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Free Plugin by Martin von Berg v3.5.0

Simple Lightbox for WordPress

Provides an easy was to add a Lightbox to Images in Gutenberg image, gallery and Media-with-Text-Blocks. Additionally to Youtube and HTML5 Videos but …

Simple Lightbox for WordPress

The facts

Rating
5★ from 10
Active installs
400+
Price
Free
Last updated
25 Aug 2026
Added
Apr 2022
Requires WP
5.9
Tested up to
WP 7.1
Requires PHP
8.0
Downloads
8,895

Our analysis

AI-assisted

Simple Lightbox for WordPress is a plugin that allows you to add a lightbox effect to images and videos in Gutenberg blocks. It supports images, galleries, HTML5 videos, and YouTube videos, but does not support other video types such as Vimeo. The plugin uses the fslightbox.js library and offers settings that can be easily modified via a JSON file.

This plugin is suitable for users who want to enhance their WordPress sites with a lightbox feature for visual content. It is particularly useful for photographers, videographers, and anyone who uses media-heavy content in their posts or pages.

Best for: This plugin suits photographers and content creators who want to display images and videos attractively on their WordPress sites.

What it does well

  • Free to use from the WordPress.org directory
  • Supports images, galleries, HTML5, and YouTube videos
  • Easy configuration through a JSON file
  • Active development with regular updates
  • High rating from users

Where it falls short

  • Does not support Vimeo or VideoPress
  • Requires PHP 8.0 or higher

Verdict

Simple Lightbox for WordPress provides a straightforward solution for adding a lightbox feature to your media. It is a solid choice for users looking to enhance their visual content presentation.

From the developer

Martin von Berg's own description of Simple Lightbox for WordPress, lightly tidied.

** !!! Upgrade only if your server uses PHP 8.0++. Do NOT upgrade if it still uses PHP 7.4. !!! **

Provides an easy was to add a Lightbox to Images in Gutenberg image, gallery and Media-with-Text-Blocks. Additionally to Youtube and HTML5 Videos but no other videos. Other video types like VideoPress, Vimeo etc. are currently NOT supported.
The Javascript library fslightbox.js is used for that. You even may use the paid version of fslightbox.js.
Plugin settings are provided by a JSON-file that may be easily changed and backed-up manually (automatically after V2.0.0).

NEW: Added support for the complete HTML-code to the post, page etc. in-between body tags and not only the content. This is an Opt-in. See example settings file in ./settings/plugin-settings-body.json.

The support for HTML5-Videos and Youtube-Videos will add a small red button on the top left of the embedded Youtube-Video which opens the lightbox with that video.
YT-Videos could be disabled by deleting the line "wp-block-embed-youtube" in the file plugin-settings.json. If you do so please delete the comma at the end of the line before, too!
See live example here: https://www.berg-reise-foto.de/software-wordpress-lightroom-plugins/wordpress-plugins-fotos-und-karten/

The support for Youtube-Videos is working with the given functionality and extended to stop running videos onOpen and for the paid version to stop running videos on slideChange.

Plugin uses

Following libraries and WP-Plugins were used to create this plugin:

  1. fslightbox.js
  2. HTML5DOMDocument by ivopetkov
  3. Lightbox Gallery by Kodefix

Read the full description on the official page →

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