Defining conversions

When adding files to the media library it can automatically create derived versions such as thumbnails and banners.

Media conversions will be executed whenever a jpg, png, svg, webp, avif, pdf, mp4 , mov or webm file is added to the media library. By default, the conversions will be saved as a jpg files. This can be overwritten using the format() or keepOriginalImageFormat() methods.

Internally, spatie/image is used to manipulate the images. You can use any manipulation function from that package.

Please check the image generator docs for additional installation requirements when working with PDF, SVG or video formats.

Are you a visual learner?

Here's a video that shows how to work with conversions.

Want to see more videos like this? Check out our free video course on how to use Laravel Media Library.

A single conversion

You should add a method called registerMediaConversions to your model. In that model you can define the media conversion. Here's an example:

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\Models\Media;
use Spatie\MediaLibrary\HasMedia;
use Spatie\MediaLibrary\InteractsWithMedia;

class YourModel extends Model implements HasMedia
{
    use InteractsWithMedia;

    public function registerMediaConversions(?Media $media = null): void
    {
        $this->addMediaConversion('thumb')
              ->width(368)
              ->height(232)
              ->sharpen(10);
    }
}

Let's add an image to the media library.

$media = YourModel::first()->addMedia($pathToImage)->toMediaCollection();

Besides storing the original item, the media library also has created a derived image.

$media->getPath();  // the path to where the original image is stored
$media->getPath('thumb'); // the path to the converted image with dimensions 368x232

$media->getUrl();  // the url to where the original image is stored
$media->getUrl('thumb'); // the url to the converted image with dimensions 368x232

Using multiple conversions

You can register as many media conversions as you want

// in your model
use Spatie\Image\Enums\BorderType;
use Spatie\Image\Enums\CropPosition;

// ...

    public function registerMediaConversions(?Media $media = null): void
    {
        $this->addMediaConversion('thumb')
              ->width(368)
              ->height(232)
              ->sharpen(10);

        $this->addMediaConversion('old-picture')
              ->sepia()
              ->border(10, BorderType::Overlay, 'black');
              
        $this->addMediaConversion('thumb-cropped')
            ->crop(400, 400, CropPosition::Center); // Trim or crop the image to the center for specified width and height.
    }

Use the conversions like this:

$media->getUrl('thumb') // the url to the thumbnail
$media->getUrl('old-picture') // the url to the sepia, bordered version

Performing conversions on specific collections

By default a conversion will be performed on all files regardless of which collection is used. Conversions can also be performed on specific collections by adding a call to performOnCollections.

This is how that looks like in the model:

// in your model
public function registerMediaConversions(?Media $media = null): void
{
    $this->addMediaConversion('thumb')
          ->performOnCollections('images', 'downloads')
          ->width(368)
          ->height(232);
}

// a thumbnail will be generated for this media item
$media = $yourModel->addMedia($pathToImage)->toMediaCollection('images');
$media->getUrl('thumb') // the url to the thumbnail

//but not for this one
$media = $yourModel->addMedia($pathToImage)->toMediaCollection('other collection');
$media->getUrl('thumb') // returns ''

Using a specific disk

You can ensure that conversions added to a collection are automatically added to a certain disk.

public function registerMediaCollections(): void
{
    $this
        ->addMediaCollection('big-files')
        ->useDisk('s3')
        ->storeConversionsOnDisk('public');
}

Queuing conversions

By default, a conversion will be added to the connection and queue that you've specified in the configuration. If you want your image to be created directly (and not on a queue) use nonQueued on a conversion.

// in your model
public function registerMediaConversions(?Media $media = null): void
{
    $this->addMediaConversion('thumb')
            ->width(368)
            ->height(232)
            ->nonQueued();
}

If you have set queue_conversions_by_default in the media-library config file to false, all conversions will all be generated synchronously. If you want to generate a conversion on a queue, while queue_conversions_by_default is set to false, use the queued method.

// in your model
public function registerMediaConversions(?Media $media = null): void
{
    $this->addMediaConversion('thumb')
            ->width(368)
            ->height(232)
            ->queued();
}

The default behaviour is that queued conversions will run after all database transactions have been committed.
This prevents unexpected behaviour where the model does not yet exist in the database and the conversion is disregarded. If you need the conversions to run within your transaction, you can set the queue_conversions_after_database_commit in the media-library config file to false.

Deferred conversions

Instead of processing a conversion synchronously or dispatching it to a queue, you can use deferred() to schedule the conversion to run after the HTTP response has been sent to the browser. This uses Laravel's defer() helper under the hood.

Deferred conversions are useful when you need a conversion to happen promptly after upload without blocking the upload request itself. A common case is generating an avatar thumbnail that should be available quickly, but doesn't need to delay the response.

// in your model
public function registerMediaConversions(?Media $media = null): void
{
    $this->addMediaConversion('thumb')
            ->width(368)
            ->height(232)
            ->deferred();
}

Deferred conversions run inline in the same PHP process after the response is flushed, so they keep the worker busy until they finish. For slow conversions, or models with many conversions, prefer queued() so the work runs on a queue worker instead.

Deferred conversions require Laravel 11.23 or higher (the version that introduced the defer() helper). On older versions, use queued() or nonQueued().

Using model properties in a conversion

When registering conversions inside the registerMediaConversions function you won't have access to your model properties by default. If you want to use a property of your model as input for defining a conversion you must set registerMediaConversionsUsingModelInstance to true on your model.

// in your model
public $registerMediaConversionsUsingModelInstance = true;

public function registerMediaConversions(?Media $media = null): void
{
    $this->addMediaConversion('thumb')
          ->performOnCollections('images', 'downloads')
          ->width($this->width)
          ->height($this->height);
}

Be aware that this can lead to a hit in performance. When processing media the media library has to perform queries to fetch each separate model.