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Best WordPress Media Library Management Plugins
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15 Best WordPress Media Library Management Plugins 2023

How to get folders in the WordPress media library? These plugins will help you to achieve just that and more.

Nowadays, very few websites contain only text. A fair amount of screen space is devoted to images as well. Audio, video, and all media files are also included to reinforce text content. Media inserts, too, help break up long paragraphs of text. Media files can almost completely occupy the website space for websites, such as portfolios, photography, or music websites. When you create media files on WordPress, they all get stored in the media library, where you can access them whenever you want. The media library can quickly become disorganized if you rely on media for content. To help you organize media files within the media library, you can get help from the many WordPress media library management plugins.

The media library management plugins make handling the media files at the WordPress back-end easier. You can categorize the files, edit them in bulk, and delete the files you no longer need using these plugins. Many other plugins can draw media files from external resources, but this post is devoted to plugins that help you better manage the WordPress media library.

Free WordPress Media Library Management Plugins With Folder Support

The WordPress plugin repository has several efficient plugins to help you organize your media files and make them searchable. Many help categorizes the new and existing media files in bulk. Some allow you to rename old files, while others are useful for slotting media files into folders and subfolders.

1. FileBird – WordPress Media Library Folders

You should use FileBird – WordPress Media Library Folders to arrange and manage your media files as it was born with an excellent design and smooth operation. It works and functions like what you use to organize files or folders on a computer. Once you install the plugin, you can easily manage thousands of your images and other media files into folders or categories, drag and drop to upload or move files into folders, and drag and drop to rearrange folders.

You have the toolbar on the left, which allows you to control all of your folders, files and you can easily right-click to create, rename or delete folders quickly. With most file types supported, you can create folders and subfolders for all your media files. When you create a page or a post, browsing and picking up a file is time-saving. In just a blink of an eye, you can quickly select a specific folder or file by the help of folder hierarchical view.

This plugin is supported with most plugins or themes, WooCommerce, WPML, etc. and popular languages, English, Spanish, Chinese, etc. All you need is to sort your files and folders on your hands. FileBird has both Free and Pro version, you can choose which one you suit the most. The free version offers limited folders of 10, Pro goes with unlimited folders. Both support unlimited files.

Active installations: 100,000+

Price: Available for free via WordPress.org. The Pro version costs $39.

More info / Download

2. CatFolders – WP Media Folders

CatFolders - WP Media Folders

CatFolders – WP Media Folders is a WordPress plugin designed to help you manage your media files with category folders

It makes organizing your WordPress media library simple, allowing you to quickly create folders and organize them any way you choose. With the categorization as a folder tree, adding new media is a breeze – no more searching through endless categories or subcategories for the content you need!

CatFolders - WP Medial folders organizer preview

CatFolders Features:

  • Fast and lightweight.
  • Organize media files into customizable folders.
  • Drag and drop multiple files to quickly move them between folders.
  • Easily find media and attachments using the search bar and filter options.
  • Sort files and reduce unused media or those files with the most weight.
  • Improve WordPress website speed by removing the number of outdated media files stored in a single directory.
  • Import categories from other plugins like FileBird, HappyFiles, WP Media Folder by JoomUnited, etc.
  • Backup and restore your folder organization quickly.
  • User-based folder system helps each user have their own folder tree.
  • Role-based permissions allow for limiting full access only to admins and editors.

Compared to other plugins, which don’t support unlimited-site licenses, CatFolders will be a good alternative for web agencies and freelancers as it provides an affordable price for unlimited websites.

With the $199 billed annually Agency plan, it will be awesome if you use CatFolders on 5+ websites.

More info / Download

3. Media Library Assistant

Media Library Assistant

The Media Library Assistant packs many shortcodes to display, sort, and order your images. It includes an advanced gallery shortcode that lets you add images and other media files to your posts. You can add, remove, and edit taxonomies in bulk via the quick edit feature. The WordPress media search feature improves by including slug, ALT text, and image captions as search filters. It controls each gallery’s styles, markup, and content using style and markup templates.

The Media Library Assistant can reveal size of each media file and its location on your website. The EXIF and other metadata can also tell you when and where the images were created. The plugin integrates with Jetpack and other plugins to add slideshows, thumbnails, and special effects to your gallery. It supports WPML and Polylang multilanguage plugins.

Active installations: 70,000+

More info / Download

4. Folders

folders wordpress media library management plugin

Consider using a WordPress media library management plugin to keep things as organized as possible in your admin dashboard section. But that is something you already know. Folders is a great, simple, and free tool that allows you to create subfolders for different content and have things in perfect order. From texts, images, videos and audios, Folders supports them all. The drag and drop interface also makes it super convenient, creating an organized atmosphere you are after.

Whether you use it for your page or your client’s website, Folders make the whole experience convenient and practical. This way, you will never again be submerged in a vast collection of content, always taking you a ton of time to find the needed files.

Active installations: 50,000+

More info / Purchase

5. Media Library Organizer

media library organizer wordpress plugin

Hence, Media Library Organizer is a free WordPress plugin that helps you create your system. The kind will keep all the material you upload to WordPress organized, categorized, and easily accessible. If you regularly upload different types of content, you better get your hands on Media Library Organizer and end the chaos. To no one’s surprise, achieving great results with the extension is simple and beginner-friendly. Even the installation process is super simplistic, ensuring you can do everything independently, from start to finish.

Media Library Organizer features are image, video, audio, and other media categories you can set yourself. You can throw content in the relevant category and sort it out by date or name. The Media Library Organizer also works with all media library views, like featured image, image picker, media library list, etc.

Active installations: 10,000+

More info / Purchase

6. FooGallery

foogallery wordpress media library management plugin

Regarding creating the niftiest galleries, FooGallery is a free plugin that will do the trick. With the WordPress media library management plugins on this list, you can keep things organized in the back- and front-end. With the extension, you can create these jaw-dropping and interest-sparking galleries that will knock everyone off. And to achieve such spectacular results, little time and effort are needed.

Introduce outstanding media galleries to your WordPress websites seamlessly and effortlessly. FooGallery’s free version includes lazy loading, simple pagination, gallery widget, drag and drop reordering, and albums. FooGallery is also compatible with Gutenberg, mobile devices, retina screens, and web browsers. See the predefined live demos yourself and you will instantly understand the power of FooGallery.

Thanks to its media folder support, FooGallery is among the highest-rated WordPress gallery plugins.

Active installations: 200,000+

More info / Purchase

7. Media File Renamer

Naming image files can have a positive impact on SEO. Adding ALT tags to images is one way to optimize images for SEO. The Media File Renamer plugin automatically renames all the image files based on their titles. It also ensures that any reference to these files is also automatically updated. You can toggle the automatic renaming options by clicking on the lock/unlock icons. From a dashboard in the media, you can rename all the files in one go. If you wish, you can set filters to control the renaming of the files. If you do not want further changes to file names, turn on the lock option on that image.

Media File Renamer

The pro version allows you to manually rename each media file. It also allows you to rename it depending on the post to which the media file is attached, the ALT text, or many other options. It would be good to let the plugin automatically rename the files and then fine-tune those names that need alteration.

Active installations: 40,000+

More info / Download

8. Media Library Categories

Media Library Categories adds the ability to add and use taxonomies in the media library. A drop-down of categories will appear in the media library, and you can select your categories from that. If you want to change the categories of existing items in the media library, that’s possible, too, as the plugin supports bulk editing of categories.

Media Library Categories

By default, the plugin uses the same categories as the post and pages in your WordPress, but you can also use other categories by using a bit of code in the functions.php file of your theme. You can get images of any particular category to display in a gallery format using a shortcode. This plugin is a good fit if you want to add categories to your media files.

You’ll have to opt for the plugin’s premium version to filter media files based on categories while uploading to a post or page.

Active installations: 30,000+

More info / Download

9. WordPress Real Media Library

real media library lite wordpress plugin

You might find trouble locating particular files with a ton of content in your WordPress’ media library. To avoid the mess, WordPress Real Media Library is an excellent WordPress plugin that will help you manage and organize things in perfect order. With WordPress Real Media Library, you can keep it all neat if you have hundreds or thousands of files in your media library. It supports images, videos, and documents with ease.

You have complete control over files and folders. You can quickly create, rename, move or even delete folders. With the simple method of dragging and dropping, you can push content in the correct folder swiftly. You can also set filters, create custom content ordering, and display files in a list mode.

Active installations: 60,000+

More info / Download

10. Enable Media Replace

The task of the Enable Media Replace plugin is really simple—replace an existing media file with a new one. That’s it, no need to delete old files; rename them or re-upload them. You can replace the old files by accessing them via the Media “Edit View.” A new option “Replace Media” will appear, and simply clicking on it helps replace a media file. One replacement method is simply uploading a new file of the same type. The new file replaces the old one and retains the file name of the old attachment. You can also rename the file with a new name and update all the links. The links will all point to the new file then.

Enable Media Replace

This function can replace or update many images in your Media Library. Using shortcodes, you can display the date and time of modifying the media file.

Active installations: 600,000+

More info / Download

11. WP Media Category Management

WP Media Category Management supports categories for media files by using the existing categories or a dedicated media category custom taxonomy. You can change categories easily by toggling on the media list page view, including bulk toggling for multiple media files. It supports post tags and media taxonomies defined by other plugins as well.

WP Media Category Management

Using this plugin, you can control media categories via admin like you control post categories. It also filters media files in your library using custom taxonomy in list and grid views. While uploading media files, you can choose a default category.

Active installations: 10,000+

More info / Download

Some More Free Plugins

These plugins add particular functions that you may need while managing your media library:

  • WordPress Media Library Folders is another plugin that lets you add folders and subfolders in your media library. It allows you to move, copy, rename, and delete files and folders from a convenient drag-and-drop interface. You can also regenerate thumbnails and sync files/folders while uploading via FTP.

Premium WordPress Media Library Management Plugins

While the free plugins are efficient enough to categorize and sort media files, the premium plugins go further. They enable you to put the files into folders, reorder files by drag and drop, and create galleries using tags. They also come with better support.

12. FileBird – WordPress Media Library Folders

Have you ever had trouble managing thousands of files of images, videos, or documents that you have uploaded to your WordPress? Totally yes, right? Don’t mind much, a tool was born to help you handle this issue. Manage your media files easily with the fantastic plugin FileBird – WordPress Media Library Folders that Ninja Team develops will dramatically take your WordPress Media Library to the next level.

The transparent user interface and smart context menu will let users drag and drop files into folders or have the rights to quickly create, rename or delete folders just like what you do on your computer. It’s easy as falling off a log. With this tool in hand, your media files are arranged systematically. You can easily select an image to insert in a page or post as media folders and categories are available to choose right on the page/post menu bar. This helpful plugin is entirely compatible with most popular plugins, especially the world’s most famous e-commerce plugin, i.e., WooCommerce. It also supports many languages like English, Spanish, French, Italian, etc., to name just a few.

This plugin benefits those running an online store for its friendly UI and highly customizable features that satisfy your purpose. For all of the mentioned features, FileBird is worth your consideration. If you want to give your WordPress media library management a shot in the arm, the FileBird plugin could be your secret weapon.

Active installations: 25,000+

Price: $39 one-time payment

More info / Purchase

13. WordPress Real Media Library

WordPress Real Media Library—Media Categories/Folders File Manager helps you organize thousands of images and media files into categories and folders. You can create, rename, delete, and reorder folders and drag and drop files from a single toolbar. You can search for the media files by filtering while selecting media for insertion into posts and pages.

WordPress Real Media Library

The tree view of your folders makes it easy to find your file within the folder and then find it. To find your files faster, you can create shortcuts. The plugin has an improved uploader to upload files directly to the folder. Real Media Library supports three folders—a normal folder containing all types of files except galleries, and gallery folders, containing only images. The third type of folder is the Collection folder, which contains no files but has data, which you can use to create a visual gallery. You can create dynamic galleries from the folder and order the images within the gallery any way you like.

The plugin is compatible with Revolution Slider and touch devices. The plugin supports multisites and is developer-friendly. Developers can further extend the plugin’s functions to synchronize with external folders and in other ways.

Active installations: 21,000+

Price: $39 one-time payment

More info / Purchase

14. Real Physical Media

wordpress real physical media library management plugin

Real Physical Media is a little different yet powerful and practical when organizing your media content. Instead of having it all in one folder, stuffed in no particular order, you can now use different folders. This allows you to know the exact location of particular types of content. Stay away from making a big mess once and for all. Real Physical Media lets you quickly decide where to store your uploads.

There sure is a lot to talk about Real Physical Media. You can manually append one file at a time if you do not want to activate automatic queueing. Moreover, you can exclude folders from the physical path and migrate your pages flawlessly when necessary. The SEO URL rewrites are also available to avoid 404 errors completely.

Active installations: 1,500+

Price: $24 one-time payment

More info / Purchase

15. WP Media Folder

WP Media Folder allows you to navigate your media library the same way you navigate using your desktop browser. It allows you to drag and drop media files into folders and subfolders. Using the native WordPress media manager, you can manage and order files and images. Creating folders, navigation, and filtering is all done in no time. Classify all your images in a folder, and add a cover image for easy identification. One image can find a place in multiple folders.

WP Media Folder

The plugin relies on the native WordPress media library, and so if you want to uninstall the plugin, you’ll not lose any media files at all. The folders are generated using a custom taxonomy. The links will not be affected even if you move the media from one folder to another. You can arrange the files by file type, size, or title and filter the files accordingly. Besides, you can import entire folders from your server to your media library. An automatic sync feature allows you to sync any server folder with a media library folder.

WP Media Folder is compatible with WooCommerce and any other media plugin that relies on the WordPress Media Library. A “Replace Media” option allows you to replace old media files with new files having the same format, so the links to media are not broken. An add-on to the plugin helps integrate Google Drive, Dropbox, PDF embed, and One Drive.

Active installations: 10,000+

More info / Purchase

Wrapping Up

Images take up most of the space within a WordPress website. Organizing the media library helps to manage space and retrieve images faster. The media library functions of WordPress have improved over time, but the above WordPress Media Library plugins can do much more. They help categorize and add taxonomies so that you can easily search and filter the images.

Are you using any of these or other plugins to manage your media library? Do share your experience in the comments below.

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Frontend web developer and web designer specializing in WordPress theme development. After graduating with BA he self-taught front-end web development. Currently has over 10 years of experience in mainly CSS, HTML (TailwindCSS, Bootstrap), JavaScript(React, Vue, Angular), and PHP. Obsessed with application performance, user experience, and simplicity.

This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. Have 3000 mp3 files in media library need a plugin that will alphabetize them

  2. Gary Gordon says:

    Just a note. The plugin Enhanced Media Library seems to be having issues and appears to have been abandoned in the WordPress Repository. I would suggest looking at other plugins and making another choice. Good luck. Gary

  3. Dietrich Murphy says:

    I was told by the developer of WP Media Folder that their plugin does NOT work with the current version of WP.

    1. Carrie @ Two Small Potatoes says:

      We’ve been using WP Media Folder for years and have been quite happy with it. Unfortunately, the price has gone up to $49/year, which is more than we’re willing to pay for a single plugin. This is a great list of alternatives, thank you!

  4. Jan de Baat says:

    Just upgraded the WP Media Category Management plugin to a premium version with features to have media user management defining which users are allowed/disallowed to manage media, use a WPMCM Gallery block to filter media on a page or post and to export media information, filtered on user and/or category.

  5. There are also the plugin iFolders. It supports directories not only for wp media files, but also for pages, posts and custom post types.

    1. Zac,

      Thank you for letting us know about this brand new plugin.

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