.htaccess is a specific configuration file in WordPress that can regulate how your server runs your website. .htaccess is one of the most powerful configuration files on your WordPress site, and it may handle 301 redirects, SSL connections, password protection, the default language, and more.

More specifically, the .htaccess file name contains directives for controlling and configuring the Apache webserver that hosts your website. On what is known as "server farms," this server also hosts hundreds or thousands of other sites. Web hosting companies set up and manage these farms. Without .htaccess, every site owner on the same Apache web server would have to utilize the same site settings. Fortunately, practically every hosting company supports .htaccess.

You can use this file to set up redirects, impose SSL, block IP addresses, limit access to sensitive files, send custom HTTP replies to specific requests, prevent hotlinking, and other settings specific to your site.

Best Configuration for htaccess for Wordpress To Improve Speed

You will have to copy-paste the following code to your htaccess file using the panel file manager, or any FTP client like Filezilla.

# BEGIN DEFLATE COMPRESSION
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
# Compress HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Text, XML and fonts
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/javascript
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/rss+xml
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/vnd.ms-fontobject
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-opentype
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-otf
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-truetype
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-ttf
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xhtml+xml
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/opentype
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/otf
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/ttf
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/svg+xml
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/x-icon
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/javascript
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml
</IfModule>
# END DEFLATE COMPRESSION

# compress text, html, javascript, css, xml:
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xhtml+xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/rss+xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/javascript
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript

#BEGIN EXPIRES HEADERS
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
# Enable expirations
ExpiresActive On
# Default expiration: 1 hour after request
ExpiresDefault "now plus 1 hour"
# CSS and JS expiration: 1 week after request
ExpiresByType text/css "now plus 1 week"
ExpiresByType application/javascript "now plus 1 week"
ExpiresByType application/x-javascript "now plus 1 week"
# Image files expiration: 1 month after request
ExpiresByType image/bmp "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/gif "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/jp2 "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/pipeg "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/png "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/svg+xml "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/tiff "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/vnd.microsoft.icon "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/ico "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/icon "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/ico "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/ico "now plus 1 month"
# Webfonts
ExpiresByType font/truetype "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType font/opentype "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-font-woff "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/svg+xml "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-fontobject "access plus 1 month"
</IfModule>
#END EXPIRES HEADERS

# BEGIN Cache-Control Headers
<ifModule mod_headers.c>
 <filesMatch "\.(ico|jpe?g|png|gif|swf)$">
 Header set Cache-Control "max-age=2592000, public"
 </filesMatch>
 <filesMatch "\.(css)$">
 Header set Cache-Control "max-age=604800, public"
 </filesMatch>
 <filesMatch "\.(js)$">
 Header set Cache-Control "max-age=216000, private"
 </filesMatch>
 <filesMatch "\.(x?html?|php)$">
 Header set Cache-Control "max-age=600, private, must-revalidate"
 </filesMatch>
</ifModule>
# END Cache-Control Headers

# START ENABLE KEEP ALIVE
<ifModule mod_headers.c>
Header set Connection keep-alive
</ifModule>
# END ENABLE KEEP ALIVE

<IfModule pagespeed_module>
ModPagespeed on
ModPagespeedEnableFilters rewrite_css,combine_css
ModPagespeedEnableFilters recompress_images
ModPagespeedEnableFilters convert_png_to_jpeg,convert_jpeg_to_webp
ModPagespeedEnableFilters collapse_whitespace,remove_comments
</IfModule>

As you can see in the above code, every new block start after the comment sign "#". If your website is down after you save the file you will have to remove one by one blocks and see what block causes an error on your website. Due to your server settings, plugins or other Wordpress options, this htaccess file can produce some errors in your website, but don't worry because once you remove the code, the website will work as before.

Location of htaccess In Wordpress Sites

The .htaccess file for WordPress is situated in the root directory of your WordPress site. The root directory may be a folder labeled public html, www, htdocs, or httpdocs, depending on your hosting provider. You may find it in the File Manager section of your hosting account's cpanel. Let's go over the steps one by one.

Here are the steps for editing the .htaccess file in WordPress using cPanel.

Step 1: Log in to your hosting account’s control panel.
Step 2: Open the File Manager. In the navigation menu on the lefthand side of your screen, click on the public_html folder.
Step 3: Find and open the folder that contains your Wordpress installation.

Step 4: Find the .htaccess file and right-click to edit it.
Step 5: Add any code before the line that reads # BEGIN WordPress.