Are you facing image upload issues on your WordPress website?
For most beginners, image upload errors can be quite confusing because they can appear without you doing anything different. In fact, failure to upload images is one of the most common image issues in WordPress. Luckily, it is quite easy to fix, and you can do it yourself.
In this article, we will show you how to fix the image upload issue in WordPress.
What Causes the Image Upload Issue in WordPress?
The image upload issue in WordPress is typically caused by incorrect file permissions. Your WordPress files are stored on your web hosting server and need specific file and directory permissions to work.
Wrong file permissions prevent WordPress from reading or uploading files on the hosting server. You may get the following WordPress error when uploading an image file:
‘Unable to create directory wp-content/uploads/2019/04. Is its parent directory writable by the server?’
Or, you might see the error:
‘The uploaded file could not be moved to wp-content/uploads/’.
Another sign of this issue is that your images disappear from the WordPress media library.
My Site Was Working Fine Before. Who Changed the File Permissions?
This could happen due to a number of reasons. A misconfiguration on your shared hosting server can sometimes change those permissions without you doing anything.
For example, your web hosting provider ran an upgrade that unexpectedly changed file permissions.
If everything else is working fine on your WordPress website, then you can simply apply the correct file permissions to fix the image upload issue.
That being said, let’s take a look at how to set correct file permissions to fix image upload issues on your WordPress site.
Fixing the Image Upload Issue in WordPress
In order to change file permissions, you will need to use an FTP client.
First, connect to your website via FTP and then switch to the /wp-content/ folder. Inside, you will find the uploads folder, which is where WordPress stores all your media uploads, including images.
Now right-click on the uploads directory and then select ‘File Permissions’.
This will bring up the file permissions dialog box.
First, you will need to set file permissions for the uploads directory and all the subdirectories inside it to ‘744’.
To do that, enter 744 into the numeric value box, and then check the box next to ‘Recurse into subdirectories’. Now click on the ‘Apply to directories only‘ radio button.
Click on the ‘OK’ button to apply these changes. Your FTP client will now start applying file permissions to the directories.
Note: If setting directory permissions to 744 does not seem to solve your problem, then try 755.
In the next step, you will need to set file permissions for all the files in the uploads directory.
To do that, right-click on the uploads directory and select file permissions. In the file permissions dialog box, change the numeric value to ‘644’.
Check the box next to ‘Recurse into subdirectories’. Next, you need to click on the ‘Apply to files only’ radio button.
Finally, simply click on the ‘OK’ button to apply these changes.
The FTP client will now change the permissions for all files inside the uploads folder. Once it is done, you can go back to your WordPress admin area and try uploading images again.
If you have any file upload forms on your website, you should test those as well.
Note: If you don’t know how to use an FTP client, then you can also use the file manager provided by your WordPress hosting company. Since the screenshots will vary from each host, you will need to talk to their support to find instructions.
We hope this article helped you fix the image upload issue in WordPress. You may also want to see our article on how to choose the best WordPress hosting or our comparison of the best GoDaddy alternatives.
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Zoe says
Hello,
I am trying to upload several photos to my website page, and keep getting the message below:
“The server cannot process the image. This can happen if the server is busy or does not have enough resources to complete the task. Uploading a smaller image may help. Suggested maximum size is 2560 pixels.”
I have compressed the image multiple times, shrinking the size and optimizing it, yet I continue to receive this message even after shutting down the browser and starting again. Can you please advise me on how to upload these files? Thank you!
WPBeginner Support says
For that error, you may want to try the recommendations from our article below!
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-increase-the-maximum-file-upload-size-in-wordpress/
Admin
Paul says
Please I am trying to upload images from my computer for my blog it is telling me( “The server cannot process the image. This can happen if the server is busy or does not have enough resources to complete the task. Uploading a smaller image may help. Suggested maximum size is 2560 pixels. “).. please what can I do
WPBeginner Support says
It appears that your image is too large, for a starting point we would recommend taking a look at our article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/speed-wordpress-save-images-optimized-web/
Admin
Michelle says
Yes!!! This was absolutely helpfuul and helped me fix the problem! Thank you so much! I am not a hard core computer person. I have just started my blog on WordPress so at the end of the day, I know it is me that has to handle any issues with it! Thannk you so much!!! This was awesome!
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful!
Admin
Vinay Golchha says
when i upload image nmy form it say “something wentwrong, please try again” .
can u please help how to fix this issue?
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to go through the steps in this article if you have not done so and if these recommendations do not solve this issue, you would want to use our general troubleshooting article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-troubleshooting-wordpress-errors-step-by-step/
Admin
António Antunes says
Hey,
Just change the permalink structure from generic to another one. That worked for me
ak says
Thanks! I didn’t thought about it, worked for me and saved a lot of time <3
Ankit Sharma says
image upload issue showing countinously .i have applied all methos but it does not working
WPBeginner Support says
If none of our methods are working for you, we would recommend reaching out to your hosting provider to ensure there isn’t an error on their end.
Admin
Daniel Gadd says
Thank You, 755 worked but 744 doesnt for folders, triple checked
WPBeginner Support says
It can vary depending on the issue and host, 744 is a backup to check
Admin
Mary says
I’m encountering the same issue only the fix that is suggested is not working. Is there something else that can be done?
WPBeginner Support says
You would likely want to reach out to your hosting provider for them to take a look.
Admin
Matthew says
First try to check PHP interpreter version on your server. If it 7.4 – this may cause problems. Change it to 7.3.
WPBeginner Support says
Thank you for sharing that for some users who may be stuck with this error, for beginners we recommend reaching out to their hosting provider for checking if that is an issue.
Admin
Moni says
Images to my wordpress site seem to upload correctly but then then disappear and an icon for broken image link appears. In the media library the image shows as a gray block. If I try to edit the image then I can see the image but when I save it again it’s gray again. I checked my permissions and the are set to 755.
WPBeginner Support says
You may want to try updating to 744 and if that does not work, reach out to your hosting provider and they can normally assist.
Admin
Sravya says
Hi ,do we do it with out FTP
WPBeginner Support says
Some hosting providers have a file manager that acts as an FTP but it would depend on your host for what is available.
Admin
Naluzze Anita says
I’m using localhost, cannot see the file permissions option when i right click
WPBeginner Support says
For local installations, you would right-click the folder and go under Properties>Security to change the permissions.
Admin
Lucas says
Hello
FTP permissions are fine, when I try to upload, the original file goes to the FTP Uploads folder, but WordPress does not recognize it and displays error on upload, try again later
Any tips?
WPBeginner Support says
By default, WordPress would not include FTP’d files in the media library. It would depend on the specific error. If the default upload method is what is causing the error then you would want to go through the troubleshooting steps in our guide below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-troubleshooting-wordpress-errors-step-by-step/
Admin
Zillah Prescott says
You missed the easiest fix of all. Close WordPress and open it back up again.
WPBeginner Support says
For some, that may be a solution but that is sadly, rarely the solution for this specific issue.
Admin
Adams says
”Unexpected response from the server. The file may have been uploaded successfully. Check in the Media Library or reload the page.”
I keep getting the above error whenever I try to upload an image to my newly installed WordPress.
Please advise on how to solve it. Thank you.
WPBeginner Support says
There are a few possible reasons for that error message, we would recommend going through our troubleshooting steps here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-troubleshooting-wordpress-errors-step-by-step/
Admin
Anita Hiltz says
I’m not sure this will solve my problem. I have an educational website and we give away free books and educational materials. Recently I uploaded a PDF document (a chart) into my library, put it in 2 of my web pages, and created the link to open it. That was fine, but later, I decided to improve the document, took it off, recreated it and uploaded it again to the library. The original document was deleted completely from my own files, but when I upload it to my website it comes up with the OLD document. Somehow the “delete permanently” feature within the library is NOT actually deleting it. HELP!
WPBeginner Support says
You may want to ensure you cleared any caching for your site as that is the most common reason for that issue, we have a guide you can follow here:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-clear-your-cache-in-wordpress/
Admin
Evie says
I just wanted to say, thank you so much for all the help you provide. I sometimes experience odd occurrences on my website, and when I Google the problem, your website always seems to simply answer my concerns.
Keep up the excellent work!
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad our guides can be helpful
Admin
Kyree H says
What URL do I type in when connecting via the FTP client? The actual domain that visitors use or my wordpress URL?
WPBeginner Support says
That can vary based on your host, if your normal domain does not work you would want to check with your hosting provider
Admin
Muhammad Adil says
Hurray, I did it just change URL from Setting-General than change “WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL)” set both http to https and the issue has been resolved.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our recommendation could help
Admin
Kristina says
Hello anybody know how to fix getting your images to load the the Media Library? the files are located in the correct place on my server wp content / uploads. and i know my permissions are correcgt 755 and 0644 for the individual files.
if i try to drag or load files from scratch into the Media Library Add New loader I always get this error- ” could not insert post into the database” thanks.
WPBeginner Support says
You may want to ensure there are no special characters in your file name and you’ve tried increasing the maximum upload size for possible reasons.
Admin
Nicole says
My photo’s that I am trying to upload are not even uploading. It is currently stuck on the download bar and I don’t know how to up the uploading process or how to stop it and try again. Please help. We are on a time crunch.
Thank you.
WPBeginner Support says
The most common other reason for not being able to upload an image would be fixed using the method in our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-fix-the-http-image-upload-error-in-wordpress/
Admin
Hamza says
publishing issue in wordpress.
no page, post is publishing in wordpress
WPBeginner Support says
It would depend on if you are receiving an error message or not. For starting out, you would want to take a look at our troubleshooting article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-troubleshooting-wordpress-errors-step-by-step/
Admin
James Howlett says
New image uploaded always has 640 permission. And if I access image with 640 permission, it will return 404. But if I change it to 644, I can access the image.
Is 640 the correct permission for image uploaded? Or is it 644?
WPBeginner Support says
644 are the correct permissions
Admin
sandra willie says
I’m having a problem sizing my photos for a wordpress site and getting them to display correctly. I’ve resized the images several times to smaller, but they still appear showing only portion of the image and not the full image – even though I have also tried resizing in the edit section of the gallery! How do I get them to load in the full size if the image is a suitable size and resolution!
WPBeginner Support says
When adding the image to a post/page you may want to check for the dropdown in the bottom right stating the size and set it to the full size for your image.
Admin
Jessica says
Hi. When I upload a rectangular photo it uploads as a square cutting off most of the image. Any suggestions? Thank you!
WPBeginner Support says
Your theme may be generating a new image size, you may want to check under Settings>Media to see if you’ve enabled image cropping there.
Admin
Alexandru says
I’m having an issue when in editing mode upon uploading product images in gallery. I uploaded some images for a product gallery with no issues then I went to upload new ones for another product. I select the images/upload into gallery but instead of uploading the new ones I selected it uploads the ones from the previous upload.. Ctrl+F5, delete cookies, system restart… nothing. Still the same issue.
Any ideas?
WPBeginner Support says
It sounds like you would want to reach out to the support for the plugin you are using for your products to ensure that it is not a hiccup with the plugin itself.
Admin
Mike Wright says
Thanks a lot!
You continue to bring the clear and direct fixes
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad our articles can help
Admin
The Struggling Believer says
Thank you very much! This solved my problem in my site
Duong Nguyen says
Hi everyone,
I am scratching my head on this current issue with WordPress 5.0 logo uploading. The image file (59K) will upload to media no problem, but it WILL NOT show on the page, instead it would show my icon file instead. I don’t understand. I’ve tried resizing the size to 100px to no prevail.
Could this be the theme fault? I am using OceanWP. I tried contacting my host and they recommend getting my logo designer to optimise it for WP5.0. Which doesn’t make sense. if anyone could please give me any leads to this issue. Thank you!
Famous Onyemah says
I am still struggling to come to terms with WP.
Please if I want my readers to …Read More » on a page, what widget do I use?
WPBeginner Support says
Hello,
The read more link appears next to excerpts (summary) of a blog post. For that you will need to set them up. See our beginner’s guide on how to set up excerpts in WordPress .
Admin
Opirite says
Thank you, i tried many things on how to fix the problem but none worked until i tried your solution by changing the file permission as shown. Your solution to the problem worked for me. Again, a big thank you.
Michiel says
Hi all,
Thanks for all your information and suggestions.
I tried everything:
– the 755,744,744 and 655 in filezilla. Nothing worked.
– Media, upload etc. Also nothing.
All of a sudden I could upload two images. And afterwards I tried the upload a 3rd image and now I am stuck with the same problem again. Every time I try to upload any image i get ‘ http-error’.
Does anybody have some last advice?
Help a no-knowledge-of-websitebuilding-person out!
Thanks in advance!
Anais says
I have an issue that doesn’t seem to be addressed anywhere – there is no “Media” folder in my WordPress menu and I just can not figure out why and how to access it.
I am just starting my blog and not even uploaded my theme yet. Any idea what could be the reason behind that?
Thank you!
wisd says
i can not upload a media file to my WordPress
Manpreet says
My permissions are 755 but unable to upload images
johaness says
hi , how can I solve this problem. of inserting image in post, , after uploading pic. when I click on insert into post nothing happens
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Johaness,
We are unsure what may be causing this issue. Please try steps mentioned in our WordPress troubleshooting guide to find out what’s causing this issue.
Admin
Ravi Kant Singh says
Try clicking ‘file url’ button first it fetchs url, then click insert into post. Hope it works for you.
Ed S says
I tried this initially with 744. This stopped any images appearing at all for me on either wp-admin or my live website. Which was worrying and panic inducing!
So then tried 755, and images are appearing again on my live website. Which is a relief.
Still having exactly the same issue with uploading images though. Getting ‘http error’.
Angelica Perduta says
Same problem here. for images over a certain size. They do appear in the media library but with no thumbnail and can’t be edited. Small images do work however.
JOY DUTTA says
When i go for 744 all thumbnail are shown but uploading error remain
but when i go for 755 thumbnail gone but uploading error solved..
Now what shall i do.
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Joy,
Please ask your hosting provider, they can also fix directory permissions issue for you.
Admin
JOY DUTTA says
Thanks for reply
Today i checked also some images are uploaded but some images shown error in uploading
Joe says
Thanks Edo, I worked it out.
Edo Escada says
Hi,
I did my way, solved very well
Go to your hosting cPanel, go to PHP Version in the Software block..
Go to PHP Options in the right button
Edit to be like this :
:
memory_limit 1024M
post_max_size 128M
upload_max_filesize 64M
Then back to cPanel frontpage
Go to ModSecurity in the Security section
Change to Disable for your domain.
VOILAA !!!!
Regards
Let me know your success story
Atif says
Thanks a bunch dude, nothing else worked, but this PHP options setting worked for me.
Tom says
If the issue is cropping up after transferring a site to a new domain this works for me:
open the Settings menu, and select Media. If you see a file path with a textbox displaying where the files should be uploaded to, delete the text in the file path textbox, and click Save Changes once you’re done.
No try uploading an image, should work fine.
Katie says
Thanks – that solved my problem. The server path had somehow been defined in Settings > Media. Removed it and replaced with the default wp-content/uploads, saved and that fixed it
Gord says
Hi Tom,
I just wanted to say thank you as well. Your post saved me a lot of grief! I used a plugin to migrate a site to a new provider. The tool is excellent, but in this instance were so many files in my uploads directory that I needed to exclude images and move them separately via ftp. I spent an hour carefully checking file permissions and ownership in the WordPress uploads directory until I came across your post. Sure enough, nder “Settings / Media” there was a hardcoded path valid only with my old hosting provider. Great post!
Vu says
Thank you very much. My problem was same and your solution was great
ceesay says
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! This happened when I migrated this site. Hasn’t happened to any of the other sites I’ve migrated, but the Settings>Media path was exactly the problem.
Pri Freire says
Thank you soooo much!
Mika Kaakinen says
Changing folder permissions to 755 resolved the issue for me. Thank you!
Vimal says
I am facing a very basic problem, i tried many theme but when i add an element on a fresh new page it show the default content of (pagename and the recent post widget is visible and other widgets are behind my element i.e Slider) behind my slider or hero image Guyz PLz Help me
Mark Hetherington says
I must have read two dozen different fixes fir this image error thing, then found a solution that s far, far easier than anything else I have read. In fact here’s the solution in three words: Change your browser.
Yep, that’s all I did. I’ve tried lots of different “solutions” with no joy, then just by chance I was working on a different computer one day, using Opera instead of Chrome (I’ve had the error with IE, Edge, Firefox etc. too) and I had no problem uploading my images. I’ve been using Opera for the purpose for months now and never had the HTTP error since.
I’m not saying it will work for every occurrence but it’s got to be worth a try!
Toon says
Wow! worked for me! Safari -> Chrome on OSX
pooja says
I have problem ..I want somebody help me please..
Some content of website like footer content are not displayed on chrome but it displayed on other web browser.I also change the Setting of chrome but its not work .So please help me…
Pooja says
I have my old pictures in wordpress.
But i’m unable to upload new images.
Everytime i got this message….” Unable to create directory uploads/2017/09. Is its parent directory writable by the server”
I tried all
744
755
644
but three of them didn’t works for me
please tell any suggestion ?
Heather says
Me too! I even thought I fixed the problem by increasing the upload size through the Media section under Settings and nope! You know what got it to work?
Resizing my freaking images. Silly me thought I was doing that through the settings on WordPress, but nope!
I have a Mac and I resized my large images to 1920×1080 or less and made sure my Media Settings allowed that and sure enough, it works! All those hours of frustration… *sigh* I hope that helps!
Joe says
I have no problem with inserting photos by doing so inside a paragraph and wraping text around it. But I cannot insert a larger photo in an area free of a paragraph. The size of the photo doesn’t change even though the file is larger. I changed the settings (media/settings) but nothing works. Can you help?
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Joe,
Here is a simple tip that you can try if you haven’t already tried it. Press the enter key twice after adding a paragraph. Click on the upload media button to upload your photo. In the right column, select Full Size and then click on the insert image button. As soon as photo appears in your visual editor, press the enter key twice and start typing.
Alice says
It still doesn’t solve my problem. I recently moved my newly created website from a subdomain to my main domain and everything worked fine except for my uploads. I went to my optons.php and tried to change my upload path. I noticed that when I tried to upload a file, the file is not even in my folder, doesn’t show up in my media library as a thumbnail. However, when I clicked on the broken image and clicked “edit image,” the image actually showed up!!! How weird! How can I fix my problem?
Melina says
Hi Alice, I have exactly the same problem! I tried all the solutions that are given down but because my problem is with my multisite duplicates and not with the root site, none of them works. I can uploads the pictures, the sub-site recognizes they are there but shows just grey thumbnails. When I go to my ftp all access are correct and I have already tried changing the upload path. Nothing works! Could you solve your problem? What was the solution??
Lakshya Mohan says
Similar problem is occurring with me. I have tried everything but still no use. When I upload an image, I see a blank thumbnail clicking on which I see a blank preview, but if I click on edit then only I am able to see the image. When I put that image in any post I see a broken link.
Chris Culver says
did anyone find the solution to this issue. I am having the same occurrence with a cloned site that was created to work on for a site rebuild
Rafia khan says
Thank you so much for the help. It worked for me as well
Tammy says
I refreshed cache in WordPress and that fixed it.
mosh says
changing file permissions to 655 worked!