Over 70% of website bandwidth comes from images and video, making media optimization one of the fastest ways to boost performance and user experience. Akamai’s Image and Video Manager helps developers tackle this challenge by automating media delivery, resizing, and format conversion, all in real time. Built for scale, it integrates directly into your existing workflows and reduces the need for manual edits or versioning.
Akamai, known for its global CDN and performance solutions, offers this tool to simplify how teams manage and serve visual content. And now with videos powered by Cloudinary, content has never looked (or streamed) better, giving users access to advanced video encoding, transformation, and delivery capabilities through a unified system.
If you’re dealing with multiple screen sizes, inconsistent loading speeds, or just too many image variants, this tool helps streamline those processes. In this guide, you’ll set up Akamai’s Image and Video Manager, see how it works with Cloudinary, and streamline your media pipeline.
Key Takeaways
- Akamai’s Image and Video Manager helps deliver the best image and video quality for each user by adjusting files based on their device and internet speed. You can set rules for it using Akamai tools, and it works even better when combined with Cloudinary for smarter edits and optimizations.
- Unoptimized media can slow down websites and cost more, but Akamai’s Image and Video Manager fixes this by sending the right format and size to each device. It also saves server power and reduces bandwidth by automatically converting files to newer formats like WebP and AVIF.
- The Akamai Image and Video Manager automatically adjusts media formats and quality based on device and location, so you don’t need to add complex code. It also handles resizing, watermarking, adaptive streaming, and caching at the edge to speed up delivery and reduce server load.
In this article:
- What Is Akamai’s Image and Video Manager?
- Why Media Optimization Matters for Developers
- Core Features of Akamai’s Image and Video Manager
- Best Practices for Using Akamai’s Image and Video Manager
What Is Akamai’s Image and Video Manager?
The Akamai Image and Video Manager is a cloud-based solution designed to help developers automate the transformation, optimization, and delivery of visual content. This tool is part of their larger edge platform, and focuses on reducing media complexity by handling responsive design needs, adaptive quality, and modern format conversion in real time.
With it, images are automatically resized, cropped, compressed, and converted to optimal formats based on the user’s device, browser, and network conditions. It removes the need to create and manage multiple versions of each asset, which helps reduce time-to-market and storage costs.
On the video side, the tool is now enhanced by Cloudinary’s Video API. This integration brings powerful encoding, compression, and dynamic video delivery features directly into the Akamai workflow. Developers can take advantage of Cloudinary’s proven video stack while benefiting from Akamai’s global delivery infrastructure.
By combining Akamai’s CDN scale with intelligent automation and Cloudinary’s advanced video capabilities, Image and Video Manager offers a streamlined solution for teams managing media at scale. It’s designed to fit into modern development environments and supports workflows through APIs, presets, and real-time analytics.
Why Media Optimization Matters for Developers
Media optimization plays a critical role in how digital experiences are delivered and consumed. For developers, it’s not solely about appearance; it’s also about speed, growth potential, and happy users. Unoptimized images and videos can slow down page loads, increase bounce rates, and add unnecessary strain to servers and workflows.
Optimizing media assets means delivering the right format, size, and quality for every user’s device and connection. This improves overall efficiency and helps meet performance goals without sacrificing visual impact.
Here are some key reasons media optimization matters for developers:
- Faster Load Times: Smaller, optimized files reduce page weight and improve load speed across all devices.
- Improved SEO: Search engines reward fast-loading pages, which can lead to better rankings.
- Lower Bandwidth Usage: Efficient media delivery helps reduce hosting and data transfer costs.
- Better User Experience: Responsive, high-quality visuals increase engagement and reduce frustration on slow networks.
- Streamlined Workflows: Automated optimization cuts down on manual editing and asset management.
- Cross-Device Compatibility: Adaptive media ensures content looks and performs well on every screen size and browser.
Core Features of Akamai’s Image and Video Manager
When you use Akamai’s Image and Video Manager, it automatically converts images to AVIF or WebP Format and adapts video streams to MP4 or HLS based on device compatibility. The edge-based processing ensures conversions happen before content reaches end users.
Akamai’s Image and Video Manager lets you apply dynamic cropping, resizing, and watermarking through simple JSON rules and Cloudinary’s transformations. You manage these settings through their Control Center or via APIs, enabling you to update them without redeploying.
The platform supports adaptive bitrate streaming out of the box, enabling you to deliver HLS or DASH streams that adjust quality on the fly. You only need to upload the original file once, and Akamai’s Image and Video Manager handles chunking, manifest generation, and fallback renditions automatically.
By pairing global caching with geo-targeted rules, Akamai’s Image and Video Manager allows media to load from the nearest PoP. You control cache lifetimes per asset type, reducing load on your origin and speed up delivery across regions.
Best Practices for Using Akamai’s Image and Video Manager
To get the most out of Akamai’s Image and Video Manager, it’s important to follow a few core best practices that align with modern development standards. These can help you streamline your media workflows, maintain consistent quality, and deliver optimized content across devices and platforms.
Optimizing for Performance and UX
Define responsive image breakpoints in Akamai’s Image and Video Manager to match your CSS layout. You might set widths at 320, 640, and 1280 pixels, letting the manager deliver the closest match automatically.
Enable lazy loading with low-quality image placeholders to improve perceived speed. Akamai’s Image and Video Manager can generate blurred or color-blocked previews at upload time. Consider generating gradients or blurred placeholders automatically to improve perceived speed.
For video, rely on adaptive bitrate streaming to avoid buffering. Through Cloudinary, it creates multiple renditions and serves the best one based on network conditions, ensuring smooth playback on any device.
Managing Asset Variants and Versions
Adopt a clear naming convention for your variants, such as “hero-desktop-v1.jpg” or “product-720p-v3.mp4.” Akamai’s Image and Video Manager uses these names to distinguish assets, and consistent patterns make it easier to automate updates.
Leverage query-string versioning to bust caches when you update an asset. For example, change “?v=2” to trigger a fresh fetch from origin, allowing you to serve different versions as needed.
Purge outdated variants regularly to keep your cache lean, so use their API to invalidate specific URLs after a major redesign. Regular cleanups prevent stale images or videos from lingering at edge locations.
Monitoring and Troubleshooting Output
Review the analytics dashboard in Akamai’s Control Center to track conversion rates and cache hit ratios. Those insights help you spot anomalies before they affect users.
If you see rendering issues, debug rule mismatches using the preview tool. Akamai’s Image and Video Manager logs show which rule applied to each request. The Control Center’s preview tool can also help you simulate different device profiles.
Set up alerts for error rates and cache misses via Akamai’s notification API. A sudden spike in 4xx or 5xx errors can indicate a misconfigured rule. Timely alerts let you roll back changes before they impact your site.
Wrapping Up
By now, you’ve seen how Akamai’s Image and Video Manager tackles the heavy lifting of format selection, resizing, and adaptive streaming at the edge. You configure simple rules, and the platform delivers the right asset version.
When you pair Akamai’s Image and Video Manager with Cloudinary, you unlock AI-driven enhancements like automatic format switching and advanced transformations. That combo lets you focus on features, not file formats.
As you move forward, monitor cache hit ratios and error rates . Early alerts mean you catch misconfigurations before they impact users. Over time, you’ll see faster load times and fewer bandwidth spikes.
FAQS
What is an image manager?
An image manager is a service that automates resizing, cropping, format conversion, and delivery of images. Solutions like Akamai’s Image and Video Manager apply rules at the edge so you don’t write custom code.
Do I need a video manager?
If you serve multiple video formats or want adaptive streaming without building your own transcoding pipeline, a video manager is a timesaver. Through Cloudinary, Akamai’s Image and Video Manager handles chunking, manifest creation, and bitrate switching.
What is adaptive bitrate streaming?
Adaptive bitrate streaming delivers video in multiple quality levels and switches between them. With Cloudinary Video, you upload a master file once, and the platform generates HLS or DASH renditions.