Images I upload to Media Library are being duplicated automatically!

Hello @barryrichardson

I hope you’re doing well!

I’ve tested the Smush plugin and can’t replicate the same. Just to clarify, there are two images listed in the Media library when one image is uploaded?

Check these images direct links, are there any differences?

Please run a test for a conflict with another plugin. Have a full backup of your site before running this test:
– Deactivate all plugins and have only Smush enabled
– Upload an image and check if the issue is there
– If it is, switch to a default WordPress theme to see if this still is happening
– If all is well start enabling one plugin at a time, till the issue will be back

This way you could find the plugin that might be causing this.

Let us know how it went!

Kind regards,
Nasti

Hello, Nastia – Thank you for your response. I’ve just uploaded a test image and it didn’t duplicate this time – the uploads don’t duplicate in every instance. (To clarify, there were sometimes two images listed in the Media library when one image was uploaded.) As for the file URLs, when there was a duplication, the duplicated image’s URL had a “1” at the end (for example, the first image would be “my-image.jpg” and the duplicated image would be “my-image-1.jpg”).

The fact that it doesn’t always happen makes it difficult to test but I’ll keep on trying to find the cause.

Hello @barryrichardson,

The next time this is repeated, would you mind sharing the links to both the images to the same so we would check that and see if we can make out something from the same.

Looking forward to hearing from you on it.

Regards,
Prathamesh Palve

Hello, Prathamesh – I just checked a blog post I published yesterday and one of the images was duplicated in Media Library. The image that was actually published in the blog post was the duplicate; however, I have just replaced it with the original so the correct image is now published in the blog post.

Original image URL: https://naturalremedieshealthyliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/parkinson-disease-home-treatment.jpg

Duplicated image URL:https://naturalremedieshealthyliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/parkinson-disease-home-treatment-1.jpg

Hello @barryrichardson.

I missed asking you about the conflict test. Did you also take a conflict test?
If not, could you do the test on your end to see if that helps?

You can follow the steps mentioned by @wpmudev-support9. Here is a brief guide on the same:
https://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/wordpress-plugin-conflicts-how-to-check-for-them-and-what-to-do/

I’m looking forward to hearing from you on it.

Regards,
Prathamesh Palve

Hello, Prathamesh – I understand about the plugin-conflict test but it may be difficult to get a definite result from that because not every image gets duplicated.

However, remember the duplicated image that I told you I replaced with the original yesterday (the ones I sent you the URLs of)? I checked this morning and the image has been duplicated again in the Media Library (although the original is still the one published in the blog post). I guess I’m just going to have to continue and hope that it plays itself out.

Hello @barryrichardson,

I understand it would be difficult to test it this way, maybe you can use a plugin to clone your site and then use Local By Flywheel app to set the site up on your local machine and then try to make a conflict test to check if that works.

Here is a guide which would help you to clone your site:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-clone-a-wordpress-site-in-7-easy-steps/

Here is how you can set up WordPress locally:

Installing WordPress on your own Computer

Unless there is a conflict test, it would be difficult to come to a resolution.
Let me know if you need any help while you do the tests.

Regards,
Prathamesh Palve

Thanks for all your help, Prathamesh. I’ve decided it will be easiest to leave things as they are – I’ll just keep an eye open and delete any duplicated images that may happen in the future. I appreciate your help!

Best regards,
Barry R.

Hello @barryrichardson,

You are welcome. To narrow down to things, this (image duplication) shouldn’t be happening in the first place, Smush would never do that. You could also turn on debug logging to check if there are any errors generated. Here is how you can do that:

https://www.ads-software.com/support/article/debugging-in-wordpress/#example-wp-config-php-for-debugging

Please add the following code to the wp-config.php file before the /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */ line :

// Enable WP_DEBUG mode
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );

// Enable Debug logging to the /wp-content/debug.log file
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );

// Disable display of errors and warnings
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
@ini_set( 'display_errors', 0 );

// Use dev versions of core JS and CSS files (only needed if you are modifying these core files)
define( 'SCRIPT_DEBUG', true );

Save the file and then try to upload an image. If it does not replicate, you can keep it as it is and check if debug.log file is generated in the wp-contents folder. Once the debug.log file generates, you could see the last 10 lines of the file to check the error.

Another step is to check the server error log to see if there are any errors generated on the server log. This could be some server misconfiguration issue too.

For now, I would mark this issue resolved but should you need any help, feel free to reply in the thread below and we would be happy to help.

Regards,
Prathamesh Palve

Hi ~

I have this happening on 2 of my 5 sites as well.

It specifically started after the 5.3.2. WP update. I have had to roll those 2 sites back to 5.3.2. to keep the image issue from happening. As soon as I try to update them, the duplicate image issue happens and I have to roll back to 5.3.2. As we have image-heavy sites, this is a real issue for us.

Here are some more details I can share:

One site is using Smush Pro and the other is using Bulk Short Pixel

Both are on different templates

It never happens with an image uploaded for use as a header image… only images within a post are duplicated.

If I have an image named: great-image-1 and that is how I uploaded it within the post inline where it should be, it will automatically/immediately create a duplicate image in MEDIA called great-image-1-1. However, if I go back and look at the actual image in the post as html… it will use the 2nd image uploaded to the MEDIA area great-image-1-1, which is not the one I had originally loaded into the post.

Any help of this would be greatly appreciated!

Stay well…

This is indeed an enigma. I guess we’ll have to wait for the next version of WP to eliminate the problem.

Hey Barry ??

Enigma indeed! Fingers crossed ??

Valery ~

Hello @valeryvie

I trust you’re doing well!

Since you are using a pro version of teh plugin please contact us directly via live support or by creating a thread in our forums here:
https://premium.wpmudev.org/hub/support/

In www.ads-software.com forums, we can support only the free version of the Smush plugin.

Kind regards,
Nastia

Hi Nastia ??

Thanks for the info…

We use a 3rd party person to work on our site and this plugin was a part of the work, so we don’t have a direct login for WPMU DEV.

Please advise…

Best!

Valery ~

Hello @valeryvie

I hope all is well!

Please create a staging site and deactivate all plugins and run a test for a conflict with a plugin as described in this thread

After this, per WordPress forum regulations, please create a new thread and let is know how the test went.

Kind regards,
Nastia