Recently, we published an article on how to fix common image issues in WordPress. Not too long after, one of our users asked us for help on a weird image upload issue she was facing. Basically she could not upload any image in WordPress, and if the upload goes through it will show images in the media library as broken. In this article, we will show you how to fix image upload issue in WordPress.
Video Tutorial
If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.
This issue is most commonly caused by wrong file permissions. Your uploads directory should have correct file permissions otherwise WordPress will not be able to store your files in it or sometimes may not even display files from the upload directory. To set correct file permissions for your uploads directory, you would need a FTP client, like Filezilla.
My site was working fine before? Who changed the File Permissions?
This can happen due to a number of reasons. Its possible that your web hosting provider ran an upgrade and something caused the file permissions to change. It is also possible that a hacker made those changes while uploading a backdoor hack. On poorly configured share hosting, it is also possible that when one user installs a theme or plugin from an unreliable source, the script ends up mistakenly changing file permissions for everyone.
If everything is working fine on your website, then you just need to change file permissions back to normal. When in doubt, just ask your hosting provider for support.
Connect to your website using the FTP client and then go to /wp-content/ directory. There you will see /uploads/ folder. Right click on the uploads directory and select file permissions.
A new dialog box for file permissions will open. At first you will need to set file permissions for uploads directory itself and all the sub directories inside it to 744. To do that, enter 744 in the numberic value box, and then check the box next to Recurse into subdirectories. Lastly, you need to click on ‘Apply to directories only’ radio button. Click on the OK button to apply these changes. Filezilla 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 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. Lastly, you need to click on Apply to files only radio button. Click on the OK button to apply these changes.
Filezilla will will now set the file permissions for all the files. Once it is done, you can go back to your WordPress admin area and try uploading images again.
We hope this article helped you fix the image upload issue in WordPress. For questions and feedback please leave us a comment below, or join us on Twitter and Google+.
i can not upload a media file to my WordPress
My permissions are 755 but unable to upload images
hi , how can I solve this problem. of inserting image in post, , after uploading pic. when I click on insert into post nothing happens
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.
Try clicking ‘file url’ button first it fetchs url, then click insert into post. Hope it works for you.
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’.
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.
Hi Joy,
Please ask your hosting provider, they can also fix directory permissions issue for you.
Thanks for reply
Today i checked also some images are uploaded but some images shown error in uploading
Thanks Edo, I worked it out.
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
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.
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
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!
Changing folder permissions to 755 resolved the issue for me. Thank you!
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
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!
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…
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 ?
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!
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?
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.
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?
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??
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.
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
Thank you so much for the help. It worked for me as well
I refreshed cache in WordPress and that fixed it.
changing file permissions to 655 worked!
This is what I did to mine:
I have moved my main file from one folder to the other in same cPanel and done some redirection. I didn’t change the LINK in Media setting for folder location so rather than images being located in the folder for the current domain directory, it was searching for images in the folder off the current one.
Just go to Settings in your wordpress dashboard, locate Uploading Files, Store uploads in this folder and check the directory (link) in that box. If the domain name is the old one you transferred from, then change it to your current one and save. Try upload images again and you would be glad.
Thanks to the author and also Temi, both your tips helped fixed my issue. I initially created my WP site in a subdirectory as well and subsequently moved it to the root folder to go live, not realising that Media settings was one of the places where I needed to update with the new URL to remove the subdirectory.
Just to clarify for everyone else, the Uploading Files field is under Settings > Media.
Temi you are my hero!
Temi, you are godlike. The uploads folder path setting on WP was the freaking issue!!!! Thank you so much.
I am proud to solve your problems people…Just Login to your Cpanel and deactivate ModSecurity, just deactivate it.then you will be able to upload your images comfortablly
Thanks Man, you just saved me, But is there any Disadvantage of Disabling Mod Security
My images have uploaded into the media library, with no error messages and no permission problem.
However, when I click Insert into Post, it remains blank.
In Manage Products, there is a series of icons saying “No Image”
I have tried this several times, and have 6 of the same images in the Media library, (which I can’t delete!) but still no images on the product page.
I have tried this with 4 different pictures for 4 different products.
Help!
The fiirst step worked perfectly well for me!!! Thanks WP Beginner
If this problem seems to be only when using google chrome- I found the answer to cure this problem as follows:
Go to settings on chrome- if you are signed in to chrome- sign out. reset the browser, clear the cache, reboot the machine and use chrome without signing in- presto !!!
You should now be able to upload images using the normal way. let me know if this works for you !
Hello,
I have been facing the issue of new image uploads being shown broken. I tried changing values from 755 to 744 & 711 & did 644 as well as as 655 but the issue is still persisting.. please suggest me how do i get this resolved?
Hey, while I’m trying to upload images, it shows an error message:
“Image Upload Error. Precondition Failed”
How To Solve This?
I’m having a strange issue related to this that i dont see anything similar in the thread. I uploaded a few images just fine a couple weeks ago. we were updated to the latest WP version at the time. Today I am going to upload images and the progress bar begins, and then just sticks at about 25%. never moves from there. I get no error message or anything. But when i click to leave page it just leaves – there is no “do you want to leave page while…” message. and then when i come back there is no progress bar or anything. The image is simply not there, no is there any indication i tried to upload it. I didn’t change anything in the settings between the time when i could upload images, and i tried deactivating the only plugin i installed and it did nothing.
I have a different problem
When i want to upload pictures, i’m not even getting the folder to select the image. Please help me out
I am facing the image issue with FEW images on my WP website. When I tried to change the permission to 744, ALL of the images were GONE. Please assist how I can have these images appear again.
Also, I am not using FTP, I am directly changing from Godady hosting panel.
Please change numeric value as 755 then your pictures will appear gain
Hi, guys, this is how I fix the image issue in WordPress library
In cPanel, in the Files section, click File Manager.
Select the button for Web Root (public_html/www).
hit the setting icon in the right
Place a checkmark in the box titled Show Hidden Files (dotfiles).
Click Go.
Review the numbers listed under the Perms column in File Manager.
Directories and folders should be set to 755.
Executable scripts within the cgi-bin folder must be set to 755.
Images, media, and text files like HTML should be set to 644.
Or you check the htaccess file by following this:
Bad .htaccess, Invalid Command
In the (dot) htaccess file, you may have added lines that are either worded incorrectly or conflicting with another coding in the file. The best way to troubleshoot this is to comment out the lines in the .htaccess file.
Always make a copy of the .htaccess file before making any changes to it.
You can comment out a line in the .htaccess file by adding # to the beginning of that particular line. For example, if the code in the .htaccess file looks like:
DirectoryIndex default.html
AddType application/x-httpd-php5 php
Then, try commenting it out like so:
DirectoryIndex default.html
#AddType application/x-httpd-php5 php
Broken lines and lines that start with php_flags are the most common mistakes. If you cannot determine which line is the problem, then comment out every line.
usually, the problem come from the line whit the jpg, png, in the code tray to comment this line like so (add # in front of the code line ) and then save
go to your library and tray to upload a picture
Hi,
We have recently got hacked and figured out that the images weren’t showing because the uploads folder was missing in Filezilla. We tried creating a new folder but it disappears as soon as we refresh. I can upload images in wordpress but they are seen as broken. Is there any way to fix this problem?
Your help is greatly appreciated!
Sara
Hello,
We have been trying to update the pictures on our website because they are outdated. We have several different pages that also have videos and when I try to update the pictures on those pages the videos disappear. But as soon as I delete the new pictures the videos come back. I am not sure what is going on.
Hi Naomi,
Please follow our step by step WordPress troubleshooting guide to figure out what’s causing this issue.
Hi, my media library images are all broken and even if I upload new ones .. I tried changing permissions on c panel to 744, 755, 655 but still no changes on building on page builder …how do I fix this problem
Hi Pule,
You will need to change all file permissions to 644.
Hi WpBeginner Support ,
what do you mean by changing all file permission to 644 , like all files on my website ? or just upload file and his children ?
I’m facing the same issue and no solution worked for me till now , when I tried to change image format to bmb it works !
please anyone know how to fix this tell us .
I changed my file permissions to 655 and that worked! So happy it’s fixed such a relief! Thanks for the article!
Hey Mandy,
You are welcome. We are glad you found it helpful
Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook for more WordPress tips and tutorials.
I had this problem and tried the above solution but it did not work. What I did was in the Settings/Media area of my WordPress Admin Dashboard I unchecked the option to organise my uploads into month- and year-based folders and after that it worked fine!
Hello,
I am currently experiencing issues when trying to upload a new image to the media library. It gives the error: error during uploading, please try again later.
I tried everything, changing permissions in the FTP server, de-activating plugins, and reinstalling WordPress. I am currently using WordPress 4.7.
Can someone please help me?
regards,
Dave
I am having the same issue and have no clue on how to fix it!
You guys are really boss. Keep it up bro
Guys,
I have the same / a similar problem.
When I upload a image, it is copied to the right folder. But I can’t see it in the library and it gives a error message (error, try again later).
When I select a specifiec month in the library, I can see the images from that month, but when I do not select a specific month, I only see one blank square.
When I select the list view I see all images, but also a few empty thumnails that says “no title”. I can’t view, delete or whatever these.
I tried deactivating all plugins, I use the standard theme (twenty seventeen), I tried suggestions above. Noting helps.
Hope someone can help me…
Regards, Bas
Working fine then all of a sudden it quit uploading image files. I get the error:
Failed to write file to disk.
I’ve tried the recommendations using ftp and it still doesn’t work. I installed WP to Buffer at about the same time this happened. Deactivated it but still can’t upload images.
Thanks for any help.
Hi Larry,
The most common cause of this error is when file directory permissions are changed on your site. You can also try steps mentioned in our WordPress troubleshooting guide.
It’s working again. The only thing I did was to deactivate the WP to Buffer plugin. Not sure why it took a period of time but all seems ok at this point. Thanks for your help.
Find in wp-admin dashboard menu ‘Settings/Media’. There is forder path do media files. Set correctly your server media path.
It’s works.
Thank you for this post Bartosz. We had recently migrated a site and there was an address in the Settings/Media/StoreUploads which was causing the problem. I deleted that address, hit save, and it fixed the problem; am now able to upload images.
Marjorie
Hello,
Thanks for your answer. I was looking for this.
Hey,
I had an issue too and found out that my share host was running php version 5.5.36. I had to add ”AddHandler application/x-httpd-php56 .php” to the .htaccess file to get the server to run php 5.6
I hope this helps
Hello I have the same problem but mine is like only for users: it says “Error during upload, please try again” and I tried everything anyway all i know and ain’t be fixed ._., can someone help? i will apreciate that. thanks !
did you ever get help on this error?? i have the same issue and nobody seems to be able to fix it, even my web hosting co. . . . ..thanks
I am having an issue trying to rotate picture I downloaded into WordPress. It freezes up then tells me there is an internal error 500. Then it clears up in about 15 min but can not edit or do anything with pictures anymore or does same thing.
Thanks for any help
I followed the directions on changing the permissions for the uploads directory, now the site won’t come up and I can’t even get back into my WP dashboard. I’m getting a 500 error.
Can anyone tell me how to set the permissions as they were originally? In other words, how to undo the hatchet job that is now my client’s website?
I understand how to reset the directory permissions, but I don’t know what the file permissions were before.
You can use 655 for all files, and 755 for all directories.
500 Error is related to your .htaccess / php.ini file i think you were using a cdn with wp rocket because it have that problem when you do changing directly from ftp and editing files directly like that. try to disable it, delete everything on your htaccess except the part of wp by default than retry again and activate your plugin again.
The explanation here on this page is trying to shoot a tiny bird with a cannonball.
It’s quite simple to fix the problem of image upload error in WP! Just DO NOT use any special or foreign language characters in the file names! and keep them short. This is the 101 of computer file naming protocol anyway and resolves the most cryptic of problems.
Most times, the best solution is the simplest solution.
Wow, you’re right. It’s perfect.
I previously try to upload an image with “blabla-1” filename and it wasn’t uploaded.
I looked for some solutions in internet but found nothing, until this one simple solution.
After than I change the filename into “blablabla” and… it’s uploaded perfectly.
I feel so smart right now.
Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
Hi Guys, I’ve been having this issue, along with connection lost problem, and it have caused me to abandon my blog. Still painful.
Anyone with help?
I have problems uploading some images. I didn’t know what the problem was, until i see the filename was using characters with written accent, like the spanish “Según se mire.jpg”.
Renaming it allows me to upload right.
Don’t know if this can be helpfull for somebody in the future
Hi people,
Try to put this in your themes file named “function.php” in the last line:
add_filter( ‘wp_image_editors’, ‘change_graphic_lib’ );
function change_graphic_lib($array) {
return array( ‘WP_Image_Editor_GD’, ‘WP_Image_Editor_Imagick’ );
}
Hi,
Followed the instructions and it didn’t solve the problem. Any other idea’s to get the upload fixed again?
Tnx in advance
Didnt work, Im getting “HTTP Error”
Did you get the answer to this?Please help me out,i am experiencing the same when I am uploading images from my wp dashboard
Hey Guys, I followed all the steps and it’s still not working. Everytime I try to upload an image it says “HTTP Error”
Wondering if someone could help me.
Cheers,
Steph
Did you get the answer to this?Please help me out,i am experiencing the same when I am uploading images from my wp dashboard
Didn’t work.
Hi, I wanted to add a spreadsheet I created in Excel and have it display in a blog post. Should not be complicated , Right? But I have not been able to do so. 1st I saved the excel as a PDF file. Then I imported the pdf into Photoshop and saved as a jpeg. I try to upload into my WordPress Blog and it will not accept the image. I keep getting an error.
What error do you get?