Discover, trust, install: FAIR 1.0 is here

Media Cleaner: Clean your WordPress!
Version: 6.9.7
Description
Media Cleaner is a powerful plugin that helps you clean up your WordPress media library by deleting unused media entries and files, as well as fixing broken entries. With an internal trash feature, you can preview and confirm changes before permanently deleting anything. Plus, Media Cleaner uses smart analysis to ensure compatibility with specific plugins and themes.
Use it alongside Database Cleaner for the ultimate clean-up experience.
Media Cleaner is like a ninja assassin for your Media Library – it’ll stealthily take out all the unnecessary media and broken entries that are cluttering up the place. Just make sure you have a solid backup plan in place before you let this bad boy loose.
To learn more about compatibility, features, and the Pro version, check out the tutorial on the official website.
COMPATIBILITY
This plugin is compatible with all media types, including retina and WebP versions. It has been tested on a wide range of WordPress versions, including the latest version with Gutenberg, as well as on various themes with a large community of users. It also supports WooCommerce. For users with more complex plugins for handling website content, the Pro version may be necessary for optimal compatibility. We are constantly working to increase compatibility with other plugins.
PRO VERSION
Media Cleaner Pro adds extra features to the free version of Media Cleaner:
- Filesystem Analysis: Scans your physical /uploads directory and matches it against the Media Library.
- Extra support for complex plugins, such as ACF, Metabox, Divi Builder, Fusion Builder (Avada), WPBakery Page Builder, Visual Composer, Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy Builder, Oxygen Builder, Slider Revolution, Justified Image Grid, Avia Framework, and many more!
- Live Site Scan: Analyzes the online version of your website, potentially improving accuracy in some cases.
- WP-CLI support: Allows you to run the plugin at a higher speed or automatically with direct server access (via SSH).
Installation
- Upload the plugin to WordPress.
- Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Go to Meow Apps -> Cleaner in the sidebar and check the appropriate options.
- Go to Media -> Cleaner.
Reviews
Works well!
By heinakroon on September 29, 2025
It quickly cleaned up my bloated media library, saving me gigabytes of disk space.
Just make sure you check manually, if using Visual Composer - unless you're using the Pro version of Media Cleaner.
Wonderful support
By xiaozhu on September 20, 2025
Yes, a real person replies and helps out!
Great series of plugins too 😉
Wonderful.
By muratyesil1313 on September 18, 2025
A useful plugin. Thank you.
Filling a much needed gap in WordPress
By WP CodeUs (wpcodeus) on September 10, 2025
A unused media feature is something that has greatly been needed in the WordPress core for a long time now. The unattached is pretty useless and ends up deleted used media throughout the WordPress installation.
Jordy and his team have so far been super responsive and we're very impressed in the code of the plugin being WordPress plugin developers ourselves.
This is a tool that we're glad to add to our toolkit while building sites for clients.
Great work and we're excited to see what new features you bring in the future.
Great Plugin for WordPress Media Cleaning
By lintlov on September 10, 2025
This is a great app to use to help clean unused media from WordPress sites that may have many unused ones. One thing to keep in mind is to always check if images are removed that are still being used, but there's many tutorials online on how these can be troubleshooted and recovered from the rubbish bin (before permanently deleted)
Только для базовых случаев
By mover on August 11, 2025
Если у вас есть хоть какой-то сложный плагин (ACF, Bricks), то бесполезна бесплатная версия.
Not suitable for Elementor Danger
By martinsch85 on August 6, 2025
Doesn´t do anything with elementor and can break your entire site. In my case it delete a lot of images outside elementor and in use.
Media cleaner not precise, be careful
By xandermusic on August 4, 2025
Yesterday I spent hours to put back essential media files to my staging site, after "CLEANING" "unused" media. Many "unused media" was used on recently created pages, I don't have a clue, how the plugin jugded it as "unused". I don't recommend it. The site became faster, yes, but many important images were gone.
Grateful to have Media Cleaner!
By laurieleblanc on August 2, 2025
I can't believe how much spam I get in my comments on my website! Thank you, Media Cleaner, for notifying me and letting me get rid of them quickly and easily! A must have!!
A must-have plugin for any WP website!
By wickedwizard on July 31, 2025
As a web designer, I've used Media Cleaner on multiple sites and have to say, it's a wonderful tool that everyone should be aware of. Media Cleaner makes it easy to keep your site clean without the headache of trying to figure out what files are connected or no longer needed/connected/valid. What a time saver! It's important to find and use plugins you can trust and know you can rely on to make the maze that is WP more managable. This is the plugin that fits that bill perfectly.
After learning all the little nuances of the plugin and finding all the tasks it can safely perform, I was trying to figure out what I don't like about the plugin. Honestly, the only thing that I would suggest to enhance this tool even more would be a simple step-by-step tutorial to guide the user through the initial learning process and all the features one can take advantage of once it's installed. As far as I'm aware, this doesn't yet exist, but I could be wrong. However, this would definitely never be a deal breaker for purchasing the plugin.
I would heartily recommend this plugin to ANYONE who uses WP and wants a reliable tool to keep their projects simplified!
Changelog
6.9.7 (2025/09/30)
- Add: Timeout mechanism to avoid a stalled scan.
- Add: New Duplicates scan type (beta).
- Update: Confirmation before restarting a scan to prevent accidental restarts.
- Update: Better support for Kadence Theme.
- Add: “Deleted At” column and filters.
- Update: Optimized the WooCommerce parser for better performance.
- Fix: Remove a few minor bugs.
6.9.5 (2025/08/27)
- Add: A clear message guiding users on how to disable the pop-up.
6.9.4 (2025/08/16)
- Fix: Added check for WP_Error in ACF after database calls to improve stability.
- Fix: Resuming process now properly continues from step 3.
- Add: Support for Meow Gallery.
- Add: Warning modal; Sorry guys, but it looks like we need to warn you better about the risks.
- Update: Header included for Filesystem + Content-Type for better handling.
- Comments: Clarified handling of WebP images for improved compatibility.
6.9.3 (2025/07/23)
- Add: Enhanced the resume functionality.
- Fix: Hotfix for errorCounts modal display to ensure proper visibility.
- Update: Show incompatible plugins message only in the free version for clarity.
- Update: Improved memory management by replacing in-memory references with direct processing and transients.
- Update: Refreshed common libraries for better performance and stability.
6.9.2 (2025/07/01)
- Add: Added support for Fluent Forms.
- Fix: Fixed NekoTable display issues.
- Update: Streamlined Divi parser for better image URL extraction and improved filesystem handling.
- Update: Enhanced thumbnail URL extraction and added new function to retrieve attachment sizes.
6.9.1 (2025/06/29)
- Add: Support for Kadence Blocks.
- Add: Support for Salient Theme Elements.
- Add: Support for Houzez Theme.
- Add: Support for WooCommerce variation galleries.
- Update: Improved Enfold parser with better handling of nested shortcodes and enhanced ID/URL extraction.
6.9.0 (2025/05/11)
- Update: Removed unused code for live content checks in CLI commands to improve plugin performance and maintainability.
6.8.9 (2025/05/04)
- Fix: Ensure the “Disable Shortcode Analysis” setting is now respected in all content parsers.
- Add: Support for ACF ‘file’ fields now includes returning the file URL when using ID references.
6.8.8 (2025/05/01)
- Add: Introduced SAFE support for URLs from srcset in WooCommerce galleries.
- Add: Added a function to extract thumbnail URLs from srcset for better detection.
- Fix: Prevented warning messages when URLs are empty.
- Fix: Corrected countdown end event behavior.
- Update: Enhanced the W3 parser with array_to_ids_or_urls and added recursive support.
- Add: Added a parser for W3 Total Cache to handle media attachments.
- Add: Introduced a force trash option for cases when trash isn’t emptied automatically.
- Update: Temporarily disabled live content scanning to prevent issues.
- Fix: Corrected a typo in iframe handling comments.
- Update: Improved shortcode scanning by retrieving all common attributes for IDs and URLs.
- Fix: Prevented recursion in ACF field scanning with flexible content.
- Update: Reworked the ACF Parser to fully support flexible content structures.
- Update: Added an index on mediaId in the references table to optimize step 4 performance.
6.8.7 (2025/03/12)
- Update: Improved type handling and updated the Divi parser for better compatibility.
- Fix: Added a recursion limit to ACF field scanning functions to prevent infinite loops.
6.8.6 (2025/02/17)
- Add: Added a SAFE tag to Foo Gallery full sizes to mark certain media as in use.
- Update: Moved SAFE tag logic from JavaScript to PHP for better efficiency.
- Fix: Corrected featured image thumbnails and improved SAFE tag detection.
- Update: Improved UI by replacing the timer component with a countdown version.
- Update: Added an error modal with auto-retry functionality for better user experience.
- Update: Reworked compatibility for Avada builder.
6.8.5 (2024/12/25)
- Fix: HTML needs to be well-decoded before being sent to DOMDocument.
- Fix: Avoid an issue related to logos.
- Info: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 🎄🎉
6.8.4 (2024/12/06)
- Add: Support for Spectra.
- Add: Support for Tutor LMS.
- Add: Support for Foo Gallery.
- Info: We are working hard on Media Cleaner. If you want to share some love, write a simple and nice review here. Thank you so much! 💖
6.8.3 (2024/11/27)
- Fix: MetaBox parser was not working properly.
- Fix: The free version of Media Cleaner was not properly displaying the incompatible plugins.
6.8.2 (2024/11/14)
- Update: Enhanced the UI in many little ways.
- Update: Don’t show the thumbnails for non-image files.
- Fix: Better parser for Avada.
6.8.1 (2024/11/04)
- Add: Check for empty path in repair mode.
- Add: Introduction tutorial.
6.8.0 (2024/10/17)
- Fix: Search in References (Cleaner Dashboard).
6.7.9 (2024/09/24)
- Update: Internal improvements to avoid some errors with low-quality servers such as OVH, GoDaddy, etc.
6.7.8 (2024/08/01)
- Fix: Elementor parser was not working properly.
- Add: Video Block support.
6.7.7 (2024/06/28)
- Fix: Warnings with ACF.
- Fix: Base folder for the Filesystem Scan.
- Update: Cleaned the UI a bit more.
6.7.6 (2024/06/05)
- Update: Better References section.
- Add: Support for Bricks Builder.
- Update: Refreshed the UI, updated to the latest common librairies.
6.7.5 (2024/05/24)
- Fix: Logging system.
6.7.4 (2024/04/27)
- Update: Updated description for OB cleaning to enhance clarity.
- Add: Support for Breakdance Builder, extending compatibility.
- Update: Added shortcode checking for Oxygen Builder.
- Fix: Updated readme file to comply with the latest WordPress guidelines.
6.7.3 (2024/03/01)
- Update: Better translations.
- Update: Safer logs system.
6.7.2 (2024/02/02)
- Add: “Create Batch” feature for Filesystem scans, streamlining the scanning process.
- Add: “Delete Permanently” option in trash tab for targeted item management.
- Add: Tooltip for repair mode to enhance user understanding and interaction.
- Fix: Option to disable OB Cleaning.
- Fix: Corrected dashboard media link functionality for subdirectories.
- Fix: Resolved issues with backslash replacement on multiple occurrences for more accurate processing.
6.7.0 (2024/01/13)
- Add: New ‘check-live’ argument for WP-CLI.
- Add: Import and Export of the settings.
6.6.9 (2023/12/05)
- Add: Expert Mode for advanced users.
6.6.8 (2023/11/18)
- Add: Support for ACF File Field based on IDs.
- Add: Repair Mode for Filesystem Scan (use this carefully, still in beta).
- Update: Much better “References” section in the Dashboard, with additional filters.
- Update: Various additional enhancements, maybe you’ll notice! 😊
- Add: Support for Academy LMS.
6.6.7 (2023/09/21)
- Update: Enhanced the get_references_for_post_id function.
- Update: Code cleaning.
6.6.6 (2023/09/14)
- Add: The get_reference_for_media_id and get_references_for_post_id functions are now accessible through the global $wpmc_core variable. Those functions will return where a specific media entry is used, or which media entries are used in a specific post.
6.6.5 (2023/07/25)
- Update: Better checkboxes.
- Update: Link to the posts in the References section.
- Add: Support for Mailpoet.
6.6.4 (2023/05/30)
- Update: Improved the UI and its elements.
6.6.3 (2023/04/09)
- Add: New filter to see the found references. This will improve a lot.
- Fix: Tiny fixes, retrieved the main dashboard, and lighter bundles.
- Info: The new version of WordPress (6.2) came with what is seemingly a bug with the $wpdb->prepare. There are workaround, and I fixed an issue I was aware of. If you find any others, please kindly report it here.
6.6.0 (2023/02/21)
Fix: Avoid certain errors related to ACF and fields which were created with former versions.
6.5.8 (2023/02/09) =
* Update: Slightly cleaner UI (and it will get better and better).
* Update: Better support for Avada.
6.5.7 (2023/02/01)
- Fix: Little issue with the nekoFetch.
- Add: Timer on the Scan button.
6.5.6 (2023/01/30)
- Update: Optimization and better handling of Divi.
6.5.5 (2023/01/09)
- Add: Support for Uncode Theme.
- Add: Reset settings button.
- Update: Smaller package, better performance.