WordPress Media Library Cleanup: You’re Solving the Wrong Problem
Search “WordPress media library cleanup” and you’ll find the same answer everywhere: install a cleanup plugin, scan for orphaned files, delete them, done. It works. For about three months. Then you’re back to the same bloated library, the same slow backups, the same hosting bill creeping up. Because every guide on the internet is solving the symptom — excess files — without touching the cause. The cause is your upload workflow. And until that changes, no amount of cleanup will stick. Why Your WordPress Media Library Keeps Getting Out of Control WordPress creates 5–10 image variants for every file you upload. A thumbnail, a medium, a large, whatever your theme requests, whatever your plugins need. A single 3MB photo becomes…
