Quicq: the same photo, much lighter, with no manual work
Quicq is Afosto's image CDN. It fetches your original image once, gives each visitor a lighter version in a format their browser supports, such as WebP, and serves it worldwide from a server nearby. Your originals stay where they are: only the image URL changes.
Quicq in numbers
What happens the moment Quicq is on
73% lighter
the 423 kB JPEG photo at the top of this page, served by Quicq as a 115 kB WebP at full size
100+
data centres in Google Cloud CDN, so a server close to your visitor delivers the image
6 months
Quicq keeps your original, so your server is asked only once per image
5
URL parameters for width, height, crop, quality and blur, with no image editing up front
What is an image CDN?
An image CDN is a Content Delivery Network built specifically for images. It sits between your website and your visitors: it fetches your original image, optimises it and serves the result from a server close to the visitor. You do not have to change your originals; only the image URL now points to the CDN. Quicq works with three building blocks:
Smaller files load sooner, and load speed counts towards the Core Web Vitals that Google uses to judge the experience of your site. Every function, from the URL parameters to the cache settings, is explained in detail on the Quicq features page.
One source, no copies
the original stays on your own server or storage, is fetched once and kept for up to six months
Transformations in the URL
width, height, crop, quality and blur are set with parameters like ?w=400&h=400&c=1, with no image editing up front
Optimisation per visitor
each visitor gets a lighter format the browser supports, such as WebP, and an optimised JPG for browsers that support none
How it works
From original to optimised, in four steps
Between the original on your server and the optimised image on your visitor's screen there are four steps. Only the first is up to you.
- Step 1
Set up your CDN
Pick a unique key for your image URLs, for example an abbreviation of your company name. That becomes cdn.quicq.io/your-key. Then you paste the URL of one image on your site, and Quicq suggests where your images live based on the platform it detects.
- Step 2
Original fetched once
On the first request Quicq fetches the original from your server or storage and keeps it for up to six months in its own storage. Every following request is served from there: your server is queried only once per image and you save on data traffic.
- Step 3
Edited and optimised per visitor
First Quicq applies the edits you pass in the URL, such as a width or a crop. Then it picks, per visitor, a lighter format the browser supports, such as WebP, and an optimised JPG for browsers that support none. PNG and GIF are converted too where possible.
- Step 4
Served worldwide from cache
The result travels through Google Cloud CDN to your visitor, from one of over a hundred data centres worldwide. The network scales automatically with your traffic, and you decide how long images stay in your visitors' browser cache.
The full setup, screen by screen, is in the guide Add a Quicq CDN in our documentation. There are step-by-step guides for Afosto webshops, Magento 1, Magento 2 and PrestaShop.
Features
More than compression alone
Quicq does more than shrink files: it is also where you make your image variants and decide where your originals come from.
How to see Quicq at work on your own site
On most webshops and websites, images are the largest part of the page weight. Once Quicq is on, you can see in your browser's developer tools what it does with each of them:
The steps per browser are in how to check the URL of an image. New to the format? Read what a WebP file is, or see Google's explanation of why modern image formats load faster.
The address
through a Quicq CDN, the image URL starts with cdn.quicq.io followed by your key
The format
in the Network panel the type shows a modern format such as webp or avif, even when the file name ends in .jpg
The size
the transferred size is the optimised file, not your original
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Quicq and image optimisation
The questions website owners ask us most often before they switch Quicq on.
What is Quicq?
Quicq is Afosto's image optimisation app: an image CDN that fetches your original images, optimises them per visitor and serves them worldwide through Google Cloud CDN. You set a unique key for your URLs (cdn.quicq.io/your-key), point it to where your current images live and route your image URLs to the CDN. From that moment every image is compressed automatically and served in the right format.
What is an image CDN?
An image CDN is a Content Delivery Network specialised in images. It sits between your website and your visitors: it fetches the original from your server, optimises it and serves the result from a server close to the visitor. The difference with an ordinary CDN is the image editing: an image CDN delivers a different variant per request, for example a thumbnail for an overview page and a large size for a product page, based on URL parameters.
Which file formats does Quicq support?
Quicq serves each visitor a lighter format the browser supports, such as WebP, and an optimised JPG for browsers that support none. Images saved in formats that are hard to optimise, such as PNG or GIF, are converted to a lighter format where possible. You can check the format of any image in the Network panel of your browser.
Does Quicq work with my webshop platform?
Quicq works independently of your platform: all it needs is for your image URLs to be able to point to the CDN. During setup you paste the URL of an image on your site and Quicq suggests the path. There are step-by-step guides for Afosto webshops, Magento 1 and 2 and PrestaShop. Using another platform, or do you want responsive images or a watermark? Contact us and we will look at it with you.
Do I have to change my existing images?
No. Your originals stay on your own server or storage; Quicq fetches them on the first request and keeps them for up to six months in its own storage. You do not have to convert, resize or re-upload anything. By default Quicq does override the cache settings your platform passes; under the advanced settings you can switch that off or set the cache duration yourself.
What does Quicq cost?
Quicq is a separate product with its own plans, apart from an Afosto subscription. Want to talk through your setup and which plan fits before you choose? Book a demo and we will look at your site with you.
Try Quicq on your own product photos
Create an account, set up your CDN and compare the file sizes of your own images in the Network panel. Questions about the integration with your platform? Book a demo and we will take a look with you.