This plugin hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress.

Delete Thumbnails

Description

Delete thumbnails & resized images from your Media Library

  • Delete some or all of WordPress’s resized images (thumbnails, medium, and large, plus extra ones Plugins/Themes make secretly)
  • This can clear thousands of unwanted files from your uploads directory
  • Useful if you’ve had lots of different theme/plugins over the years, and inadvertently accumulated a vast number of resized images that are no longer used by your site

Take careful note

  1. Deleting is permanent
  2. You can use this plugin to regenerate your Media Library after (as WordPress will need the default sizes)

Please Note

  • 🍺 This is a recently revived and re-written plugin, the bad reviews were correct for the old versions, but not current version. If you experience any issues, please open a support request, I’m happy to help fix any issues and help plugin grow.

Road Map

The current todo list

  • [ ] Add css animation/color to nag inputs when clicking disabled button
  • [ ] Add count($this->library) result as ‘exempt’ in main info banner to assure Media Library items are safe
  • [ ] Add size range filters (ie: delete resized that are within x – y restraints)
  • [ ] Make View link work off of a Lightbox instead of a new browser tab
  • [ ] Please add any additional requests into the Support tab.

Screenshots

  • List of all resized images in uploads directory with options to select and delete

Installation

  1. Install the plugin from your Plugin browser, or download the plugin and extract the files and upload delete-thumbnails to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
  3. View the Delete Thumbnails interface under Tools in your WordPress Admin

FAQ

Installation Instructions
  1. Install the plugin from your Plugin browser, or download the plugin and extract the files and upload delete-thumbnails to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
  3. View the Delete Thumbnails interface under Tools in your WordPress Admin
What parameters are used to determine if a image is resized?

After looking at all files in the WordPress uploads directory, a file is determined as resized when three criteria are meet:

  1. It’s an image
  2. The file URL is not a main WordPress Media Library file
  3. The filename ends with -###-###.
What is this warning about `chmod` about?

The method of deletion only works when the server allows PHP to edit the folders contents. CHMOD is the permission settings for files and folders. If you’ve received a warning of this, the CHMOD on the upload directory is too low.

It says I have no resized images, but I do

Please note this is a new plugin (rewritten summer 2017), this plugin was developed and tested in only two server environments – variables on your setup may of not been considered while developing. Please open a request in the Support tab and provide as much info as you’re willing to give to help resolve this issue and ensure this plugin works on all setups:

  • WordPress & PHP version
  • Location of directory
  • Wether or not files are stored in year/month sub folders
  • ect.
How do I backup my files?

The plugin insists on backups as it removes files permanently, you can ignore and bypass, however you should always backup your WordPress installation

Reviews

Désémber 19, 2018
One of the only plugins which work on multisite. Good job! UPD: tested on WP 5.0.1
Nopémber 27, 2018
It has excluded more than 5000 images that have been resized on my site, saving space on my host.
Maret 22, 2018 1 reply
Really helpful plugin A future development would be to choose what type of thumbnail to delete. Still perfect as it is.
Januari 17, 2018
All should add it to renew thumbs – 245mb deleted! Thank you!
Read all 15 reviews

Contributors & Developers

“Delete Thumbnails” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Translate “Delete Thumbnails” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

2.2

  • July 6, 2017
  • Fixed 3 instances of PHP shorttags which’d break plugin on most server setups

2.1

  • June 27, 2017
  • Removed image header argument (seeing if image was compressed at WordPress’s default 82%) as it only works with resized JPG’s, not PNGs

2.0

  • June 25, 2017
  • Project revival
  • Code overhaul/rewrite
  • Added better assets
  • Much cleaner and WordPress native looking interface, no more code-line look
  • Readme, UI, and inline documentation corrected and improved
  • Improved logic of deletion
  • Improved logic for form submission with low max_input_vars values in mind
  • better detection of thumbnails & cross checking media library attachments

1.0

  • Sept 29, 2014
  • Public Launch

0.1

  • July 6, 2014
  • Initial Build, private use