When images are uploaded to WordPress media library, they are saved into multiple copies of various resolutions and hence downloading them automatically saves their copies too. This tutorial is not about backing up your media library files so that you can use them during troubles and data loss (for restoring your website). That can be done by visiting your website’s public_html via FTP or file manager and then downloading the ‘Uploads’ directory present in ‘wp-contents’ folder of your website’s root. OR if you are a SANGKRIT.net hosting user then you can use easily backup your complete website from cPanel.
In this tutorial we are discussing about a plugin that lets you download the original files (not the copies) of your media library files so that you can use them for other purposes, on other websites and projects etc. We will be showing you how you can easily download all your original media library files in a zip directly from your admin area dashboard.
To start, first install and activate downML – Download Media Library plugin. After activation visit your admin area Dashboard ->downML page and click medialibrary.zip to download zipped media library files of your WordPress site. It also shows you the size of zip file. After downloading the zip, simply right click and select extract options to save files in a simple folder.