My images have disappeared! What do I do?

If your images have suddenly disappeared and you are using ShortPixel, in most cases this problem is caused by a conflict with other plugins or even your theme. The actual cause depends on which ShortPixel plugin you are using.

ShortPixel Image Optimizer (SPIO)

SPIO only physically replaces the existing images with their compressed versions. The URLs and other attributes of your images remain unchanged, and the plugin does not edit your pages or affect how your images are displayed.

The only situation where the plugin can change the code of your pages is when the "Using the <PICTURE> tag syntax" next-gen image delivery method is enabled. The options are not enabled by default and can be undone. You can find more information about it here:

• How to create and serve WebP files using ShortPixel Image Optimizer
• How to create and serve AVIF files using ShortPixel Image Optimizer

Sometimes the "Using the <PICTURE> tag syntax" feature conflicts with other plugins or themes. A quick attempt to fix this is to disable the "Deliver the next generation versions of the images in the front-end" option:

You can find this option in Settings > ShortPixel > Advanced.

As you might imagine, disabling this option will prevent your images from being served as WebP or AVIF. So if you still want to serve WebP or AVIF, you have three options:

1. Use the second delivery method, "Without altering the page code (via .htaccess)". For more information, see this article: Which WebP or AVIF delivery method is the best for me?
2. Use ShortPixel Adaptive Images.
3. Use another plugin to deliver your generated WebP/AVIF files, such as WP Rocket or Cache Enabler.

ShortPixel Adaptive Images (SPAI)

SPAI does not process your physical image files. It replaces your image URLs on your site so that they point to the optimized images stored in our CDN. Since this happens on-the-fly when a user visits your page, it almost always means that there is a misconfiguration if you do not see the images.

• In most cases, the cause is another plugin or theme that has a lazy loading feature enabled and thus conflicts with SPAI. The solution is to disable this feature in the plugin or theme that uses it. Please note that you do not need to disable lazy loading for videos or other resources; only lazy loading for images needs to be disabled.
• If you are not using the New AI Engine, try enabling it. Go to Settings > ShortPixel AI > Behavior and enable the "New AI engine" option.
• You should also make sure that there are no conflicts with other plugins or themes.
• If you are using ShortPixel Image Optimizer as well, make sure both of the plugins are correctly configured.
• Make sure that the API URL (Settings > ShortPixel AI > Behavior) points to https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai .
• Try to disable your ad blocker extension in your browser (uBlock, AdBlock...). Sometimes they add our domain (cdn.shortpixel.ai) to their lists by mistake.
• Try disabling the Behavior > Fade-in effect option. Sometimes this conflicts with the way your website is built.
• If you have a hotlinking prevention feature set up, it's possible that ShortPixel's servers will only be able to see a replacement image with a hotlinking warning. Check your hosting provider's control panel, CDN provider settings and security plugin settings and disable it.
• There is a JavaScript error or conflict on your website that is preventing other parts of your website, including SPAI, from working correctly. Deactivate all plugins except SPAI and switch to a default theme (like Twenty Twenty-Three). Then try again.
• If our CDN has temporary issues, such as an overload, your website may be affected in some extreme cases. Do not worry, we have taken safety measures, but just in case, try again in a few minutes.
• If you are using NextDNS, you may have to disable it. Click here to learn more.