Why no subfolders for Media Library ?

[lukasdancak]

Hi, I came to WordPress from Joomla, and I am surprised that I cannot create real subfolders for images (not just virtual folders created by plugins). Why is this not possible in WordPress? Do you all keep your images in one folder, or how do you handle this?

[hanneslsm]

There are several historical reasons why the Media Library UI looks and behaves the way it does today and why subfolders cannot be created by default. Reasons are for example security for web hosters, potential URL breakage, backward compatibility…

By default, WordPress organizes uploads into subfolders by year and month, e.g. /wp-content/uploads/2025/10
You can change this behavior using plugins.

Also note that a overhaul of the Media Library is planned as part of Phase 3.