There are plenty of situations where it makes sense to download images from your WordPress media library. For example, you might be migrating to a new website, or you may want to create a backup of valuable media files. Or, you might just need to download a few images to your local computer, rather than downloading the entire media library.
The good news is there are multiple ways to download your media library in WordPress. For instance, you can download your images via the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or install a plugin to automate the process.
👉 In this post, we’ll show you four ways to download images from the WordPress media library. Let’s get started!
Four ways how to download images from WordPress media library
- Download one or more images from your WordPress dashboard – download individual images as needed.
- Download your media library files via FTP – bulk download all the image files to your local computer.
- Use Media Library Organizer – bulk download selected images from a folder, multiple folders, or even your entire media library.
- Back up your site using plugins like UpdraftPlus or Duplicator – download a copy of your entire site or a copy of your images (uploads) alone.
1. Download one or more images from your WordPress dashboard
All the remaining methods on this list deal with how to download images from WordPress media library in bulk. That is, downloading every single image at once.
However, you might have situations where you only want to download a small number of images, so we’ll cover that first.
To start, go to the Media area in your WordPress dashboard.
Make sure you’re using the list view. Then, hover over the image that you want to download and click the Download File option.
That should automatically download the image file to your local computer.
To download additional images, you can repeat the steps. However, if you want to download every single image in your media library, you should use one of the other methods on this list.
2. Download your media library via FTP
The most complete way to bulk download images from the WordPress media library is to export media files via the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), which lets you directly access all the files on your site’s server, including in the media library.
We’ll show you how to do this below – but you can check out our full WordPress FTP tutorial if you want more in-depth instructions.
First, install an FTP client like the free FileZilla software.
Then, you’ll need to connect to your site’s server. To do this, you’ll use your FTP credentials, which include your Host, Username, Password, and Port:
You can find this information by logging into the control panel of your hosting account. Or, if you’re unable to access these details, contact your web host for support.
After you connect your site, you’ll be able to view your site files in your right-hand panel, under the Remote Site section. Next, you’ll need to locate the root directory of your site. This is usually labelled public_html or something similar:
Within your root directory, you’ll find the wp-content folder. Open it and select uploads:
Now, all you need to do is drag the uploads folder to your left-hand panel in order to save it to your local device. It’s as simple as that!
However, it’s important to note that downloading your media library in this way can be time-consuming. That’s because with FTP, each file will be downloaded individually. Therefore, if you have lots of images on your site, you might prefer to use a different method.
3. Use Media Library Organizer
The free version of Media Library Organizer comes with a lot of useful features, including the ability to bulk download images. It’s much more beginner-friendly than the previous method, and offers some flexibility in terms of how to download your images.
Of course before you can use it, you need to install it:
- From your WordPress admin dashboard, go to Plugins → Add Plugin.
- In the search bar on the top right, type in Media Library Organizer.
- Once it populates, tap on Install → Activate.
Upon activation, the plugin will fuse itself into your WordPress Media Library and you can begin downloading your images. To get started, go to Media → Library. You’ll immediately notice the changed layout and additional options on the left. Now you can proceed forward in two different ways:
Bulk download all the images in your library
Right click on All Files. A popup window with a Download option will appear. Tap on it and you’re done. It doesn’t get any easier than that.
Download only certain images
This option requires a few more steps, but it’s still very easy. You’ll first need to create a folder to put your images in. Then you’ll download that folder.
Here are the steps:
- Click the blue New Folder button.
- Name your folder and tap the Add button. It will automatically populate in the folders area below.
- Make sure you have List view selected (and not Grid view), and then check off all the images that you’d like to download.
- Once you’ve got all the images selected, click and hold the four-way arrow icon next to any of the chosen ones. Then drag the icon to the folder you made. Release the hold and your images will be dropped into the folder.
- Right click on the folder and tap on Download.
4. Create a backup of your WordPress site
The last way to download your media library is to create a backup of your website. Typically, users make website backups for security purposes. That’s because if you’re making a major change to your site, it’s helpful to have a backup on hand in case anything goes wrong.
However, you can also make backups of your WordPress site and extract the images. To get started, you’ll need to choose a backup plugin. There are plenty of excellent options available, but we’ll show you two in this post:
a) Back up your WordPress images
The UpdraftPlus plugin offers the quickest backup option because it lets you back up only the images from your website and download the folder to your computer.
Once you’ve installed UpdraftPlus, go to Settings -> UpdraftPlus Backups. Here, click on the Backup Now button.
In the popup that opens, deselect “Include your database in the backup”. Then, click on the ellipsis next to “Include your files in the backup” and uncheck all items except Uploads. Click Backup Now.
When the backup is complete, you’ll see it at the bottom of the same page.
Click on Uploads, then Download to your computer. Save the archive anywhere you want on your computer.
When it’s ready, open the downloaded archive and extract either the entire folder of uploads or specific folders based on year and month.
b) Back up your entire WordPress site
The second method implies creating a backup of your entire website’s content with Duplicator. From this full backup, you can extract only the images at the end.
Once you’ve installed and activated the plugin in WordPress, visit Duplicator > Packages:
Here, click on Create New in the right-hand corner. Then, choose a name for your backup and select Next to continue:
Your website will then be scanned, and you’ll be given information about your site’s migration status, file sizes, database, and more. If an error is found, you might want to resolve the issue before you continue.
For example, you may find that you have too many uncompressed images on your site that can hinder the backup process. In this scenario, it might be a good idea to optimize your images for better results.
However, if you’re happy to proceed, simply check the box next to Yes. Continue with the build process! Then, hit the Build button:
At this point, click on Download Both Files to download your installer and archive files:
Now, your WordPress backup (including your media library) will be downloaded to your computer.
When the backup archive is saved to your computer, open it and look for the wp-content folder.
Inside this folder, you’ll find another folder called uploads, where all your WordPress images are stored by year and month.
If you want to download the entire media library, select the uploads folder and click the Extract To button.
If you only want to download images from specific years or months, select the folders you need, then Extract To.
Choose the location on your computer where you want to save the media library and click OK. Your WordPress images are now stored locally on your computer.
Conclusion 🤓
If you’re moving to a new website or backing up your images, you might want to download your WordPress media library. This way, you can store files on your computer or import them to a fresh WordPress installation. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to achieve this.
To recap, here are four ways to download images from your WordPress media library:
- Download individual images from your WordPress dashboard.
- Export your media library via FTP.
- Use Media Library Organizer to download images from select folders or your entire media library.
- Create a backup of your WordPress website.
👉 Alternatively, you can also consider hosting your WordPress images externally, which lets you store them on a different server.
Do you have any questions about how to download images from the WordPress media library? Let us know in the comments section below!
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