Automatic Offload

Once a storage provider is connected, OmniOffloader offloads every new upload for you. There is nothing to click.

What gets uploaded

For each attachment, OmniOffloader uploads every file that belongs to it:

• the original file,
• every thumbnail and other generated image size,
• the -scaled version WordPress creates for very large images,
• modern WebP / AVIF sources created by image-format plugins.

An attachment only counts as offloaded when every one of its files uploaded and its main file is confirmed in your bucket.

Background uploads

The Background Cloud Offload setting (in Settings → Behavior) is on by default. Your upload finishes right away, and the cloud transfer happens in the background a moment later. The upload screen never waits for the cloud.

While it waits, the Media Library shows the attachment as Queued for background offload. Once it is in the cloud, the status changes to Offloaded. See Media Library.

If you turn Background Cloud Offload off, the file is uploaded to the cloud during the upload request itself. This makes each upload slower, so keep it on unless you have a reason not to.

What happens to the local files

After the upload is confirmed in the bucket, your retention policy decides which local files stay on the server:

• Retain Local Files (default) keeps everything.
• Smart Local Cleanup deletes the generated thumbnails and keeps the original.
• Full Cloud Migration deletes all local copies.

Note

A local file is never deleted before its upload has been confirmed in your bucket.

Large files

Files above 64 MB are uploaded in parts (multipart upload). If the connection drops, only one part is lost, not the whole transfer. Files larger than 5 GB are supported.

If your host’s time limit still cuts a transfer short, the attachment is reported with an explanation and the job moves on. It is not retried forever.

Existing media

Automatic offload only handles new uploads. To move media that is already in your library, use Bulk Offload or wp omnioffloader offload.

Staging and local copies

On a copy of your site (staging, development or local), nothing is uploaded. New uploads stay on that copy’s own server. See Safe mode.

For developers

• Skip specific attachments with the omnioffloader_should_offload_attachment filter.
• Turn background uploads on or off per attachment with omnioffloader_use_async_upload.
• Change the multipart threshold with omnioffloader_multipart_threshold.

See Hooks for details.