WordPress has released version 7.1, the platform’s second major update of 2026, bringing a broad set of changes to website design, media editing, collaboration, accessibility, and developer tools. Codenamed “Mary Lou,” the release focuses on giving users more control directly within the editor while reducing the need for custom code for common tasks.
The update also improves media processing and the Media Library, adds new content blocks and expands WordPress’s underlying tools for developers. WordPress 7.1 was released publicly on August 19, 2026, and is available through the WordPress dashboard or the official release archive.
Responsive Styling Comes Directly to the Editor
One of the biggest changes in WordPress 7.1 is built-in responsive styling. Users can now adjust how individual blocks appear at different screen sizes directly through Global Styles or block settings without writing custom CSS. The editor also allows users to preview changes at different viewport sizes while working.
Block themes can define their own mobile and tablet breakpoints through theme.json, allowing responsive styling and block visibility to follow those settings instead of WordPress’s defaults. Button and Navigation Link blocks can also have separate styles for hover, focus, and active states.
New Media Editor Simplifies Image Editing
WordPress 7.1 replaces the previous inline cropping workflow with a dedicated media editor modal. The new interface brings freeform and aspect-ratio cropping, horizontal and vertical flipping, precise and snap rotation, and metadata editing into one place. Media processing has also moved further toward the browser. Image compression, resizing, and thumbnail generation can now take place client-side, reducing server processing and helping avoid PHP memory limits and upload timeouts.
The update adds native support for AVIF, HEIC and HDR gain maps as well. WordPress 7.1 also enables infinite scrolling in the Media Library by default, while users can opt back into pagination. Upload progress indicators and automatic retries are designed to make uploads more reliable when connections drop.
Notes Get More Flexible for Collaboration
The Notes system receives a substantial upgrade in WordPress 7.1. Users can now add rich text, links, and code formatting, while @mentions allow collaborators to be tagged and notified through email. Notes are no longer limited to an entire block.
Users can attach feedback to a specific text selection, maintain multiple conversations on the same block, and collapse longer notes to keep the editing interface cleaner. These changes strengthen asynchronous collaboration inside WordPress, but real-time collaborative editing is not part of the final 7.1 release.
New Playlist and Tabs Blocks Added
WordPress 7.1 introduces two new blocks: Playlist and Tabs. The Playlist block lets creators group multiple audio files together in a post or page and can display an optional waveform showing the visual shape of each track during playback. The Tabs block allows related information to be organised into separate tabbed panels, helping reduce long or crowded pages. The update also gives plugin and theme developers the ability to register their own icon collections for use throughout the editor.
WordPress 7.1 Feature Snapshot
- Responsive styling: Block-level controls for different screen sizes
- Viewport previews: Preview responsive changes while editing
- Custom breakpoints: Mobile and tablet settings through theme.json
- Media editor: Crop, rotate, flip and metadata editing
- Media formats: AVIF, HEIC and HDR gain maps
- Notes: Rich text, @mentions and text-level comments
- New blocks: Playlist and Tabs
- Interactive styles: Hover, focus and active states
- Media Library: Infinite scrolling by default
- Developer tools: SVG Icon API, Abilities API and design-system improvements
- Accessibility: Improved tooltips, navigation and assistive-technology support
More Consistent Editing and Developer Tools
WordPress 7.1 also makes the Post Editor fully iframed for all themes, bringing it in line with the Site Editor. The editing canvas now runs separately from the WordPress administration interface, helping prevent admin styles from interfering with content and making responsive layouts behave more predictably. For developers, the release introduces a public SVG Icon API for registering custom icon collections and expands the Abilities API with validation, discovery and execution improvements.
These changes provide a stronger foundation for integrations and automation, including AI-powered tools. Accessibility has also received attention across administration screens and editor interfaces, with improvements to semantics, keyboard and pointer interaction, focus behaviour and accessible tooltips.
What WordPress 7.1 Means for Users
For everyday website creators, WordPress 7.1 reduces the number of workarounds needed for responsive design, image editing and content review. Users can adjust responsive layouts directly in the editor, edit images through a more complete workflow and leave more detailed feedback without relying on separate collaboration tools.
The performance improvements could also make media-heavy workflows smoother by moving more image processing to the browser and making uploads more resilient. Developers, meanwhile, get expanded APIs and more consistent tools for building custom WordPress experiences. The release involved more than 800 contributors, including over 170 first-time contributors, who together delivered more than 1,500 enhancements and fixes.
Conclusion
WordPress 7.1 is a broad update focused on making website creation more responsive, flexible, and efficient. The new styling controls and media editor address everyday publishing needs, while richer Notes, new blocks and improved media handling expand what users can do directly within WordPress. With accessibility improvements and a wider developer toolkit added alongside these user-facing features, WordPress 7.1 represents a substantial update for both creators and developers building on the platform.