Encountering an HTTP error while uploading images in WordPress can be frustrating and disrupt your workflow. This issue can arise from various causes, including server configuration problems, memory limits, or temporary glitches.
This article will walk you through the steps to troubleshoot and resolve the HTTP image upload error, ensuring a smooth and efficient image upload process on your website.
If you are seeing an HTTP error while uploading the images to the media library, below are the possible reasons and troubleshooting steps to solve them:
Temporary Server Glitch
Sometimes, it might be a temporary server glitch, so you can try to wait and check back later. If the issue persists, first, we need to determine what is causing the trouble. It might be a theme, plugin, WordPress, or some server-specific issue.
Plugin conflicts
Go to WordPress Dashboard → Plugins → Installed Plugins and disable all plugins to see if that fixes the issue.
If it does, that means one of the plugins is conflicting. You can try enabling them individually and keep checking the image upload after each plugin activation.
This should help you identify the offending plugin. You can replace it with a similar one or contact the plugin developer for a fix.
Theme conflicts
Go to WordPress Dashboard → Appearance → Themes and enable one of the default WordPress themes, such as Twenty Twenty-Four.
With a default theme activated, check again if the upload process works.
Incorrect Image encoding
Sometimes, the images might have incorrect encoding, leading to an HTTP error when uploading them to a WordPress website.
You can ensure that the Image encoding is correct by running the image or images through a free service called TinyPng.com.
With TinyPng, you can downsize the overall size of your images and ensure that your images are ready to be used on the web.
Check if WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) are the same
Go to WordPress Dashboard → Settings → General
Ensure that both WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) have the same value
Server side issue
If the issue persists with the default WordPress theme, then it might be related to WordPress core or a server-side issue.
First, you can make the GD library the default image handler for your WordPress installation.
You can add this PHP code to the functions.php file of your Child Theme or as a PHP snippet using the Code Snippets plugin.
function wpb_image_editor_default_to_gd( $editors ) {
$gd_editor = 'WP_Image_Editor_GD';
$editors = array_diff( $editors, array( $gd_editor ) );
array_unshift( $editors, $gd_editor );
return $editors;
}
add_filter( 'wp_image_editors', 'wpb_image_editor_default_to_gd' );
Increase WordPress memory usage
Using an FTP connection, your hosting File Manager app, or the Advanced File Manager plugin, edit the wp-config.php file
Add the following PHP line
define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );
Before this existing line:
/* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */
Edit the .htaccess file
Using an FTP connection, your hosting File Manager app, or the Advanced File Manager plugin, edit the .htaccess file
Add this line of code at the end of the file:
SetEnv MAGICK_THREAD_LIMIT 1
Contact your Hosting support team
If nothing helps to solve the Image Upload HTTP error, you should contact your hosting provider, as it might be another issue specific to your server configurations.