Definition
What is an image derivative?
Short answer
A processed, resized version of an original photo at a specific size.
Full definition
An image derivative is a version of the original photo resized for a specific display context — thumbnail, small preview, medium preview, large preview, or original. Derivatives are pre-generated and served from a CDN so galleries load fast even when the originals are 50 MB RAW files. 12img generates xs, sm, md, lg, xl derivatives via a Sharp pipeline running on cron every two minutes.
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