag.
- You own the server and want the absolute leanest delivery? → Server rewrite.
- Running Apache or LiteSpeed? → Rewrite mode is one click away; ADee writes the rules itself.
- Not sure? → Picture tag. You can switch any time without re-converting anything.
Always verify after switching
serving testcurl -sI -H "Accept: image/avif,image/webp,*/*" https://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/photo.jpg | grep -i content-type
image/avif
image/jpeg
complete ADee guide
Mind your page cache
purge buttonRelated ADee guides
Frequently asked questions
Which serving mode is fastest?
Server rewrite. Content negotiation happens before WordPress is even involved, and the HTML stays untouched. In practice the difference from picture-tag mode is tiny — both are massively faster than serving unconverted JPEGs.
Does the picture tag mode hurt SEO?
<img>
<picture>
nginx serves originals even though variants exist — what now?
Almost always one of three things: the snippet from the Help tab is not pasted (or not in the right server block), nginx was not reloaded after the edit, or a full-page cache is still serving pre-variant HTML. Fix those three and re-run the serving test.
Can I switch modes later without reconverting?
Yes — modes are pure delivery, variants are files on disk. Switch as often as you like; only remember to purge your page cache afterwards.
I run LiteSpeed hosting — which mode?
.htaccess