Old domain shut down: How to rescue your images

When an old domain, an old server or a CDN is shut down, every image still stored there disappears. Replace External Images moves these images into your WordPress Media Library beforehand and points the links to your current domain.

How to spot the problem

Typical situations: your website moved from alte-firma.de to neue-firma.de, but older posts still contain image addresses on the old domain. Or images used to be delivered through a CDN such as cdn.beispiel.net, and that contract is now being cancelled. As long as the old address is reachable, nobody notices. On the day it goes offline, the images are gone.

How to rescue your images in time

1. Install the plugin. In the admin area, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin, search for “Replace External Images”, then install and activate it.
2. Select your posts. Under Posts or Pages, select all affected entries and choose the bulk action “Replace External Images”.
3. Check the log. The import dialog shows every image. Skipped images are listed with the reason, so you can replace them manually where needed.

If the old domain redirects

If the old domain redirects to the new one, the plugin follows the redirect and downloads the image from the target. If that image is already in your Media Library, it’s reused rather than stored twice. Note: the plugin doesn’t treat addresses on your own current domain as external.

Frequently asked questions

Can I also import images from a subdomain?

Yes. Anything that isn’t exactly on your current WordPress address is detected as external, including images from bilder.deine-domain.de.

What if the domain has already been shut down?

Then the plugin can no longer fetch the images and reports “Could not be downloaded”. Check whether you still have a backup of the old server and upload the images from there.