It doesn't generate 2x for the original image.

This is because it is not possible to generate the retina file for the original image. If the plugin was, the result would be the same or worse than using the original one (without counting that it would take extra space).

Thank you for your answer so fast. But now I wonder how could I load the retina image for the uploaded file? I uploaded ‘image.jpg’ file and the plugin generates ‘image-400×60.jpg’ and ‘image-400×[email protected]’ but doesn’t generate ‘[email protected]’, so my theme cannot load it. I want to load the retina image for an uploaded file. Isn’t this possible?

You would need to manually create and upload ‘[email protected]’ because the plugin doesn’t upsize an image to a size bigger than the original.

I thought about adding an option for those who wants to use the original image and upload (via the plugin) the @2x version as well. Well, it would be more than just an option. But I have no idea how many people are interested in having that in reality.

Thanks to both of you for answers! I misunderstood about this kind of plug-ins, so I mistook it for generating the retina version for my original uploads automatically. Now I see how it works. I’m creating a theme and it has features so that users are able to upload any kinds of images like site logo, slider images, background images, and so on through the Media Library on admin options page. So I worry if the @2x versions for wp-generated-thumbnails of the user-created @2x image would also be generated unintentionally when user uploads it. And for slider images, do I need to make the users to upload their retina versions one by one manually?

Create new WP Sizes through your theme and use those sizes in your theme, that’s the solution. For the logo, it’s special (very custom size used at only one place) so they should upload the @2x themselves.

Hey Jordy just came across this thread and just thought I’d throw in my two cents. I for one would definitely be interested in having this. The reason being is that it complicates things for clients to have to scale their images before uploading them, and I think it would make things a bit easier for theme developers. Clients would simply be able to upload their images, plugin would produce all of the images for retina display at all sizes, css would take care of the dimensions at varying widths, and the plugin would decide which version of the image to display. Most clients are going to be uploading images that are close to the dimensions displayed on the desktop version of their site, so I can definitely see this as helping out a lot.

I might be missing something as to why this option is not included already, but I think many users who are searching for this type of plugin are looking for this kind of feature.

p.s. thanks for an awesome plugin

Hey Kevin. Of course I understand your (and your clients) point. On my side, however, the normal bloggers (uploading images) always use re-sized images (then, if you click on them, you get the huge size) so for most images it should be this way. Of course, there are exceptions if the website uses always images with different format…

I would be willing to develop this, I am actually not against it, the problem is that it would take a lot of time, I would have to revamp a few things (dashboard, settings), to do a lot of testing and probably even support.

Maybe we should have a kickstart? That would help…

Kevin, what you’re saying (correct me if I’m wrong) is that your theme(s) is unable to scale up (via HTML/CSS width properties) the original size non-@2x image to fill a given area on your site design and you would therefore like a plugin to create a @2x version of the original image for display on the site.

Correct?

In either case (1. scale up using HTML/CSS, 2. scale up using a plugin/image processor) the @2x original image will probably look about the same… terrible. It won’t be “Retina” quality and it won’t look good.

Luke, I’m not sure if we are talking about the same thing. It is not that the original images are not large enough to fill in given areas on my site design, but rather when visitors are on retina devices there are no @2x versions with higher resolutions to replace the originals. You probably know this, but it does not matter what the @2x image looks like on a regular desktop (it will be large and distorted), but using inline html or css I could set it to the smaller width, thus presenting it in the original size yet with higher resolution for retina devices. The reason why this plugin can come in handy is that if there are dynamic areas in my design where users themselves upload and include images at varying widths, the plugin would be able to automatically generate a bloated @2x image which will look sharp and crisp when displayed on a retina device.

Jordy, thanks so much for the consideration. I did not realize how much time it would take to add this feature. I briefly took a look at the code to see if I would be able to add it myself, but at this point it is beyond my paygrade. Let me know what you have in mind and how I can help.

What if this plugin would have the feature that let users upload @2x images and the plugin generates non-@2x images? Then @2x images have absolutely the bigger size and there’ll be no problem with creating the smaller images. If a user uploaded ‘[email protected]’ then the plugin generates ‘potato.jpg’ and the @2x versions only for wp-auto-generated thumbnail images. If needed, the plugin could check the uploaded file name whether it has the suffix ‘@2x’ or not.

Alright guys, I don’t get your use-case scenario so I’ll let Jordy figure what the plugin can do for you. Good luck.

Hey pink I was thinking that too, the only reason I didn’t suggest it is that it would still require users to scale up their images before uploading them through the media uploader. If they are already doing that, then they would already have both an original and @2x pic that they can just upload themselves. The whole idea I brought this up would be to make things easier on their end so they wouldn’t have to take the extra step of scaling up their images.

Impossible to ask the users to upload an @2x file to start with, it would make the whole process “too weird” and super complicated for most users. The only clean way to do it is to let the user upload their files normally, then later add a @2x version of the original file they are using. The plugin would provide in that case more information and a more obvious upload process…