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Add thorough documentation for Client Side Media #75111
Description
Overview
With the Client Side Media feature being graduated to a core capability in WordPress 7.0, thorough documentation is needed for both developers and users. This documentation should cover:
- How client side media processing works within the block editor
- The benefits of using browser-based media processing versus server-side
- Supported image formats and processing capabilities
- Graceful fallback mechanism for unsupported browsers (and partially supported browsers without iframe credentialless support)
- Integration points and hooks for plugin developers (e.g., JS-side hooks analogous to existing server-side ones). which hooks no longer fire during uploads. how to disable the feature using a hook.
- Guidance on handling Cross-Origin Isolation and SharedArrayBuffer requirements
- Known risks and environment requirements
Tasks
- Draft new sections for the official Gutenberg and WordPress developer documentation detailing Client Side Media
- Create or update user-facing documentation to explain changes in media uploading workflow
- Add information for developers about how to extend or interact with the new system
- Document how to handle fallback scenarios and browser compatibility
- Ensure reference to roadmaps and tracking issues (e.g., Client Side Media iteration for WordPress 7.0 #74333) for additional context
- Draft a make/core post announcing the feature, linking to the documentation
References
- Core tracking issue: Client Side Media iteration for WordPress 7.0 #74333
- Current experiments: https://github.com/swissspidy/media-experiments
Acceptance Criteria
- Documentation is published in relevant developer and user guides
- Key architectural and UX changes are clearly explained with actionable examples
- Plugin developers can find guidance for adapting to JS-side hooks and fallbacks
- Documentation includes links to foundational PRs and background issues
- Draft created for make/core post
Activity
[-]Add documentation for the new Client Side Media feature[/-][+]Add thorough documentation for Client Side Media[/+]Docs: Update client-side media docs for WP 7.1 release plan
adamsilverstein commentedon Jun 29, 2026
Animated GIF → video conversion has now landed in #78410 (merged), which adds a new Client Side Media capability that should be folded into this documentation effort.
Specific things to document for this feature:
ImageDecoder+VideoEncoder) and the mediabunny library, then the block is switched to a "GIF" variation of the Video block that plays like the original GIF.@wordpress/video-conversion(mirrors the@wordpress/vipsworker pattern; conversion runs off the main thread).core/imageattachment; the converted video and first-frame poster are sideloaded as companion files (recorded inmedia_details.animated_video/animated_video_poster), not separate attachments.preserveAnimatedGif). Gallery images stay GIFs; Media & Text / Cover are unaffected.ImageDecoder+VideoEncoderavailability and cross-origin isolation; falls back to uploading the original GIF when WebCodecs is unavailable (e.g. Firefox). Transparent GIFs are not converted.<video autoplay loop muted playsinline poster>with no render-time PHP.This is a good concrete example for the "supported formats and processing capabilities", "graceful fallback / browser compatibility", and "integration points for developers" sections.