The MEDIA SETTINGS sub-panel is the place you define options for displaying various media, mainly images, that are offered from the MEDIA PANEL in the upper NAVIGATION bar. - wordpress knowledgebase
WordPress has built-in image reduction. It automatically creates up to three images of various sizes, (thumbnail, medium and enormous) based on the dimensions in this sub-panel and WordPress also saves the original image, so you may have a total of four image sizes saved for each and every image you upload.
If the original image is the same size as the thumbnail dimension you have entered then this image will not be enlarged to the medium or the large size dimensions, the exception to this is WordPress will not ENLARGE an image to these sizes, for instance.
The default THUMBNAIL dimension is 150 x 150 pixels, this is often changed towards the size you would like. The check box underneath the size will crop the THUMBNAIL to your exact size. Un-checking the box will tell WordPress to re-size the image based on the proportional width and height of the original image.
The Medium Size default is 300 by 300 pixels maximum and also the large size can measure up to 1024 by 1024 pixels.
These default dimensions are often adequate for most images.
Once with the CROP BOX checked and another with the CROP BOX un-checked to get a better idea of how WordPress re-sizes images I'll download the same image twice -. I'll also use a picture which is smaller the LARGE SIZE dimension enter therefore we can see how WordPress handles the re-sizing.
From the MEDIA >> ADD NEW sub-panel I am going to add a picture that is 640 pixels by 480 pixels. This can be downloaded using the CROP BOX checked therefore the thumbnail will likely be exactly 150 x 150 pixels because the image is smaller compared to the 1024 x 1024 pixels for your larger image then WordPress will never have that larger image available.
The initial image has a thumbnail scale of exactly 150 x 150 pixels because the CROP BOX was checked. It provides the medium image available there is however no larger image available since the original size was 640 x WordPress and 480 does not enlarge the images.
During the next image with all the CROP BOX UNCHECKED the thumbnail dimensions are proportional at 150 x 112 pixels and the medium image is the same and still no larger image. Re-sizing this way does retain more of the image compared to the CORP where you can lose some the photo.
Although the default settings are generally adequate for most sites you can set these dimensions to suite your needs.
AUTO-EMBED
WordPress will make an effort to EMBED media, for instance a videos, in your post once this box is checked. But, for security, this embed feature is ONLY available from a list of of 16 sites designed to use the oEmbed code. If WordPress cannot use this embed functions then you will get a simple link.
MAXIMUM EMBED SIZE will restrict the embedded media to those dimension. It will default to the maximum width of your site theme if left blank.
UPLOADING FILES lets you control in which the media is stored in accordance with your WordPress address. The default is set to wp-contents/uploads and is automatically created when you download your first media.
The FULL URL PATH TO FILES is used if you change the above line to another relative path other than the default. Enter the full path to the new upload directory if you change the line above.
The last check box will organize your uploads by year and after that month. This can be automatically carried out by WordPress. If you download a file on July 4th 2010 then that image will be in a folder at wp-content/uploads/2010/07, for instance.
Before you exit, rEMEMBER to save all changes.
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