[FAQ]

Hello,

I’ve been running my website through those speed test tools, and one of the biggest recommendations I always get is to “leverage browser caching”.

I’m not a developer, so I’m a bit lost. What does this actually mean? Is it something I do on my website, or is it something the visitor’s browser does automatically?

I’m just trying to understand how this helps my website. Does it make it faster for everyone, or only for people who have been to my site before? And what kind of files does it even work on?

Any simple explanation would be amazing.

[Jeff Bullas]

That’s a core concept in web performance and a great thing to be looking at.

Short Answer: Browser caching is a process where a visitor’s browser stores a copy of your website’s static content—like images, video poster frames, and text-based CSS files—on their local device.

It dramatically helps your website by making it load almost instantly for returning visitors, as their browser doesn’t need to re-download all that content.

Here’s how it works in practice. First, on a user’s initial visit, their browser has to download every single file to display your website: all the text, every image, and all the styling files. Second, by enabling browser caching on your server, you are giving instructions to the browser to save the static content, like your logo image or your main audio player, for a set period. Third, when that user returns to your website, their browser sees those instructions and loads all that saved content directly from their own computer, only needing to download the new text or dynamic content from your server. This makes your website feel incredibly fast for repeat visitors, which improves user experience and can also reduce the load on your server.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Author]

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