Increase Browser Cache Lifetime of Static Assets in Shopware

If you’re analyzing your Shopware store with Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse, you may receive a recommendation to increase the browser cache lifetime of static assets.

A short cache lifetime forces browsers to repeatedly download CSS, JavaScript, images, and fonts, leading to unnecessary network requests and slower page loads for returning visitors.

This guide explains how to configure long-term browser caching for static assets in Shopware using NGINX or Apache.

Problem

Your Shopware store may receive a performance warning similar to:

Increase the browser cache lifetime of static assets

This typically affects files such as:

• CSS
• JavaScript
• Images
• Fonts

Because these assets are cached for only a short period, browsers must download them again on future visits, increasing page load times.

Why It Happens 

By default, your web server may not be configured to send long-lived cache headers for static assets.

Without appropriate Cache-Control and expiration headers, browsers cannot efficiently reuse previously downloaded resources.

Solution

Configure your web server to cache static assets for one year by sending long-lived Cache-Control headers.

NGINX Configuration

Edit your Shopware site’s NGINX configuration and add:

What these settings mean

• expires 365d – Sets the browser cache lifetime to one year.
• max-age=31536000 – Specifies the cache duration in seconds (31,536,000 seconds = one year).
• immutable – Informs the browser that the asset will not change during its cache lifetime, preventing unnecessary validation requests.

Apache Configuration

Add the following to your .htaccess file.

Verify the Configuration

After updating your web server configuration:

1. Reload or restart your web server.
2. Open your Shopware storefront.
3. Run Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse again.
4. Verify that the “Increase browser cache lifetime” recommendation has been reduced or resolved.

You can also inspect the response headers in your browser’s Developer Tools to confirm that the static assets include the expected Cache-Control and expiration headers.

Best Practice

Long cache lifetimes work best when your Shopware store uses versioned or hashed asset filenames. When an asset changes, its filename changes as well, allowing browsers to download the new version while efficiently caching unchanged assets.

Conclusion

Increasing the browser cache lifetime of static assets is a simple optimization that can improve your Shopware store’s performance, especially for returning visitors. By configuring your web server to cache CSS, JavaScript, images, and fonts for up to one year, you can reduce unnecessary requests and improve page speed scores.