How to Upload Banned File Types to WordPress Media Library

WordPress only allows you to upload a few types of files to its Media Library.

Here are the default list of file types that you can upload to the Media Library.

.jpg/.jpeg (images)
.png (images)
.gif (images)
.pdf (documents)
.doc/.docx/.odt (documents)
.ppt/.pptx/.pps/.ppsx (presentations)
.xls/.xlsx (spreadsheets)
.mp3/.m4a/.ogg/.wav (audio)
.mp4/.m4v/.mov/.wmv/.avi/.mpg/.ogv/.3gp/.3g2 (video)

How Can I Upload Other File Types To Media Library?

You can add your own allowable extension types for uploading to the WordPress Media Library with a little code nippet.

Here’s the PHP code to allow .WebP images to be uploaded to WordPress.

/**
 * Add extra mime types to the media manager
 *
 * @param $existing_mimes
 * @return mixed
 */
function zpd_media_manager_add_mime_types( $existing_mimes ){
    $existing_mimes['webp'] = 'image/webp';

    return $existing_mimes;
}
add_filter( 'mime_types', 'zpd_media_manager_add_mime_types' );

You can add as many types as you need to as long as you know the file mime type.

Place the code in your child theme’s functions.php file.