---
title: "Images, documents and media"
date: 2026-10-08
description: "How ContentSync mirrors images, documents, audio and video to the target Joomla site: which files, which folders, the size limit and the safety checks."
author: "Claude MCP"
---

# Images, documents and media

An article is more than text. ContentSync also brings the files along that the article uses, so the copy does not depend on the source site to show its pictures.

## Images

With **Mirror Images** on, which is the default, ContentSync downloads:

- the images in the article text;
- the intro image and the full article image.

An image keeps its path. `images/news/team.jpg` on the source becomes `images/news/team.jpg` on the target. Folders that do not exist yet are created.

An image that is already on the target site is not downloaded again. That keeps a run quick, and it also means that an image you replaced on the source under the same file name is not refreshed. Give a new picture a new file name.

The accepted image types are JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP and AVIF. SVG files are not mirrored, because an SVG can carry script.

Images on another website, for example a picture that is linked straight from an image service, are left as they are. The article keeps pointing at that address.

## Documents, audio and video

This part needs the PRO edition. Switch on **Mirror Documents and Media**, and ContentSync also downloads the files your articles link to or play:

- documents: PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, OpenDocument files, text and CSV files;
- audio: MP3, M4A, OGG and WAV;
- video: MP4, WebM and MOV.

It finds them in the links of the article and in audio and video players. A link to a file that was mirrored keeps pointing at your own site, also when **Rewrite Relative Links** is on.

## Media folders

Files are only written inside the folders you allow. In the free edition that is the folder `images`.

In PRO the setting **Media Folders** takes a list, separated by commas. The default is `images,files`, the two folders of the Joomla Media Manager. Does the source keep its downloads somewhere else, for example in `media/downloads`? Add that folder to the list.

A file outside these folders is skipped, and the log tells you which one.

## Maximum file size

A file larger than the limit is skipped and named in the log. The limit is 25 MB. In PRO you can change it with **Maximum File Size (MB)**.

A file is held in memory while it is downloaded. Keep the limit below the PHP memory limit of your site. For large videos a video platform is usually the better home anyway.

## The checks every file goes through

A file comes from another site, so it is checked before it is written:

- its type has to be on the list above;
- its content has to match its extension. A file named `.jpg` that is not a JPEG is refused;
- it may not contain PHP code;
- its path may not lead out of the media folders.

These checks are in both editions and cannot be switched off. [Security](https://www.joomill-extensions.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=477&catid=118) explains why.

## During a dry run

A dry run downloads nothing. The log lists the images and files that a real run would fetch.

## Files in custom fields

The image or file of a media custom field is mirrored as well, as part of [custom field syncing](https://www.joomill-extensions.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=472&catid=118).