Why WordPress + Newspaper creates ~27 image sizes

Two things are happening at once:

1️⃣ WordPress core creates image sizes

By default WordPress generates:

thumbnail

medium

medium_large

large

plus retina variants (2x)

2️⃣ Newspaper theme (tagDiv) adds many custom sizes

Newspaper is optimized for:

blocks

sliders

modules

mobile / tablet / desktop

retina (2x)

So it registers 20+ custom image sizes, which is why every upload explodes into ~27 files.

👉 This is normal behavior for Newspaper — not a bug.

What image sizes does Newspaper REALLY use?

In practice, Newspaper mostly uses these core groups:

✅ Commonly used sizes

td_696x0 → main article featured image

td_1068x0 → full-width layouts

td_300x220 → small blocks

td_534x462 → medium blocks

td_80x60 → widgets / lists

Retina (2x) versions of the above

⚠️ Many other sizes are edge cases (rare modules, legacy layouts, demos).

Option 1 (Recommended): Reduce image sizes SAFELY ✅
Step A: Disable unused sizes via code

Add this to functions.php (or a custom plugin):

add_filter(‘intermediate_image_sizes_advanced’, function ($sizes) {
$allowed = [
‘thumbnail’,
‘medium’,
‘large’,
‘td_696x0’,
‘td_300x220’,
‘td_534x462’
];

foreach ($sizes as $key => $value) {
if (!in_array($key, $allowed)) {
unset($sizes[$key]);
}
}

return $sizes;
});

📌 This:

Keeps only important Newspaper sizes

Stops WordPress from generating the rest

Option 2: Disable Retina Images (Huge win 🚀)

Newspaper creates 2x images by default.

Turn them off:

Newspaper → Theme Panel → General Settings → Retina Display
➡️ Disable Retina Images

💡 This alone can cut image generation almost in half.

Option 3: Use a plugin (Easiest, no code)

Install Disable Media Sizes or Perfmatters.

Then:

Disable unused WordPress sizes

Leave Newspaper core sizes enabled

⚠️ Don’t blindly disable everything — Newspaper needs some sizes to avoid layout breaks.

Option 4: Regenerate after cleanup (IMPORTANT)

After changing sizes:

Install Regenerate Thumbnails

Regenerate

Delete old unused thumbnails (plugin or server cleanup)

❌ What NOT to do

Don’t disable all td_* sizes

Don’t edit Newspaper core files

Don’t rely only on CDN offloading (it hides the problem but doesn’t fix disk usage)

Best setup for Newspaper (my recommendation)

✅ Disable Retina
✅ Keep 6–8 essential sizes only
✅ Use Bunny / CDN for delivery
✅ Use WebP/AVIF

This keeps:

Layout intact

Disk usage low

CDN fast

Hi,
Thank you about that. Yes please help me with the code.
The link is : https://news24sofia.eu/

Hi,
I was sent you an email for website login, but so far i have no answer from you guys.

Hi,
I already tried with creating different ad in google and add the code to the ad box. The fact is that in the homepage i have 3 different ad boxes with 3 different ads code.