What File Types Can You Upload in WordPress?

Here at UpStream, we develop the leading project management plugin for WordPress. Many UpStream users want to upload files for their projects. They often wonder WordPress files types are allowed.

Because UpStream is 100% integrated with WordPress, we rely on the default WordPress options for file uploads.

So in this guide, I’m going to explain what files types can be uploaded in WordPress and UpStream. There is some documentation on this topic on the WordPress site, but as you’ll see – it’s not always accurate.

Image File Types in WordPress

WordPress allows you to upload at least 5 different types of image files.

• .jpg
• .jpeg
• .png
• .gif
• .ico

If you upload any of these image types, you can insert the files directly into the WordPress text areas using the “Add Media” button”. Here’s an example of .ico file embedded in a WordPress post:

Officially this list does not include some popular options such as .svg, .bmp or .tiff files. I

However, in my testing, I was able to upload .bmp files successfully. The WordPress documentation seems to be out-of-date. If you’re not sure if WordPress supports your image format, try to upload the file. It might just work!

If you do try to upload a file that that’s not supported, you’ll see the message “Sorry, this file type is not permitted for security reasons.” That’s what happened when I tried to upload an .svg file:

Document File Types in WordPress

WordPress allows you upload at least 6 different types of document. Two of the file types come from Adobe, and three from Microsoft.

• .pdf (Portable Document Format from Adobe)
• .psd (Adobe Photoshop)
• .doc, .docx (Microsoft Word)
• .ppt, .pptx, .pps, .ppsx (Microsoft PowerPoint)
• .xls, .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)
• .odt (OpenDocument)

If you upload any of these file types, you can insert the files directly into the WordPress text areas using the “Add Media” button”. Rather than showing the file itself, you’ll get a link to the file, using the name of the file. In this example, I uploaded a PDF document called “TestPDFfile.pdf”:

The official list does not include several popular document such as .rtf, .odp or .xml. However, as with the images, I don’t believe the list is complete. I was able to successfully upload .rtf and .odp files and the process worked perfectly. Only the .xml file was rejected:

Audio File Types in WordPress

WordPress allows you to upload at least 4 types of audio files. All of these files types can be embedded and played inside your posts and pages.

• .mp3
• .m4a
• .ogg
• .wav

If you upload any of these image types, you can insert the files directly into the WordPress text areas using the “Add Media” button”. The image below has an example of an .mp3 file that was uploaded and embedded in a WordPress post. You can play this audio directly on the screen:

The official list does not include popular audio formats such as .aac, .wma and .flac.

As you might have guessed by now, the official list is entirely accurate. I was able to upload some other file types including .wma. However, those file types couldn’t be played on the screen. They were treated like documents and inserted as a link.

Video File Types in WordPress

WordPress officially allows you to upload 9 types of audio files. All of these files types can be embedded and played inside your posts and pages.

• .mp4
• .m4v
• .mov
• .wmv
• .avi
• .mpg
• .ogv
• .3gp
• .3g2

If you upload any of these image types, you can insert the files directly into the WordPress text areas using the “Add Media” button”. Here’s an example of an MP4 file embedded in a WordPress post:

However (and you knew this was coming), the official list is inconsistent.

For example, I was able to upload a .3gp but WordPress didn’t recognize it as a media file and treated it like a document.

And, at least one file type on the official list was denied completely. Here’s what I saw when trying to upload an .ogv file:

Conclusion

WordPress has the best media handling of any major publishing platform, but there are inconsistencies with some file types, and the documentation is not always accurate.

If you need to learn more about media handling in WordPress, try these tutorials:

• How to Protect Image and File Uploads in WordPress
• How to Restrict Media Library Access in WordPress