Hey Ben,
I quote this from Slack:
- You get hashed URLs for any file or thumbnail. Hashed means that the URL changes for every iteration of the file.
- You can set the expiry header for all images and other files far into the future, which is perfect for caching. The cache will automatically be busted by the updated hash in the URL
- Each file is only served by PHP on the very first request if it does not exist yet. Afterwards it’s either in the browser cache or it will be served directly from disk
- Old versions are automatically deleted when new versions are being generated. You don’t get old crap hanging around
- All files are only requested on demand. If a thumb is not needed (i.e. in srcset) it won’t be generated until someone needs it
- Thumbnails are only generated for sizes you’ve added to your templates. Outside visitors cannot simply generate any thumbnail they like.
Because of this, I don’t think you can get rid of the hash.
The second part of the hash is the modification date, btw.