Our setup is a Magento 2.3.3 store running on a dedicated (not shared) Linux host. We have full root access and can edit files as needed. The httpd server is Apache 2.4.41.
We have read several good articles on improving Magento performance. In those that we have seen, no mention is made of the fact that .htaccess files slow down Apache (and nginx) web servers.
In our pub directory, we have these .htaccess files:
pub/.htaccess
pub/errors/.htaccess
pub/media/.htaccess
pub/media/customer/.htaccess
pub/media/downloadable/.htaccess
pub/media/import/.htaccess
pub/media/theme_customization/.htaccess
pub/static/.htaccess
How can we address this?
