# Delete Image Size Files No Longer Registered

> Adds Tools > Unused Image Sizes, which finds resized copies of your images made for sizes your current theme and plugins no longer register, shows how much space they take, and deletes them in batches after confirmation.

- Type: PHP
- Runs: Admin only
- Category: [Performance](https://wpide.com/library/category/performance/)
- Tags: images, media, disk-space
- Author: WPIDE Team
- Installs: 0
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Page: https://wpide.com/library/perf-unused-image-size-files/

## Code

```php
add_action( 'admin_menu', function () {
    add_management_page( 'Unused Image Sizes', 'Unused Image Sizes', 'manage_options', 'wpide-unused-sizes', function () {
        $registered = array_merge( get_intermediate_image_sizes(), array( 'full', 'original_image' ) );
        $uploads    = wp_get_upload_dir();
        $delete     = isset( $_POST['wpide_delete_sizes'] ) && check_admin_referer( 'wpide_unused_sizes' ) && current_user_can( 'manage_options' );
        $offset     = $delete ? 0 : ( isset( $_GET['offset'] ) ? absint( $_GET['offset'] ) : 0 );
        $found      = array();
        $bytes      = 0;
        $deleted    = 0;

        $ids = get_posts( array(
            'post_type'      => 'attachment',
            'post_mime_type' => 'image',
            'post_status'    => 'inherit',
            'posts_per_page' => 300,
            'offset'         => $offset,
            'fields'         => 'ids',
            'no_found_rows'  => true,
        ) );

        foreach ( $ids as $id ) {
            $meta = wp_get_attachment_metadata( $id );
            if ( empty( $meta['sizes'] ) || empty( $meta['file'] ) ) {
                continue;
            }
            $dir     = trailingslashit( $uploads['basedir'] ) . trailingslashit( dirname( $meta['file'] ) );
            $changed = false;
            foreach ( $meta['sizes'] as $size => $data ) {
                if ( in_array( $size, $registered, true ) || empty( $data['file'] ) ) {
                    continue;
                }
                $path = $dir . $data['file'];
                $found[ $size ] = ( isset( $found[ $size ] ) ? $found[ $size ] : 0 ) + 1;
                if ( file_exists( $path ) ) {
                    $bytes += filesize( $path );
                    if ( $delete && wp_delete_file_from_directory( $path, $uploads['basedir'] ) ) {
                        $deleted++;
                    }
                }
                if ( $delete ) {
                    unset( $meta['sizes'][ $size ] );
                    $changed = true;
                }
            }
            if ( $changed ) {
                wp_update_attachment_metadata( $id, $meta );
            }
        }

        echo '<div class="wrap"><h1>Unused Image Sizes</h1>';
        if ( $delete ) {
            printf( '<div class="notice notice-success"><p>%s</p></div>', esc_html( sprintf( 'Deleted %d file(s), freeing %s. Run again to process more images.', $deleted, size_format( $bytes, 1 ) ) ) );
        }
        printf( '<p>%s</p>', esc_html( sprintf( 'Checked %d images (starting at #%d). Sizes registered now: %s.', count( $ids ), $offset, implode( ', ', get_intermediate_image_sizes() ) ) ) );
        if ( $found && ! $delete ) {
            echo '<table class="widefat striped" style="max-width:520px"><thead><tr><th>Unregistered size</th><th>Files</th></tr></thead><tbody>';
            foreach ( $found as $size => $count ) {
                printf( '<tr><td><code>%s</code></td><td>%d</td></tr>', esc_html( $size ), (int) $count );
            }
            printf( '</tbody></table><p>%s</p>', esc_html( 'Space used by these files: ' . size_format( $bytes, 1 ) ) );
            echo '<form method="post" onsubmit="return confirm(\'Delete these resized files? Originals are kept.\');">';
            wp_nonce_field( 'wpide_unused_sizes' );
            submit_button( 'Delete unused size files in this batch', 'primary', 'wpide_delete_sizes' );
            echo '</form>';
        } elseif ( ! $delete ) {
            echo '<p>No unused size files in this batch.</p>';
        }
        if ( count( $ids ) === 300 && ! $delete ) {
            echo '<p><a class="button" href="' . esc_url( add_query_arg( 'offset', $offset + 300 ) ) . '">Check the next 300 images</a></p>';
        }
        echo '</div>';
    } );
} );
```

## Notes

Pages that still hard-code a removed size will fall back to a larger size; back up your uploads folder first.

## How to use it

Install the free WPIDE plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpide/), find "Delete Image Size Files No Longer Registered" in its snippet library and add it in one click; or create a new PHP snippet in WPIDE (or any code snippets plugin) and paste the code above. More snippets: https://wpide.com/library/