Genesis - My images aren't displaying at the correct size

Every 17th Avenue calls for new image/thumbnail sizes. When you first install your theme, you'll want to regenerate your thumbnails so your images get resized into those new image sizes. For most websites, regenerating thumbnails will fix any inconsistent image sizes.

If that doesn't work...

If you already regenerated your thumbnails and some of your images are not displaying at the right size, it's most likely because your images are too small. Images will only be resized by the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin if the image is the same or larger than the designated image size. I.e., the plugin is not going to "stretch" your images to fit into the image sizes.

Here's an example. Let's say the image size that the theme calls for is 700px (wide) by 1000px (tall). Your image must meet BOTH dimensions to be regenerated. That means...

  • If your image is 600px (wide) by 600px (tall), it won't regenerate. The width and height are too small.
  • If your image is 500px (wide) by 1500px (tall), it won't regenerate. The width is too small.
  • If your image is 1200px (wide) by 800px (tall), it won't regenerate. The height is too small.
  • If your image is 1000px (wide) by 1000px (tall), it WILL regenerate. This image meets or exceeds the size requirement.
  • If your image is 2000px (wide) by 1200px (tall), it WILL regenerate.  This image meets or exceeds the size requirement.

What if I don't want to use high-res images on my site?

You only need to use a "high resolution" image for the featured image. And we're not talking very high resolution here – around 1000x1000px will cover most thumbnail sizes. All other images on your site (blog posts, pages, etc) can be as low quality as you want 😉

What if the regenerate thumbnails plugin is not working?

If you are receiving errors when you try to regenerate your thumbnails, here's the deal:

WordPress is not able to regenerate images that are larger than 2400px (width or height). For example, an image that is 2000x3000px will not be able to regenerate. Likewise for an image that is say, 4000x2000px.

Your images need to be the same or larger as the recommended image size for your theme, BUT your images cannot be so large that WordPress fails to regenerate your images.

The theme documentation for every one of our themes has an article titled "Recommended Image Sizes." Look for that article in your theme's documentation for the the exact sizing recommendations for your theme.

A note about max image size

WordPress has a limit to how large your images can be. This limit is 2400px (either width or height) and is set by WordPress, not your theme. If you attempt to upload images larger than this, one of two things may happen: the image may not upload at all and produce an error; or, the image may upload but the thumbnails (AKA the image sizes used in your theme) will not be able to generate for the image. This can cause the image to display incorrectly in your theme. Correctly sized images are very important!

Plugin image compression (less common)

If your images are already in the goldilocks zone (not too small, not too big) and are still not regenerating correctly — the last thing to check is your plugins. Plugins such as Smush, EWWW, or Jetpack contain image compression features. If these plugins are compressing or resizing your images to the point where they are smaller than the recommended image sizes, then your images will not be able to regenerate.

Check your plugin settings and disable any features related to image resizing or extreme compression.