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Speeding Up Webflow Projects with Smarter Asset Management

Webflow makes building beautiful websites easier than everbut when projects start to lag or become hard to manage, assets are often to blame. From bloated images to unorganized file libraries, poor asset management can slow down your workflow, hurt site performance, and frustrate your team or clients. In this post, I’ll share simple but powerful tips for managing assets smarter in Webflowso you can build faster, launch sooner, and deliver a better experience every time.

Bojana Djakovic

Webflow makes building beautiful websites easier than everbut when projects start to lag or become hard to manage, assets are often to blame.

From bloated images to unorganized file libraries, poor asset management can slow down your workflow, hurt site performance, and frustrate your team or clients.

In this post, I’ll share simple but powerful tips for managing assets smarter in Webflowso you can build faster, launch sooner, and deliver a better experience every time.

Why Asset Management Matters in Webflow?

Assets are everything you upload to Webflow images, icons, videos, logos, and more. Poorly managed assets lead to:

  • Slower site load times (which hurts SEO + UX)
  • Cluttered workspace, hard to find files
  • Repeated uploads across multiple pages or projects
  • Confusion over versions (is this the latest logo?)
  • Larger release sizes = slower deployments

Smart asset management isn’t just about neatness it’s about saving time and improving performance.

Optimize images before uploading

One of the biggest mistakes? Uploading full-resolution, uncompressed images.

What to do instead:

  1. Use tools like TinyPNG, ImageOptim, or Squoosh to compress images before uploading.
  2. Resize your images to the exact dimensions you need. Don’t upload a 3000px image for a 400px container.
  3. Whenever possible, prefer the WebP format it’s lighter and supported in Webflow.

A single uncompressed image can add 1MB+ to your page. Multiply that by a few main sections and your load time will drop significantly.

Name your files wisely

Avoid generic names like image1.jpg or logo-final-FINAL-v2.png.

Use:

  1. homepage-hero-banner.jpg
  2. team-john-smith-headshot.webp
  3. icon-check-green.svg

Clear names help you:

  • Reuse assets without guessing
  • Keep your asset panel searchable
  • Stay organized in large projects

Clean up unused assets regularly

Webflow doesn’t automatically delete unused assets when you remove them from your page.

How to clean up:

  1. Go to your asset panel
  2. Click the trash can icon to delete unused files
  3. Republish your site to apply the changes

Why it matters: Unused images are still hosted and impact the size of your project unless they’re removed.

Use SVG for icons and simple graphics

SVGs are scalable, small-sized vector files, perfect for icons, logos, and UI elements.

SVG Benefits:

  • Ultra-lightweight
  • Fully responsive and sharp on all screens
  • You can animate them in Webflow

Replace PNG icons with SVGs wherever possible.

Create a naming system for assets and folders (outside of Webflow)

Webflow does not currently support folders in the assets panel, but you can create a naming convention that works like folders.

Example structure:

  • img-homepage-hero.jpg
  • img-homepage-feature1.jpg
  • icon-social-facebook.svg
  • logo-main-dark.svg

Use prefixes to simulate folders and make searching easier within the Webflow panel.

Reuse global elements with symbols or components

Don’t re-upload the same logo or image for every page. Instead:

  1. Create symbols for repeating blocks of content (like footers or headers)
  2. Use components for images or layouts that you want to reuse and update globally
  3. This keeps your design lean and easy to maintain.

Create a shared asset library for team projects

If you work with a team or on multiple Webflow projects, consider using:

  • Google Drive
  • Notion
  • Dropbox
  • Figma (for design submissions)
  • Create shared folders for:
  • Logos and branding
  • Icon sets
  • Photos
  • UI elements

This keeps everything consistent and avoids version conflicts.

Don’t rely on Webflow’s Asset Panel as a storage tool

Think of the Webflow Asset Panel as a final upload zone, not a storage library.

Keep your original files, source PSDs, Figma exports, and working assets offsite so you don’t lose track of editable content or accidentally upload outdated versions.

Use Lottie Files for Lightweight Animations
Want smooth animations without heavy MP4s or GIFs?

Try Lottie

  • Import JSON files for animated icons and illustrations
  • File sizes are small
  • Fully supported in Webflow via the Lottie element

It’s an elegant, modern way to add motion without slowing down your loading speed.

Speeding up your Webflow workflow doesn’t require fancy tools, just smarter resource management habits.

To summarize:

  1. Compress before uploading
  2. Use clear, searchable file names
  3. Regularly delete unused resources
  4. Prioritize SVG and Lotties over PNG and GIFs
  5. Keep your source files organized externally

By following these best practices, you’ll not only speed up your Webflow projects, but you’ll also deliver faster, cleaner, and more professional websites.

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