Edit an Image in Media

You can rotate, crop, and flip images in Media following the steps in this guide. If you wish to crop, rotate, or resize a specific image already inserted into a page or post via an Image block, see this guide instead.

In this guide

1. Requirements
2. Choose an Image to Edit
3. Rotate, Crop, or Flip an Image
4. Restore the Original Image

Requirements

Your site must be set to public to access the image editing tools described in this guide. These image editing tools are not available when a site is set to private.

Choose an Image to Edit

Follow these steps to open and edit an image in your Media Library.

Select the appropriate tab for your admin interface style:

Default ViewWP-Admin View

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Select Media.
3. Click on the image file you want to edit. You will know the image has been selected because of the border that appears around the image and the number in the bottom right corner.
4. Click the Edit button. This will open a window with various details about the image, including title, caption, alt text, description, and image URL.

5. On the window that opens up, click the Edit Image button:

1. Visit your site’s WP-Admin dashboard.
2. Navigate to Media.
3. Click the image you want to edit. This will open a page titled “Edit Media” with various details about the image.
4. To edit the image, click the “Edit Image” button below it.

Rotate, Crop, or Flip an Image

You can rotate, crop, or flip an image in the image editor.

Select the appropriate tab for your admin interface style:

Default ViewWP-Admin View

Once you have opened an image to edit, you will have three icons below the image. The icons allow you to rotate, crop, or flip the image.

Click the “Done” button when finished, Reset to start from scratch with that image, or Cancel to exit the image editor.

Rotate an Image

You can rotate images by clicking on the Rotate button. Each time you click Rotate, the image rotates 90 degrees counterclockwise.

Crop an Image

You can crop a photo to remove an unwanted portion of the image.

First, click and drag the corners of the cropping overlay to select a freeform area you want to keep for your image. You can also click on the Crop button and choose one of the following aspect ratios to crop automatically:

• Original
• Square
• 16:9
• 4:3
• 3:2

Flip an Image

You can flip images horizontally by clicking on the Flip button.

Once you edit the image, click the “Done” button to save your changes. You can also click Reset to start from scratch or Cancel to exit the image editor without saving your changes.

Once you have the image open to edit, you will have a series of buttons above the image for cropping, scaling, and image rotation. Once you start making edits you can undo and redo your changes, cancel editing, or save your edits.

Crop an Image

Click the “Crop” button and drag your mouse to select the area to crop to. Additionally, you can set a specific aspect ratio and starting points below the image.

Crop Aspect Ratio
The aspect ratio is the relationship between the width and height. You can preserve the aspect ratio by holding the shift key while resizing your selection. Use the input box to specify the aspect ratio, e.g., 1:1 (square), 4:3, 16:9, etc.

Crop Selection
Once you have made your selection, you can adjust it by entering the size in pixels. The minimum selection size is the thumbnail size set in the Media settings.

Scale

Click the “Scale” button and scroll below the image to locate the “New dimensions” section. You can proportionally scale the original image. For best results, scaling should be done before you crop, flip, or rotate. Images can only be scaled down, not up. Click the “Scale” button to apply the new dimensions to the image.

Image Rotation

Click the “Image Rotation” button to select the rotation you want to apply. You can rotate left, right, or 180 degrees. You will also find options to flip the image vertically or horizontally.

When you’re done editing the image, click the “Save Edits” button to save your changes, or “Cancel Editing” to exit the image editor without saving your changes.

Restore the Original Image

If you want to revert the edits made to an image, you can cancel your edits and revert to the original version that you first uploaded to Media.

⚠️

If you have inserted an edited image into published pages or posts, reverting an image may break how the image appears there. Make sure to check any pages and posts where you have already inserted the image.

If you’re sure you would like to restore an image, choose the image as described above.

Select the appropriate tab for your admin interface style:

Default ViewWP-Admin View

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Select Media.
3. Click on the image file you want to edit.
4. Click the “Edit” button.
5. Click the “Restore Original” button:

The changes will take effect immediately.

1. Visit your site’s WP-Admin dashboard.
2. Navigate to Media.
3. Click the image you want to edit. This will open an “Edit Media” page with various details about the image.
4. To edit the image, click the “Edit Image” button below it.
5. In the image editor, scroll to below the image to locate the “Restore original image” section and click the text.
6. Click the “Restore image” button.

The changes will take effect immediately.