How to Generate Responsive Images After Media Creation in Laravel with Spatie Media Library

The Spatie Media Library package is an excellent tool for managing media files in Laravel applications. One of its powerful features is the ability to create responsive images automatically when uploading media, which ensures that images are optimized for various screen sizes.

Creating Responsive Images During Media Upload

When uploading media, you can easily configure Spatie Media Library to generate responsive images by using the withResponsiveImages() method. Here’s how it works:

Example:

In your model that uses media (like Post.php), you can define media conversions, including responsive images:

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use Spatie\MediaLibrary\HasMedia\HasMediaTrait;
use Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\Models\Media;

class Post extends Model implements HasMedia
{
    use HasMediaTrait;

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

        $this->addMediaConversion('responsive')
            ->width(1920)
            ->height(1080)
            ->withResponsiveImages(); // Generates responsive images automatically
    }
}

This configuration will generate responsive images automatically whenever media is uploaded. The withResponsiveImages() method ensures that multiple versions of the image are created, optimized for various screen sizes.

When Do You Need to Regenerate Responsive Images?

Sometimes, you may need to regenerate responsive images for media that already exists in your application. This can happen if:

You’ve updated your responsive image breakpoints.
You want to apply a new set of conversions to existing media.
You need to fix or optimize existing media that wasn’t initially processed with responsive images.

In such cases, you’ll need to regenerate the responsive images manually. For this, you can use the GenerateResponsiveImagesJob.

Regenerating Responsive Images After Media Creation

If you want to regenerate responsive images for media that has already been uploaded, you can do so by dispatching the GenerateResponsiveImagesJob. This job will generate the responsive images for existing media based on the current conversion settings.

Code Example for Regenerating Responsive Images:

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Media::query()
    ->where('model_type', Post::class) // Filter media related to the Post model
    ->eachById(function ($media) {
        // Dispatch the job to regenerate responsive images for each media file
        dispatch(new GenerateResponsiveImagesJob($media));
    });

Conclusion

While Spatie Media Library can automatically generate responsive images when media is created using withResponsiveImages(), there may be cases where you need to regenerate these images for existing media. In such scenarios, using the GenerateResponsiveImagesJob allows you to regenerate the responsive images with ease.

This flexibility ensures that your media files are always optimized for various devices, whether they were processed during upload or after the fact.