Best method to server-side img compress from full src img [closed]

Question

I want to display a simple image gallery on a PHP webpage where the images are compressed; however, it allows for full res jpegs to be downloaded. And I'm just curious what method you would recommend for a project like this?

I'm thinking I store the full-res jpeg on my server and use server-side PHP imagecreatefromjpeg() and imagejpeg() to create a lower-res thumbnail of the image with an option to download? Or I suppose I could store lower res and high res jpegs both on the server and just echo them out but I would rather not store the lower res if possible.

Are there any other options for a project like this? And if imagejepg() is a good option, would someone direct me in how to use it?

Answer 1

Lower-rez images typically take much less disk space, much less, than hi-rez images. Disk space is extremely unlikely to be a limiting factor when you pre-create the smaller images.

And, resizing and decompressing on the fly in response to user requests eats server power. Store the low-rez images: think green.

For what it's worth, WordPress (40% of web servers on the net) resizes on upload and stores resized images, so that approach is proven effective.