Image

Utility to perform build-time image transformations for both vector and raster images: output multiple image sizes, multiple formats, and cache remote images locally. Uses the sharp image processor.

• Easily add width and height attributes for proper aspect ratio to reduce layout shift.
• Accepts a wide variety of input image types: jpeg, png, webp, gif, tiff, avif, and svg. Does not rely on file extensions (e.g. .png or .jpg), which may be missing or inaccurate.
• Output multiple sizes, maintaining the original aspect ratio. Does not upscale raster images larger than original size. Intelligently generates srcset attributes.
• Output multiple formats: jpeg, png, webp, avif +1 Build Cost, and svg. Intelligently generates the most efficient markup with zero server-dependencies, using <img> or <picture>.
• Fast: de-duplicates with both an in-memory and disk cache. During local development, images are processed on request for even faster build performance.
• Robust and works offline: save remote images to prevent broken image URLs later (via eleventy-fetch).

Installation

Published as @11ty/eleventy-img on npm. Source code on GitHub.

Image v6.0.0 requires Node 18+.

npm install @11ty/eleventy-img

Usage

There are a few different ways to use Eleventy image:

HTML Transform

Added in v3.0.0 Added in Image v4.0.1This is the easiest method to configure. Eleventy will transform any <img> or <picture> tags in HTML files as a post-processing step in your build.

import { eleventyImageTransformPlugin } from "@11ty/eleventy-img";

export default function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addPlugin(eleventyImageTransformPlugin);
};

const { eleventyImageTransformPlugin } = require("@11ty/eleventy-img");

module.exports = function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addPlugin(eleventyImageTransformPlugin);
};

That’s it! All <img> and <picture> elements will be processed for you by Eleventy Image.

Resolving image sources

1. Relative image sources (<img src="./possum.png">) will be co-located to your output directory with the template they are used in. If the same source image is used in multiple templates, it will be written to two different output locations!
2. Absolute image sources (<img src="/possum.png">) will be normalized relative to your input/content directory and written to your output directory with the default directory (e.g. _site/img/).

If you explicitly define the urlPath option, the urlPath is used to determine the output location instead.

Attribute Overrides

You can configure individual <img> elements with per-instance overrides:

• <img width> is aliased to eleventy:widths when it is valid HTML (a single integer value) Added in Image v6.0.0 Related #234.
• <img eleventy:widths="200,600"> comma separated string to override the default widths.
• <img eleventy:formats="webp"> comma separated string to override the default formats.
• <img eleventy:ignore> skips this image.
• <img eleventy:optional> Added in Image v6.0.0controls what happens when processing this image throws an Error (good for remote images), see failOnError option. Default behavior removes the src attribute from the <img> node.
  • <img eleventy:optional="keep">: leave as-is, which would likely result in an error when a user visits your page.
  • <img eleventy:optional="placeholder">: replace the src attribute with a transparent PNG Data URI.
• <img eleventy:output> overrides the output directory. Similar to urlPath, absolute paths (e.g. <img eleventy:output="/mydirectory/">) are relative to the Eleventy output directory and relative paths are relative to the template’s URL (e.g. <img eleventy:output="./mydirectory/">).
• <img eleventy:pictureattr:NAME="VALUE"> Added in Image v6.0.0 attributes are hoisted as <picture NAME="VALUE"> (if <picture> is in use)

More configuration options

Any of the configuration options can be defined when you add the plugin:

import { eleventyImageTransformPlugin } from "@11ty/eleventy-img";

export default function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addPlugin(eleventyImageTransformPlugin, {
		// output image formats
		formats: ["avif", "webp", "jpeg"],

		// output image widths
		widths: ["auto"],

		// optional, attributes assigned on <img> nodes override these values
		htmlOptions: {
			imgAttributes: {
				loading: "lazy",
				decoding: "async",
			},
			pictureAttributes: {}
		},
	});
};

const { eleventyImageTransformPlugin } = require("@11ty/eleventy-img");

module.exports = function (eleventyConfig) {
	eleventyConfig.addPlugin(eleventyImageTransformPlugin, {
		// output image formats
		formats: ["avif", "webp", "jpeg"],

		// output image widths
		widths: ["auto"],

		// optional, attributes assigned on <img> nodes override these values
		htmlOptions: {
			imgAttributes: {
				loading: "lazy",
				decoding: "async",
			},
			pictureAttributes: {}
		},
	});
};

• Added in v3.0.0Added in Image v5.0.0During local development (when using --serve), images are optimized when requested in the browser. Read more about transformOnRequest.
• The sizes attribute must be present if widths has more than one entry (MDN). The eleventyImageTransformPlugin does not provide a default value for sizes, so it must be explicitly included in the HTML attribute or with htmlOptions.imgAttributes.
  • Added in Image v6.0.0When using loading="lazy" and sizes is not supplied in markup — we’ll use sizes="auto" automatically. Related #207.

Build Performance

Image optimization is likely one of the costlier pieces of your Eleventy build. The total build cost of this utility is dependent on a few things (in order of priority):

1. Number of unique images optimized (not page count)
2. Optimizing a lot of remote images (image content must be fetched from a remote server and is subsequently cached via eleventy-fetch).
3. Number of formats you generate for each source image: avif is more costly than other image formats. +1 Build Cost
4. Number of widths you generate for each source image.
5. File size of images being optimized (larger source images are more expensive).

Optimize Images on Request

Added in v3.0.0Added in Image v5.0.0When using the Image HTML transform during local development, image processing is removed from the build for extra performance. Instead, they are processed when requested by the browser using a special middleware built-in to the Eleventy Dev Server. This is enabled or disabled using the transformOnRequest option.

In-Memory Cache

To prevent duplicate work and improve build performance, repeated calls to the same source image (remote or local) with the same options will return a cached results object. If a request in-progress, the pending promise will be returned. This in-memory cache is maintained across builds in watch/serve mode. If you quit Eleventy, the in-memory cache will be discarded.

Images will be regenerated (and the cache bypassed) if:

• The source image file size changes (on local image files)
• The cache asset duration expires (for remote images).

You can disable this behavior by using the useCache option.

import Image from "@11ty/eleventy-img";

let stats1 = Image("./test/bio-2017.jpg");
let stats2 = Image("./test/bio-2017.jpg");

console.assert(stats1 === stats2, "The same promise");

import Image from "@11ty/eleventy-img";

let stats1 = Image("./test/bio-2017.jpg");
let stats2 = Image("./test/bio-2017.jpg", { widths: [300] });

console.assert(stats1 !== stats2, "A different promise");

Disk Cache

Added in Image v1.0.0 Eleventy will skip processing files that are unchanged and already exist in the output directory. This requires the built-in hashing algorithm and is not supported with custom filenames. More background at Issue #51.

You can use this to speed up builds on your build server.

Options

Output File Extensions

Comma separated list of file extensions used in the Image HTML Transform to determine which template output files to process.

• extensions: "html" (default)

Output Widths

Controls how many output images will be created for each image format. Aspect ratio is preserved.

• widths: ["auto"] (default, keep original width)
• widths: [200] (output one 200px width)
• widths: [200, "auto"] (output 200px and original width)

Output Formats

Use almost any combination of webp, jpeg, png, svg, avif, gif, and auto:

• formats: ["webp", "jpeg"] (default)
• formats: ["png"]
• formats: ["auto"] (keep original format)
• formats: ["svg"] (requires SVG input)
• formats: ["avif"] +1 Build Cost

Skip raster formats for SVG

If using SVG output (the input format is SVG and svg is in your formats array option), we will skip all of the raster formats even if they’re in formats. This may be useful in a CMS-driven workflow when the input could be vector or raster.

• svgShortCircuit: false (default)
• svgShortCircuit: true
• svgShortCircuit: "size" Added in Image v3.1.8

Using svgShortCircuit: "size" means that raster image format entries will only be thrown out if the optimized raster size is larger than the SVG. This helps with large SVG images that compress to smaller raster sizes at smaller widths and will prefer the SVG over raster formats when the SVG file size is smaller.

To use Brotli compressed SVG sizes when making file size comparisons, use the svgCompressionSize: "br" option Added in Image v3.1.8.

Related:

• A New Technique for Image Optimization: SVG Short Circuiting (2023)
• Automatically optimize your images with Eleventy Image and CloudCannon (2023)

Allow SVG to upscale

While we do prevent raster images from upscaling (and filter upscaling widths from the output), you can optionally enable SVG input to upscale to larger sizes when converting to raster format.

• svgAllowUpscale: true (default)
• svgAllowUpscale: false

Transparent Images

Transparency friendly formats: avif, png, webp, gif, and svg.

Added in Image v6.0.0We will filter out any non-transparency-friendly output formats from your formats list automatically (as long as at least one of them is png, gif, or svg).

Animated Images

Added in Image v1.1.0 To process and output animated gif or webp images, use sharpOptions to pass in an animated option.

import Image from "@11ty/eleventy-img";

await Image("./test/bio-2017.jpg", {
	formats: ["webp", "gif"],

	sharpOptions: {
		animated: true,
	},
});

Added in Image v6.0.0We will filter out any non-animation-friendly output formats from your formats list automatically (as long as at least one of them supports animation).

Transform on Request

Development build performance improvement to optimize images when they are requested in the browser.

• transformOnRequest: false (default)
• transformOnRequest: process.env.ELEVENTY_RUN_MODE === "serve" (default for HTML Transform)

You can use transformOnRequest with Shortcodes too.

returnType and htmlOptions

By default, Eleventy Image will return a metadata JavaScript object. To return HTML instead, use returnType: "html". This is useful for the Image JavaScript API and Image Shortcode types.

• returnType: "object" (default) or "html" Added in Image v6.0.0

Further customize the markup with htmlOptions Added in Image v6.0.0:

{
	// …
	returnType: "html",

	htmlOptions: {
		imgAttributes: {
			alt : "carview.php?tsp=", // required
			loading: "lazy",
			decoding: "async",
		},

		// HTML attributes added to `<picture>` (omitted when <img> used)
		pictureAttributes: {},

		// Which source to use for `<img width height src>` attributes
		fallback: "largest", // or "smallest"
	}
}

Fix Orientation

Added in Image v4.0.0Rotates the image to enforce the correct orientation set in EXIF metadata.

• fixOrientation: false (default)
• fixOrientation: true

Custom Filenames

Don’t like the hashes used in output file names? Make your own!

{
	// …
	filenameFormat: function (id, src, width, format, options) {
		// Define custom filenames for generated images
		// id: hash of the original image
		// src: original image path
		// width: current width in px
		// format: current file format
		// options: set of options passed to the Image call

		return `${id}-${width}.${format}`;
	}
}

import path from "node:path";
import Image from "@11ty/eleventy-img";

await Image("./test/bio-2017.jpg", {
	widths: [300],
	formats: ["auto"],
	filenameFormat: function (id, src, width, format, options) {
		const extension = path.extname(src);
		const name = path.basename(src, extension);

		return `${name}-${width}w.${format}`;
	},
});

// Writes: "test/img/bio-2017-300w.jpeg"

Dry-Run

If you want to try the utility out and not write any files (useful for testing), use the dryRun option. Will include a buffer property in your return object.

• dryRun: false (default)
• dryRun: true

Advanced Options

Fail on Error

Added in Image v6.0.0What happens when processing an image encounters an error? Useful for remote images.

• failOnError: true (default)
• failOnError: false no error is thrown (warning output is logged)

See also the eleventy:optional attribute. Related #225

Format Filtering

Added in Image v6.0.0When using animated images or images with transparency, we will automatically filter your output formats list to formats that support those features. If there are no valid formats left after filtering, the original formats list is used as-is. You can enable or disable this feature using the formatFiltering option.

• formatFiltering: ["transparent", "animated"]

Related #105 and #260

Output Directory

Where to write the new images to disk. Project-relative path to the output image directory. Maybe you want to write these to your output directory directly (e.g. ./_site/img/)?

• outputDir: "./img/" (default)

If you’re using the Image HTML Transform, we recommended not to define outputDir.

URL Path

A path-prefix-esque directory for the <img src> attribute. e.g. /img/ for <img src="/img/MY_IMAGE.jpeg">:

• urlPath: "/img/" (default)

Added in Image v6.0.0Full URLs are now supported, e.g. urlPath: "https://example.com/img/". Related #239.

If you’re using the Image HTML Transform, we recommended not to define urlPath.

Use Cache

(Boolean) Controls whether to use the disk cache and memory cache.

• useCache: true (default)
• useCache: false to bypass the cache and generate a new image every time.

Advanced control of Sharp image processor

Extra options to pass to the Sharp constructor or the Sharp image format converter for webp, png, jpeg, or avif.

• sharpOptions: {}
• sharpWebpOptions: {}
• sharpPngOptions: {}
• sharpJpegOptions: {}
• sharpAvifOptions: {}

Added in Image v6.0.0ICC Profiles are preserved by default (when available) for better colors when images have srgb, p3, or cmyk color profiles. Related #244.

Full Sharp API Access

Use the transform callback to access anything in the Sharp API. Related #52. This runs before Eleventy Image processing (keep EXIF metadata, rotation, cropping, et al).

{
	// …
	transform: (sharp) => {
		sharp.keepExif();
	}
}

Change Global Plugin Concurrency

import Image from "@11ty/eleventy-img";
Image.concurrency = 4; // default is between 8 and 16 based on os.availableParallelism()

Change the default Hash length

You can customize the length of the default filename format hash by using the hashLength property.

{
	// …
	hashLength: 8, // careful, don’t make it _too_ short!
}

Advanced Caching Options for Remote Images

For any full URL first argument to this plugin, the full-size remote image will be downloaded and cached locally. See all relevant eleventy-fetch options.

{
	// …
	cacheOptions: {
		// if a remote image URL, this is the amount of time before it fetches a fresh copy
		duration: "1d",

		// project-relative path to the cache directory
		directory: ".cache",

		removeUrlQueryParams: false,
	},
}

When caching remote images, you may want to check the processed image output into your git (et al) repository to avoid refetches in the future. If remote images are not checked in, they may be refetched every time on your CI server unless you preserve the .cache folder between builds.

Using a Hosted Image Service

Custom URLs

Want to use a hosted image service instead? You can override the entire URL. Takes precedence over filenameFormat option. Useful with statsSync or statsByDimensionsSync.

The metadata object returned will not include filename or outputPath properties.

{
	// …
	urlFormat: function ({
		hash, // not included for `statsOnly` images
		src,
		width,
		format,
	}) {
		return `https://example.com/${encodeURIComponent(src)}/${width}/${format}/`;
	}
}

• Example on 11ty-website

Stats Only

Added in Image v1.1.0 Skips all image processing to return metadata. Doesn’t write files. Use this as an alternative to the separate statsSync* functions—this will use in-memory cache and de-duplicate requests.

• statsOnly: false (default)
• statsOnly: true

From the Community

Using Eleventy’s official image plugin

Optimizing Images with the 11ty Image Plugin

Don’t Shut Down Your Business! Instead Use Eleventy Image

+ Add yours!

×134 resources via 11tybundle.dev curated by Bob Monsour.

• Eleventy Launch — Ash Furrow (2025)
• hire.shivjm.in: The Missing Cover Letter — Shiv J.M. (2025)
• 11ty Hacks for Fun and Performance — Alex Russell (2025)
• Leveling Up Responsive Images with Eleventy Img — Nicholas Clooney (2025)
• From Dotclear to Eleventy 3 — Alix Guillard (2025)

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