FW Real Estate – Documentation

Image Upload Problems

If property images fail to upload or appear corrupted after upload, the cause is almost always a PHP server configuration limit or a missing image processing library. Work through the checks below to identify and resolve the issue.

PHP File Size Limits

PHP enforces two separate size limits that both affect uploads. If either is too low, large images will be rejected silently or with a generic error.

• upload_max_filesize — the maximum size of a single uploaded file. Recommended value: 32M or higher.
• post_max_size — the maximum size of the entire POST request, which includes all files uploaded at once. This must be larger than upload_max_filesize. Recommended value: 64M or higher.

Set these values in your php.ini file, or via your hosting control panel if direct php.ini access is unavailable. After changing either value, restart your web server.

Memory Limit for Image Processing

When FW Real Estate resizes an image on upload (using the Custom image size mode), PHP loads the full image into memory. High-resolution source files can exhaust the default memory allocation.

• memory_limit — recommended value: 256M or higher.

Uploads that fail only when resizing is enabled, but succeed when Image size mode is set to Original, are a strong indicator that memory_limit is too low.

GD Library Not Installed

FW Real Estate uses PHP's GD library to resize and process images. If GD is not installed or not enabled on your server, image resizing will fail entirely.

To verify GD is available, ask your hosting provider or check the output of phpinfo() for a section labeled gd. If it is absent, contact your host to enable the php-gd extension.

File Permissions on the Upload Directory

Uploaded images are written to a directory on your server. If PHP does not have write permission to that directory, the upload will fail.

• The upload directory must be writable by the web server process.
• The recommended permission on Linux servers is 755 for directories. If your host requires it, 775 is also acceptable.
• Avoid setting permissions to 777 unless your host explicitly instructs you to do so.

You can check and change directory permissions via your hosting file manager or FTP client.

Maximum Image Dimensions

FW Real Estate applies the dimension limits configured under Settings → General → Image Sizes. If uploaded images are being cropped or resized unexpectedly, review these values:

• Large (px) — maximum dimension for full-size images (default: 1200).
• Medium (px) — maximum dimension for listing thumbnails (default: 400).
• Small (px) — maximum dimension for small thumbnails (default: 200).

If you change these values and want them applied to images already on the site, use the Resize Images button on the same settings page.

Recommended PHP Configuration Summary

• upload_max_filesize: 32M
• post_max_size: 64M
• memory_limit: 256M
• GD extension: enabled
• Upload directory permissions: 755