How To Build Minified And Uncompressed Bundle With Webpack

Anyone who has worked on a web development project knows how crucial it is to manage files efficiently for optimal performance. One popular tool that streamlines this process is Webpack. In this article, we'll guide you through the steps to create both minified and uncompressed bundles using Webpack.

### Setting Up Webpack

Before diving into the bundling process, make sure you have Webpack installed in your project. If not, you can easily add it as a dev dependency via npm or yarn:

npm install webpack --save-dev

Once installed, create a `webpack.config.js` file in the root of your project to configure Webpack.

### Configuring Webpack

To build both a minified and uncompressed bundle, we need to set up different configurations. Below is a simplified example of a Webpack configuration file:

module.exports = {
  mode: 'production', // To create a minified bundle
  entry: './src/index.js',
  output: {
    filename: 'bundle.js'
  }
};

module.exports = {
  mode: 'development', // To create an uncompressed bundle
  entry: './src/index.js',
  output: {
    filename: 'bundle.js'
  }
};

### Building the Bundles

Now that we have our configuration in place, let's build our bundles using the following commands:

For the minified bundle:

npx webpack --config webpack.config.js

For the uncompressed bundle:

npx webpack --config webpack.config.js

### Understanding the Output

After running the commands, you'll find two distinct bundles in your project directory: one minified and one uncompressed. The minified bundle will have a smaller file size optimized for production environments, while the uncompressed bundle will include readable code for development purposes.

### Adding Scripts

To streamline the build process, consider adding these commands as scripts in your `package.json` file:

"scripts": {
  "build:prod": "webpack --config webpack.config.js",
  "build:dev": "webpack --config webpack.config.js"
}

With these scripts in place, you can simply run `npm run build:prod` or `npm run build:dev` to generate the desired bundles.

### Conclusion

In conclusion, using Webpack to create both minified and uncompressed bundles is a powerful strategy to optimize your web applications. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can easily manage your project files for better performance and development efficiency.

Remember, the key is to strike a balance between file size optimization and readability based on your project's needs. Experiment with different configurations and commands to find the best setup that suits your requirements.