How to Regenerate Thumbnails in WordPress (via Plugins and WP-CLI) (2023)

When you change WordPress themes, your existing images may not be the right size.

The solution for WordPress? Recreate thumbnails. This means resetting your image dimensions in WordPress core settings. It's also quick to do with a plugin.

In this post, we will dive deeper into the WordPress regenerate thumbnails solution and show you how to fix image issues using Regenerate Thumbnails WordPress plugin and manually using WP-CLI.

Let us begin!

Better look at themVideoversion?

What happens to your pictures

To figure out how to regenerate WordPress style thumbnails, it's important to first understand howImage and image sizes are treated.

WordPress has settings to automatically crop uploaded images. The settings can be found in the admin dashboardSettings > Media.

On themedia settingsPage has Thumbnails, Medium, and Large sizes. You can update the pixel count for each of them as you need.

But don't forget to clicksave Changesat the bottom of the page when you update the sizes.

Here are the standard size options:

• thumbnails– 150 Pixel x 150 Pixel
• Middle– 600 Pixel x 600 Pixel
• Big– 1024 Pixel x 1024 Pixel

Remember thattheme you are usingcan have specific sizes for images that override the options onmedia settingsSide. If youSwitch to a new topic, the settings are updated to the sizes set by the new theme.

However, older images that you previously uploaded will not be affected.

This is where it gets a little sticky. You must be able to resize all of themImages you previously uploadedto match the newly set image sizes. Unfortunately there are no settings for this.

The solution is to do what is called "regenerate thumbnails".

How to resize thumbnails in WordPress? (3 methods)

Before exploring how to regenerate thumbnails in WordPress, it's important to note how to resize images in theWordPress-Dashboard.

Perhaps more importantly, these solutions don't necessarily resize your older images, so you still have to go into WordPress, regenerate thumbnails without the help of a plugin, or otherwise use a plugin.

If you want to resize a thumbnail or image, there are three options:

1. Resize images in your design

Since yourWordPress-ThemaYou can change the default image sizes, you can switch themes, or see if specific settings are availableAdjusting the image sizes.

Every theme is different, so be sure to read its documentation to see if there's a way to resize your theme without resizing itInstalling another themeall in all.

Alternatively, you could choose to do socreate a child themeand change the image sizeswith PHP code.

2. Crop images in media library

Another option is to resize your images by cropping them in themedia library.

Step 1

Go toMedia > Libraryim WordPress-Admin-Dashboard.

Then click a listed image that you want to resize.

In the popover, click theEdit imageTaste.

step 2

After that, you have several options to edit the image.

You can click and drag your mouse over the image and release when you've selected the area you want to keep. Then you can clickharvest.

If you want to crop the image precisely, you can adjust the aspect ratio by typing in the ratio you want.

For example, you can use 1:1 to create a square, or you can use 4:3, 16:9, and any other ratio you want.

Then hold down the Shift key while dragging the mouse over the image. Release when you've selected the part of the image you want to keep. You can click and drag the selection so you can crop the exact part of the image you need.

You can also click and drag the corners of the selection if you don't get the image size you want at first.

Or you can make a selection and then enter the exact size of the image you want in pixelsselectionfield belowcrop imageOn the right side.

When you're done, clickharvest, then theSave on computerTaste.

step 3

If you prefer to resize the image instead of cropping it, you can scale the image in the settings on the right.

Enter the image size you want, then clickScale.

step 4

You can also choose which default image sizes to apply your changes toThumbnail Settings.

You can choose to have your customizations apply to:

• All image sizes
• thumbnails
• All sizes except thumbnails

3. Change the image size in media settings

This is useful when you only need to edit an image or two but want to resize itall your pictures, the best way to do this is through the settings page.

Step 1

Go to in your admin dashboardSettings > Media.

step 2

Enter the desired new dimensions for each thumbnail, medium, or large image. Enter the desired width and height for just one image type or all, as needed.

If you want to resize thumbnails to a non-proportional size, enable thatCrop thumbnail to exact dimensionsfield under theThumbnail sizeSection.

step 3

Then you can check them outOrganize my uploads in month and year foldersbox if you don't want all your new pictures to be disorganized in theuploads folder.

When you are happy with your adjustments, clicksave Changesbutton further down the page.

How to regenerate thumbnails in WordPress

After changing these settings or the theme, you'll need to rebuild your thumbnails if the images on your public-facing site don't update, as mentioned earlier.

One of the easiest ways is to use the free WordPress pluginRebuild Thumbnailsto quickly fix your previously uploaded images.

This plugin is also compatible withWooCommerce.

Step 1

Begin,install and activatethe Regenerate thumbnails plugin.

Then goTools > Rebuild Thumbnails, WordPress image-related settings can be found here.

step 2

By default, theSkip regenerating existing correctly sized thumbnailsOption is activated. Uncheck this box to use the Rebuild Thumbnails plugin to adjust all your images.

However, leave it enabled if you want to conserve your server's resources.

This is recommended if you have already updated some of your image sizes, e.g. B. about your design. You can also check the box under this optionDelete thumbnail files for old unregistered sizes. Choosefrees up disk space on your server.

Make sure you don't need these images before choosing this setting. If some of the images are used on your website and you select this option,They will be deletedand will no longer appear on your website. Visitors see a broken image.

You can see those tooUpdate post content to use the new sizesCheckbox you can select if you would like the images you are currently using in your posts to be updated.

step 3

After selecting the options you want, click the button toRebuild Thumbnails, medium, large and new file sizes included.

Then wait for the process to complete. Depending on how many images you have on your site, this may take a while, so grab a coffee or glass of water while you wait. For larger websites, it usually only takes a few minuteshigh performance server.

You will see the message "All done!". message when the process is complete.

That's it.

Your thumbnails and images should now regenerate.

How to force thumbnail regeneration

You can also use theForce regenerate thumbnails pluginas alternative. As the name suggests, thumbnail regeneration is driven by deleting old image sizes, forcing WordPress to regenerate the images. This plugin is also compatible with WooCommerce online stores.

Remember that at the time of publication this plugin has not been updated for the last 3 major versions, so use with caution. Be sure to test it in astagingorlocal test environmentbefore using it on your live website.

The reason you would need to use this plugin over the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin is that the latter only resizes the images, it doesn't delete the old image sizes unless you enable that option.

But if you have trouble with it, you can try Force Regenerate Thumbnails.

Step 1

To force WordPress to regenerate thumbnails, install and enable the Force Regenerate Thumbnails plugin.

Then goTools > Force thumbnail regenerationim WordPress-Admin-Dashboard.

step 2

To delete all images with the old settings and force WordPress to rebuild thumbnails, click theRegenerate all thumbnailsTaste.

Wait a while and your images will be resized. If you have a smaller website this will take practically no time, but for larger websites with tons of images this can take a few minutes.

Regenerate specific images

There might be use cases where you don't need to regenerate all your thumbnails, just a few specific ones. If the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin is still installed, you can do that too. Here's how.

Step 1

Go toMedia > Library. In the grid view, click a specific image.

step 2

Then right click on theRebuild ThumbnailsTaste.

If you show themmedia libraryIn the list view, click theRebuild ThumbnailsLink after hovering over the image you want to regenerate.

Recreate thumbnails with WP-CLI

If you'd rather not use a plugin, there is another solution for WordPress: recreate thumbnails without a plugin by doing it manually withWP-CLI.

Remember that you must have access to thecommand line on your serverfor this possibility.

Regenerating thumbnails with WP-CLI is a far better option than using a WordPress plugin as it is faster, has no HTTP restrictions andtime out.

The basic command to regenerate thumbnails is below:

regenerate wp media

Once entered, confirm that you want to regenerate all thumbnails by pressing the letter "y" for "yes" on your keyboard.

Regenerate all thumbnails with WP-CLI

After launching the command line, you can type the followingCommand for WordPressRegenerate thumbnails without plugin in seconds:

regenerate wp media - yes

This command will regenerate thumbnails without manual confirmation.

Rebuild specific thumbnails with WP-CLI

You also have the option to regenerate specific thumbnails using WP-CLI and the IDs of the images you want to update.

Here is the command to do this:

wp media regenerate 12 34 567

Just make sure you replace the three example IDs - "12", "34" and "567" - with the actual IDs of the specific images you want to regenerate.

You can specify as many IDs as you like. Make sure you separate each one with a space.

summary

It can be frustrating to seeyour picturesare not displayed correctly, thoughThey change subjects.

Fortunately, there are two quick fixes for WordPress. With the help of the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin, this is possible with just a few clicks. Or you could use WP-CLI to get done in less time than it takes to brew a coffee.