https://www.nopcommerce.com/boards/t/46448/single-image-for-multiple-products.aspx#192733
It would be nice to assign one image file to multiple products so that the frontend only has to load one image if the images are identical.
Had the issue on our shop when a category had 15 products total where only two different images are present. The total of the image filesize which needed to be loaded was ~2300kb. So I adjusted the product_picture_mappings manually and reduced the image filesize to be loaded to ~300kb.