‘Help! I’ve run out of media storage space on my blog and can no longer upload new photos, images or videos. What can I do?’

That was a question to me from Micheal, who blogs at Spo-Reflections.

Michael was happy to upgrade his WordPress plan to obtain more media space, but there are other things you could do if you find your blog running out of media space.

Light blue image with the words '5 Things You Can Do To Free Up Media Space In Your Blog's Media Library' written in white text.
Have you run out of media space on your blog? Here are 5 things you can do to obtain more.

1. Upgrade your plan.

WordPress currently offers 6 plans.

The amount of media storage space you get varies. Click the following link to see the plans – ‘There Is A Plan For You.’ Pricing is correct at the time of publication of this post.

Each plan provides the following media storage space.

Name of planStorage Amount
Free1GB
Personal6GB
Premium13GB
Business200GB
Commerce200GB
EnterpriseN/A

However, only upgrade your WordPress plan if you absolutely need to. Do not get into debt by upgrading unless you can afford it, as there are other things you can do to free up media storage space.

2. Resize the size of your images and photos.

One of the biggest reasons bloggers run out of media space is that they do not resize their images and photos before uploading them to their media library.

There are several ways you can reduce the size of images and photos. You can reduce them using photo editing software or via the tools of your device you use to blog.

I use an Apple iMac and can change the size of photos and images by clicking on ToolsAdjust size on the menubar of my desktop computer. I do this before uploading them to my WordPress media library.

I recommend reducing image and photo sizes to 900 x 675 pixels.

On a Windows computer, you can use Microsoft Paint. Open your image with that program, then click on Resize. You can find this option on the middle-right side of the “Image” section at the top of the Paint window.

The WordPress media library also has editing software, but please note that if you reduce the size of an image or photo using this tool, the original image is kept in your media library when you reduce the size of the picture – thus, you won’t have freed up any storage space.

Large images can also slow down your blog’s downloading speed, negatively impacting your blog’s search engine rankings and overall user experience. So, I recommend you always reduce the size of images and photos before uploading them to your blog.

3. Do not upload videos to your media library.

If you include videos in your blog posts, uploading them to your media library can take up vast amounts of space.

To overcome this problem and free up all the space they take up, upload your videos to YouTube. Then add the YouTube block to your blog post and include the link to the video in the block.

Image of the YouTube block on WordPress
Adding videos to your blog via YouTube helps free up media space for your blog.

Do this for any existing videos you have in your media library. Upload them to YouTube and add them via the YouTube block before deleting the original from your media library. This will free up large amounts of storage in your media library.

4. Delete images from your media library.

We can accumulate vast amounts of images and photos in our media library, many of which will become redundant.

Deleting these images will free up storage space. However, when you delete any images or photos in your media library, they disappear from the blog posts they appear on.

My blog post, ‘Are Your Old Blog Posts Damaging Your Blog? How To Stop It From Happening’ details why bloggers should delete old blog posts.

Deleting old, redundant blog posts containing images, photos, and videos frees up storage space. However, delete any images, photos and videos in your media library before deleting the posts.

If you’re unsure whether a post should be deleted, read my post, ‘Are Your Old Blog Posts Damaging Your Blog? How To Stop It From Happening,’ for advice.

5. Reduce the number of images and photos you add to blog posts.

While I recommend adding at least one image or photo to a blog post (because blog posts containing images get up to 70% more traffic), reducing the number of images and pictures will help save media space.

Before adding more images or photos, ask yourself if adding them to your post is necessary.

Let’s wrap it up.

  • Resize your images and photos before uploading them to your blog’s media library.
  • Upload videos to YouTube and use the YouTube block to show them on your blog posts.
  • Delete old images and photos from your media library, but remember to remove them from any posts first.
  • Do not resize images using tools in the media library, as this does not save storage space.
  • Consider deleting old blog posts that are no longer relevant.
  • Reduce the number of images and photos on blog posts. Ask yourself if they’re necessary.

How do you free up storage space in your blog’s media library? If you have any questions about this post, leave them in the comments section.

To follow Hugh on social media, click the links below.

If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, enter your email address and click ‘Subscribe’ to stay up-to-date with my latest content.

Copyright @ 2024 hughsviewsandnews.com – All rights reserved.


Discover more from Hugh’s Views & News  

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

53 responses to “5 Things You Can Do To Free Up Media Space In Your Blog’s Media Library.”

  1. Kymber Hawke avatar

    I love your site, Hugh. I can see myself spending all day here reading tips and tricks with WP. lol

    Thank you for directing me to this article. It answered some questions I had.

    Right now, I’m self-hosted and I love the freedom I have, but I’m often hit with fees and upgrades and things from my hosting service. It’s getting old and expensive. I’ve toyed around with the idea of coming back to wp .com instead of wp .org. But I’m afraid to give up the control I have over what theme I use. I really like how my site looks, but I really am getting to the point I can’t afford it. My renewal is in January of 2025, so I have a little time to think.

    Would love your opinion, if you’re able. Thank you. :)

    1. Hugh W. Roberts avatar

      Thanks so much for the excellent feedback about my blog, Kymber.

      It’s difficult for me to give an opinion about self-hosting Vs WordPress,com as I have never had a self-host blog. WordPress does have a lot of themes available on wp.com, but it depends on which WordPress plan you have as to how many are included; otherwise you have to pay for many of them. I also like that WordPress takes care of everything for me if anything goes wrong. When things have, I’ve always found the folk at WordPress very helpful.

      It’s a tough decision you have, but at least you have another 10 months before you have to make one.

      1. Kymber Hawke avatar

        Thank you, Hugh. I see what you mean about not having had a self-hosted site before. One thing I miss about wp .com is how they take care of problems. I deal with a lot of things sometimes, being self-hosted, that I don’t understand. My hosting service has been helpful… if you catch the right person. I’ve sometimes had a problem and been told I have to pay x amount of dollars to fix it. But when I go back and speak to someone else, they just fix the problem and tell me there is no charge. So, I’ve learned to always get another opinion. They’re easy to get a hold of, which is a plus. But so were the happiness engineers when I was on wp .com.

        I’m glad I have some time to think about this. Thank you for such a quick response.

        1. Hugh W. Roberts avatar

          You’re welcome, Kymber.

          It’s good to hear that your host provider offers good service. Sometimes, getting the right person can be what it is all about when trying to get a problem fixed. i see too many bloggers having meltdowns when things go wrong, often before stepping back and thinking more about what may be causing the problem. In my experience it can sometimes be the user who is to blame, not the provider.

          1. Kymber Hawke avatar

            Yes, I agree with that, for sure.

  2. Sunday Stills: #Photo-Editing: Fun or Fraught? – Second Wind Leisure Perspectives avatar

    […] from Hugh’s Views and News shares a variety of blogging tips. His post “5 Things You Can Do To Free Up Media Space…” provides tips about resizing your images before you upload them to the media library. A must if you […]

  3. beetleypete avatar

    I now upload all my full-size photo images to a free Flickr account. Then you can insert the url of a photo on Flickr into your blog post as a link. The image appears when you publish, and does not affect your space allowance on WP. As a bonus, anyone interested can view the full-size image on Flickr by clicking on it, and enlarge it greatly on that link.

    Best wishes, Pete.

    1. Hugh W. Roberts avatar

      That’s another great way of saving media storage space, Pete. I think there is a Flickr block too. I’ll have to look into it.

Leave a reply to Hugh W. Roberts Cancel reply

I’m Hugh

Welcome to my blog. I’m delighted to have you here. This is the place to discover tips on blogging and WordPress, flash fiction, photography, and more. I enjoy engaging with my readers, so please feel free to explore, join discussions, and contact me. I’m happy to assist! Find out more about me and my blog by clicking the ‘Meet Hugh’ button.

Let’s connect

Subscribe to Hugh’s Views And News

Latest Posts

Follow Hugh in the Fediverse

Hugh's Views & News  
Hugh's Views & News  
@hughsviewsandnews.com@hughsviewsandnews.com

WordPress & Blogging tips, flash fiction, photography and lots more!

403 posts
6 followers

Recommend Blogs To Follow


Boomer Eco Crusader
Boomer Eco Crusader
Live Green | Declutter | Simplify Life

Jacqueline Lambert
Jacqueline Lambert
Award-Winning Travel Humour Writer

Spo-Reflections
Spo-Reflections
To live is to battle with trolls in the vaults of heart and brain. To write; this is to sit in judgment over one's Self. Henrik Ibsen

Anne R. Allen’s Blog… with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.

Fancying France
The musings of a ‘femme d’un certain âge’ who divides her time between SW France and SE England

SONGS AND SCRIPTS AND DUNKING BISCUITS
Every day tales of a winging-it creative

Marsha Ingrao         Always Write
Marsha Ingrao Always Write
Having fun blogging with friends

Curiosities, Castles and Coffee Shops
Curiosities, Castles and Coffee Shops
The musings of a curious mind

WrookieSchU
WrookieSchU
Live life 🙌🏼

WPcomMaven
WPcomMaven
Helping you make the most of your free WordPress.com website since 2011

Second Wind Leisure Perspectives
Second Wind Leisure Perspectives
Fun, Photography & Friends

Share Your Light
Share Your Light
You are a miracle – Let it happen

No Facilities
No Facilities
Random thoughts, life lessons, hopes and dreams

Esther Chilton
Writer, Tutor and Editor

Roaming About
A Life Less Ordinary

Saying nothing in particular
Saying nothing in particular
Jan … JT Twissel

The Chicago Files
The Chicago Files
A Canadian Perspective on Living in the Windy City!

Thank you to all my visitors

469,688 hits

253,008 visitors

Most Viewed Posts & Pages

Copyright Protected Blog

COPYRIGHT ©2011-2031 Hugh’s Views And News BLOG – All Rights Reserved.

This work by Hugh W. Roberts, and/or Hugh’s Views And News blog, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material (text and images) without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. If you want to use posts, excerpts, photos and links, you may contact me first. You must give full and clear credit to Hugh W. Roberts and Hugh’s Views And News dot com with links to the original content.