How to export the Media Gallery

🔄 Re-evaluating Your WordPress Media Library? Generate a CSV Export in One Click!

As WordPress sites grow, so does the media library… and let’s be honest, it can become a bit of a jungle. Between outdated images, bloated PDFs, and unused assets, it’s easy to lose track of what’s actually useful.

That’s why I built a simple but powerful custom action hook in WordPress that exports all your media files into a clean CSV file. Why? Because sometimes you need to audit your uploads, understand what’s taking up space, or just get a bird’s eye view of what lives in your library.

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What Does the CSV Include?

Every row gives you:

• 🖇 File Title (with link) – Click directly to edit each file in your WordPress admin.
• 📦 File Type – Whether it’s an image, video, document, etc.
• 📏 File Size in MB – So you know what’s hogging space.
• 🔗 “Uploaded To” URL – See which post or page the media is attached to (or not).

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🛠️ How It Works

Here’s the core function that makes the magic happen:

add_action('admin_post_exportar_media_csv', 'exportar_media_csv');

function exportar_media_csv() {
    if (!current_user_can('manage_options')) {
        wp_die('Unauthorized');
    }

    header('Content-Type: text/csv; charset=utf-8');
    header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=media-export.csv');

    $output = fopen('php://output', 'w');
    fputcsv($output, ['File Title (linked)', 'File Type', 'File Size (MB)', 'Uploaded To (URL)']);

    $media_query = new WP_Query([
        'post_type'      => 'attachment',
        'post_status'    => 'inherit',
        'posts_per_page' => -1,
    ]);

    foreach ($media_query->posts as $media) {
        $id = $media->ID;
        $title = get_the_title($id);
        $edit_link = admin_url("post.php?post={$id}&action=edit");
        $linked_title = "=HYPERLINK(\"{$edit_link}\", \"{$title}\")";

        $mime_type = get_post_mime_type($id);
        $file_path = get_attached_file($id);
        $file_size = $file_path ? round(filesize($file_path) / 1048576, 2) : 0;

        $parent_id = $media->post_parent;
        $used_url = $parent_id ? get_permalink($parent_id) : '—';

        fputcsv($output, [$linked_title, $mime_type, $file_size, $used_url]);
    }

    fclose($output);
    exit;
}

✅ Why This Is Useful

• Want to clean up unused media? You can easily spot items with no “Uploaded To” post.
• Need to report large files or export metadata? Done in seconds.
• Working on content audits or migrations? This gives your team a solid reference point.

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📥 How to Use It

Set up a link or button that triggers a request to:

/wp-admin/admin-post.php?action=exportar_media_csv

Just make sure the user is logged in and has the right capabilities (manage_options) to avoid unauthorized access 🔐.