how to audit your website media library and Fix Heavy PDFs and Images in One Afternoon

When you decide to audit your website media library, you’re tackling one of the most common hidden performance issues.

Over years, sites collect oversized images, outdated PDFs and unused assets. They slow down pages, hurt SEO and clutter your CMS. A short, focused audit can deliver big wins.

1. Export a List of Media Assets

First, get visibility:

• From your CMS, export a list of media files with filenames, sizes and upload dates.
• If export isn’t possible, manually inspect the library and sort by file size.
• Pay special attention to assets larger than 500 KB or 1 MB.

This list becomes your roadmap as you audit your website media library.

2. Identify Problem Files

Look for:

• Massive hero images or homepage banners.
• Old PDFs linked from important landing pages or resources.
• Duplicate images in different sizes and formats.
• Obvious mistakes like uploading print-ready files to the web.

Highlight the worst offenders; fixing just a few of them can noticeably improve performance.

3. Optimise Images in Batches

Download the largest images and:

• Resize them to match real on-page dimensions.
• Convert to WebP or optimised JPG.
• Compress them while keeping visual quality acceptable.

Use ModiTool’s batch tools to optimise entire groups at once. After you audit your website media library the first time, this step becomes surprisingly quick.

4. Compress and Clean Up PDFs

Next, look at PDFs:

• Compress heavy documents, especially those linked from high-traffic pages.
• Replace outdated PDFs with newer versions or remove them if they are no longer relevant.
• Where appropriate, split huge PDFs into topic-specific files that are easier to download.

This is crucial when you audit your website media library because PDFs are often ignored yet heavily used by visitors.

5. Re-Upload and Replace References

Once assets are optimised:

• Upload new versions to your CMS.
• Replace URLs on pages, posts and menus to point to the optimised files.
• Remove old versions from the library to avoid confusion.

Test key pages on mobile and desktop to ensure everything displays correctly.

6. Set New Rules So the Mess Doesn’t Return

The final step when you audit your website media library is prevention:

1. Define maximum file sizes and preferred formats for all new uploads.
2. Update content guidelines so writers and designers prepare Web-ready assets.
3. Schedule a lighter media audit every quarter to catch new issues early.

By taking one afternoon to audit your website media library and putting a few rules in place, you can keep your site fast, tidy and ready for future campaigns.