Whenever I import and image, either via the Media Library, or when creating a Gallery, the newly imported image(s) are titled and captioned “Processed with VSCO with c3 preset”. I had WPOptimise installed, I’ve deleted it. It’s a Genesis Theme, Altitude Pro, and with the following plugins: Genesis Blocks, Lightbox for Gallery & Image Block, Redirection, WPForms Lite, and Yoast SEO. When I google, “WordPress VSCO” it points to an Video and Photo editor website.., googling “Processed with VSCO with c3 preset” is useless, because it seems there’s tons of people who’ve posted photos with the same title / caption.

In terms of WordPress, what is VSCO? How did it get installed? (I have installed / uninstalled plugins, so perhaps it’s useless to ask – how could anyone know..) Has anyone else had any experience of this?

Hope someone can shed some light on this!

For your information, WordPress defines three default sizes for media images: Large (1024×1024), Medium (600×600), and Small (300×300).

Why is the Large size chosen based on the logic of powers of 2 (1024), while the Medium and Small sizes use round numbers (600 and 300)? For better consistency, wouldn’t it be better to use one of the following two approaches:

• Using powers of 2 for all sizes: For example, 1024×1024 for Large, 512×512 for Medium, and 256×256 for Small. This approach might be slightly more technically efficient for processors.
• Using round numbers for all sizes: For example, 1000×1000 for Large, 600×600 for Medium, and 300×300 for Small. This approach might be more intuitive for many users in terms of usage and design.

Or, if this selection of default dimensions was based purely on experience or if there were specific reasons for this choice, please state those reasons if possible.

We understand, of course, that users can currently change these dimensions to their liking. The purpose of this suggestion is to offer a default set with a more consistent logic, which might be more helpful for new users or those who rely on the default settings.

Thanks

Issue Overview

The WordPress Import plugin sometimes uploads media files and correctly registers a post for the media file in the database. However, for unknown reasons, the post associated with the media file can end up in a limbo state, making it invisible in the media library.

Even though everything appears correct, the media file is not properly imported.

At this point, you might try different import tools, plugins, WP-CLI commands, or manual SQL fixes, but nothing seems to work. Instead of fixing the original media post, these methods create a new post with a new ID, breaking references across your WordPress site.

Why This Causes Problems

1⃣ All post attachments will point to a different ID

• When you import media first and then import blog posts/pages, the imported posts still reference the old attachment ID.
• The imported content does not know about the new ID of the media file, leading to broken images.

2⃣ Multi-language issues (WPML, Polylang, etc.)

• If your site uses WPML, each attachment has a linked translation entry.
• Re-importing media creates new attachments without WPML relationships, breaking media in translated posts.

3⃣ Duplicate or corrupted media entries

• After some time, the original media files may reappear as duplicates, sometimes with corrupted thumbnails.
• This happens when WordPress fails to recognize existing attachments and creates new ones instead.

4⃣ Messy media library

• If you manage hundreds or thousands of images, leaving duplicates and broken references can make maintenance difficult.
• Clients will not appreciate an unorganized media library full of missing images and duplicates.

The Simple Fix (No Plugins Required!)

The solution is embarrassingly simple – and it doesn’t require any extra tools. You don’t need to re-import anything or regenerate thumbnails.

Instead, just manually refresh the attachment post in WordPress.

Step-by-Step Fix

1⃣ Find the missing media file in your uploads folder

• Open wp-content/uploads/ and look for the missing file.

2⃣ Find the Media Post ID using WP-CLI or SQL

WP-CLI (Find Media Post by Filename)

wp db query "SELECT ID, post_title, post_status FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type = 'attachment' AND post_title LIKE '%your-filename%'"

(Replace your-filename with the actual media file name, without the extension.)

SQL Query (Find Media Post by File Path)

SELECT ID, post_title, post_status, guid

FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type = 'attachment'

AND guid LIKE '%your-image.jpg%';

(Replace your-image.jpg with the actual media file name.)

Example Output:

3⃣ Open the Media Post in WordPress Admin

• Use the ID you just found to open the attachment post in your browser:

https://your-site.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1184&action=edit&lang=en

(Replace 1184 with your actual media post ID.)

4⃣ Click “Update”

• Do not change anything – just click “Update” in the editor.
• Instantly, the media file will become visible in the Media Library

Summary

Issue:

• WordPress Import sometimes uploads media files but leaves them in a limbo state (not visible in the media library).
• Importing the media again creates new IDs, causing broken attachments and duplicate media entries.

Solution:

1⃣ Find the missing media file in your uploads folder
2⃣ Locate the media post ID using WP-CLI or SQL
3⃣ Open the post in WordPress Admin (post.php?post=ID&action=edit)
4⃣ Click “Update” – the media will now appear in the Media Library

No plugins, no extra tools – just a simple manual refresh!

PS! Special thanks to ChatGPT for helping refine this post, structure the explanation, and fact-check my findings. Even though AI didn’t directly solve the problem, it helped me articulate the solution more clearly and efficiently.

I try to click on the select image at the botting of the event and I can not see any media items and I can not get out of the media area without restarting/logging back in.

The website is: https://felizcustompainting.com/

For example I just uploaded this image: https://felizcustompainting.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Corvette.jpg and you can see that I just get a Not Found message instead of seeing the image

If I go to the server all the images are there. I made sure the permissions for all of the folders are 755 and the files 644. I have uploaded a standard .htaccess file. I have made sure all the urls start with HTTPS:// instead of HTTP:// and replaced any old links in the database. I also tried deactivating all plugins and using a standard WP Theme.

There are other problems with the site (just in case these help you understand more). For example, if I try to install a plugin or upgrade anything from the backend of WordPress I get this message “Installation failed: Download failed. cURL error 60:”. There are plugins that were originally active on the site that will not reactivate now. They just throw an error message.

I have talked to our host (Godaddy) about this and they have no solution. The server is still on PHP 5.6 and if I upgrade it to 8.1 everything breaks.

My solution to the client would be to just do a new website but I’d really like a better solution for them. They are an old mom and pop place that doesn’t have a lot of extra $$ to spend.

Does anyone have any suggestions for bringing back the images other than replacing the entire site?

Error log:
PHP Fatal error: Uncaught DeliciousBrains\WP_Offload_Media\Gcp\Google\Cloud\Core\Exception\ServiceException: {"error":{"code":403,"message":"[MY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT] does not have storage.objects.list access to the Google Cloud Storage bucket. Permission 'storage.objects.list' denied on resource (or it may not exist).","errors":[{"message":"[MY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT] does not have storage.objects.list access to the Google Cloud Storage bucket. Permission 'storage.objects.list' denied on resource (or it may not exist).","domain":"global","reason":"forbidden"}]}}

in mysite/wp-content/plugins/amazon-s3-and-cloudfront/vendor/Gcp/google/cloud-core/src/RequestWrapper.php:351

It looks like my Google Cloud Service Account is missing storage.objects.list permissions for my bucket.Steps I’ve taken:

• Set up WP Offload Media using the official documentation.
• Verified that my service account is connected properly.
• Confirmed that my website is correctly serving images from Google Cloud Storage.