When you upload media files to WordPress, whether it is a picture, video, etc, the files are stored in the WordPress Media Library. Inside the Media Library, each media file has its own URL pointed to it. So, when someone clicks on a URL they will be directed to its specific file. 

What is WordPress Media Library?

It is a catalog of all the media files you’ve uploaded to your WordPress site. You can open the media library by simply clicking on Media in your admin sidebar. 

Inside WordPress, you can store a variety of types of media, including:

• Images (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif, and .ico)
• Audio files (.mp3, .m4a, .ogg, and .wav)
• Videos (.mp4, .m4v, .mov, .wmv, .avi, .mpg, .ogv, .3gp, and .3g2)
• PDFs
• Word documents
• Excel spreadsheets
• PowerPoint presentations
• Adobe Photoshop documents 

In the Media Library, there are several options available to organize your media files. There are Edit, Delete Permanently, View, and Replace Media. Read more.

Unfortunately, the WordPress Media Library does not have a way to replace existing files in your Media Library by default. Therefore, when you upload a new version of an existing picture file, you have to also manually update all links to that picture. The new picture file you upload will have a new URL that is different from the existing picture you want to replace. 

How to replace WordPress media files in default?

Replacing media files in WordPress by default process take quite many steps as follows:

1. Access the Media Library
2. Delete the old image
3. Upload a new image
4. Edit the post
5. Link the image to the post again 

You can watch the tutorial here:

This process is so troublesome especially if you want to replace several media files on your website. To avoid that, you can use a plugin that can help you replace your media file in WordPress.

Here we will review Enable Media Replace. 

Getting Started

Enable Media Replace is a plugin for WordPress by ShortPixel. This plugin allows you to replace an existing file in your Media Library with the new file that will be uploaded in the same location as the original file. This means that you can replace files without having to change the links that are directed to them.

No more deleting, renaming, and re-uploading files! 

You can use the Enable Media Replace plugin for free. There are already 500.000+ users using this plugin for their website. It is a useful and lightweight plugin that helps a lot in reducing your workload and time. 

What are the main features of Enable Media Replace?

• Media Files Replace

Instead of replacing your media files one by one through troublesome steps, you can finish it in a few clicks using Enable Media Replace. 

This plugin allows you to choose between replacing only the files or replace the file, use a new file name, and update all links. 

Very easy! 

• File Modification Time Display

If you want to keep a record of the media files you have replaced on your site, the Enable Media Replace plugin has a shortcode available. 

This shortcode picks up your file modification date and displays it in your post or page. You can use this for your future reference. 

• Replace image preview 

It is a new feature in the plugin. With this, you can preview first the image before using it as a replacement. 

• Image resize, optimization, and regenerating thumbnails

Enable Media Replace works with other plugins to modify the picture for a replacement. All those plugins are supported & maintained by ShortPixel. 

Why should I use Enable Media Replace?

Automatically replace the media files along with the links

If you find replacing and updating links for your media files in WordPress manually is troublesome then this plugin is right for you. 

With this plugin, you can replace your files and update the links at the same time. You just need to choose between two options then Enable Media Replace will automatically work it out for you. 

Time-saving

Rather than wasting your time updating each link after uploading new files to replace the old one, you can do that in a few clicks using Enable Media Replace.

Replacing a file in your WordPress only took a few seconds with this plugin. 

Easy-to-use

You can replace any media files and update the link easily from your WordPress Media Library. 

Open the media library, select the picture/video/files you want to replace, click Replace the file, use a new file name and update all links, and then upload.

That’s it! 

Compatible with other plugins

Not only used for replacing media, but you can also optimize, resize, and regenerate thumbnails for your media files. 

This is possible because Enable Media Replace is compatible with other plugins, such as:

• ShortPixel Image Optimization – Automatically optimize the images you replace
• Resize Image After Upload plugin –  Resize images upon upload to save traffic & disk space
• Regenerate Thumbnails Advanced – Regenerate the thumbnails for your site after changing a theme. 

Where can I get Enable Media Replace?

You can get this plugin by downloading the plugin or adding it directly from your WordPress Dashboard. 

Download plugins

1. Download the plugin here
2. Upload the folder enable-media-replace to your plugin directory
3. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress
4. Done! 

Directly from WordPress Dashboard

1. Open your WordPress Dashboard
2. Click Plugins > Add new
3. Search for the Enable Media Replace plugin by ShortPixel
4. Click Install Now
5. Click Activate
6. You are ready to go! 

How to use Enable Media Replace?

Using Enable Media Replace plugin’s Shortcodes

Pros

1. Free
2. Easy to use
3. Time-saving 

Cons

1. Different replacement file’s type might cause a problem 

Conclusion 

Enable Media Replace is a WordPress plugin for replacing media files while updating its link on your website. If you don’t want to waste time replacing media files one by one then this plugin is right for you. With this plugin, you can replace any media files a few clicks away. All the links update and so on will be taken care of by the Enable Media Plugin. 

References

• Enable Media Replace Plugin
• ShortPixel Help Support
• Publish Press Review