Using External Media Files

While running a website, you will not always use your own media. In fact, most of the image material probably comes from external sources. To address this reality, there are a number of plugins that will make using external media much easier.

1. ImageInject

I have mentioned this plugin in several other posts, simply because it’s really handy. ImageInject lets you search the Flickr’s database directly from the WordPress backend and insert images with just a few clicks.

This means that you have thousands of free photos under the Creative Commons license directly at your fingertips! And the best part: The plugin will automatically generate an attribution link. Talk about a time saver!

2. Remote Media Libraries

While this plugin is still in beta, it looks very promising. Remote Media Libraries lets you add media from external sources to your own WordPress library via YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, Instagram, you name it. Insert them into your posts and pages just like you would with normal media files.

Pro versions of this plugin are also available. They give you additional abilities such as creating albums and lists as well as uploading media from WordPress to a remote service. The makers appear to have big plans and there are more things to come in the future.

3. Add External Media

A smaller version of this last plugin is Add External Media, which was just released. It also lets you add media from YouTube and other sources directly to the media library, from which you can quickly add them to your content. It works with all services on WordPress’s oEmbed list.

Download Managers for WordPress

If you are in the habit of offering your visitors media files for download, there are specialized plugins to make the process a bit easier. Here are two of them:

1. WordPress Download Manager

As the name suggests, WordPress Download Manager is a management system for files and documents hosted on your WordPress website. It lets you manage and track file downloads and can even function as an eCommerce solution for digital products.

The plugin creates a new custom post type for media files. You can control access for each item, add passwords, and even use files saved externally—for example in Dropbox or Google Drive.

While it’s a standalone plugin that doesn’t enhance the native media library, for those frequently giving away downloads on their site, WordPress Download Manager is definitely worth a look.

2. Download Monitor

This plugin’s functionality is quite similar: add and remove downloadable media files to your WordPress site, sort them by category, tag or other taxonomy, and easily add download links to your content.

Download Monitor will track downloads and download attempts, and also allows you to restrict files for certain types of users. This plugin another good pick if you have a lot of downloadable content to offer.

WordPress Plugins for Image Optimization

The media library is often the largest part of any WordPress website. This can be quite annoying, especially when moving your site. The bigger issue, however, is making sure that users get their content quickly and images don’t slow down your website. The following plugins are a good step in that direction.

1. Imsanity

As I said before, the WordPress ‘Uploads’ folder tends to be huge. One of the reasons is that users and contributors often upload files that are way bigger than they need to be. Be honest, when was the last time you displayed a full-screen image on your site? Exactly, never.

Imsanity is a plugin that does away with this problem. It automatically shrinks down uploaded images to a more manageable size. What exactly manageable means is up to you. The plugin also offers bulk resizing for existing media. This will save you a lot of nerves during the next site migration.

2. EWWW Image Optimizer

Like Imsanity, EWWW Image Optimizer will reduce the size of your images. However, instead of resizing your images, it does so by optimizing media files. That means doing away with unnecessary bloat and compressing image data.

The cool thing is that this doesn’t effect image quality since all processes are lossless. Also, existing images can be processed in bulk and the plugin will skip those files that have already been optimized. What’s not to love?

3. Photon

Another possibility to speed up your site is to not have the media files on your own server in the first place. Content Delivery Networks like Photon, which is part of the Jetpack meta-plugin, make this possible.

Photon is free to use for Jetpack-connected WordPress sites and the set up is done quickly. Install Jetpack, activate Photon, and you are done. You can read more about how it works on the linked page.

Tame Your Library with Media File Manager Plugins

Media files often make up a large chunk of any WordPress site. Over time, the native media manager has improved, yet still leaves some things to be desired. Plugin authors are of the same opinion and try their best to improve media management within WordPress.

From enhancing the WordPress media manager through taxonomies and other features over integrating external media to full-fledged download managers and image optimizers, there is a plethora of plugins to make the lives of WordPress admins easier and let them tame the beast that is the media library. Just take your pick from the list above. Good luck.

Which plugins can you recommend for media management in WordPress? Give us your input in the comments.