The GLightbox Gallery Module integrates the GLightbox JavaScript library into Joomla as a ready-to-use module. Without any coding, you can display images, embed YouTube and Vimeo videos, show Google Maps, and present any inline HTML content in a polished, animated lightbox. Add items through the familiar Joomla module editor — or import an entire folder of photos in one step — publish the module, and the gallery is live.

Perfect for photography portfolios, product showcases with video demos, team directories with contact forms, event galleries mixing photos and recordings, or any scenario where content benefits from a clean, full-screen overlay experience. Multiple module instances on the same page can be merged into a single navigable gallery using a shared Gallery Name — combining items from different positions and layouts seamlessly.

Local images get a correctly sized thumbnail generated automatically — cropped to your chosen aspect ratio, at standard and high-density resolutions, with an optional WebP copy alongside — so the gallery grid no longer downloads full-size photos just to shrink them in the browser. The lightbox can be given its own set of resized copies, so a phone downloads a screen-sized file rather than a full-resolution original; the original stays in place as the download and as what zooming reaches, fetched only when a visitor actually zooms in.

For photographers, the module reads the shooting details straight out of each file — camera, lens, focal length, aperture, shutter speed, ISO and date — and can show them in a lightbox panel or write them into captions with tokens. Location data is never read or shown.

Administrators can also configure responsive column counts, grid captions, tag filtering and pagination, open and slide animations, zoom and drag behaviour, an optional slide counter, and a self-playing slideshow with a countdown bar across the top of the lightbox. Each gallery item supports individual overrides for title, description, dimensions, download access, visibility, and animation. The module handles dynamic content automatically: galleries embedded inside AJAX-loaded or language-switched content reinitialise without any additional configuration.

Key features:

Images – Full-size galleries with automatically generated thumbnails (custom thumbnails still supported), configurable aspect ratios, lazy loading, and hover effects
Videos – YouTube, Vimeo, and direct MP4 files with autoplay and mute support
Google Maps – Embed any location via iFrame, no API key required
Inline HTML – Display custom HTML or embedded Joomla modules ({loadposition}, {loadmoduleid}) in a lightbox
Responsive Columns – Separate column counts for mobile, tablet, and desktop, laid out with CSS Grid
Thumbnail Strip – A scrollable row of thumbnails under the lightbox image, with the current slide kept centred and every thumbnail clickable; drag it with the mouse, and the picture makes room for it rather than being covered
Full-Resolution Zoom – Click to magnify a slide and the full-resolution original is loaded in the background, so serving smaller files to the lightbox costs nothing in detail
Lightbox Images – Serve resized copies to the lightbox so a phone downloads a screen-sized file instead of a full-resolution original; the original stays the download and the largest option
WebP Output – Optional WebP copies of generated images, typically around a third smaller, with automatic fallback for browsers that cannot read them
Thumbnail Storage – Keep generated images in one shared cache folder, or in a thumbs/ subfolder beside each photo so they travel with your originals through backups and folder moves
Photo Information – A lightbox panel showing camera, lens, focal length, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and date, read from the photo itself; choose which details appear. Location data is never read or shown
Photo Tokens – Write {camera}, {aperture}, {shutter} and more into grid captions or an item's description; every item resolves its own values, and lines with nothing to show are dropped
Grid Captions – Token-based captions under or over each thumbnail ({title}, {description}, {alt}, {tags}, {type}), with overlay positioning and hover visibility
Tags and Filtering – Tag items individually or in bulk, then add a filter bar that narrows both the grid and the lightbox
Grid Pagination – Numbered pages for large galleries, while the lightbox still navigates the whole filtered set
Import from Folder – Turn an entire media folder into gallery items in one step, with wildcard-based titles, alt text, and tags, and photo tokens ready to use in descriptions
Bulk Actions – Select, tag, delete, or change the status of multiple gallery items at once
Per-Item Status – Show, hide from the grid but keep in the lightbox, or fully unpublish any item
Multi-Module Galleries – Set the same Gallery Name on multiple modules to merge them into one unified gallery
Deep Linking – Link directly to a single slide; the address bar updates as visitors browse, with a one-tap copy-link button
Slideshow – A play button advances the gallery on a timer, with a countdown bar across the top of the lightbox and automatic handling of video slides
Downloadable Files – Optional download button for images and direct video files, per-item overridable
Appearance Controls – Colour and opacity for the backdrop, the thumbnail strip and the countdown bar, plus the size and active colour of the strip's tiles
Structured Data (JSON-LD) – Describe the gallery to search engines as a schema.org ImageGallery
Slide Counter – Optional "current / total" indicator in the top-left corner of the lightbox
Two Layouts – Default (ul/li structure) and Minimal (anchor tags only, ideal for fully custom CSS)
Configurable Animations – Separate open, close, and slide effects: Zoom, Fade, Slide, or None
Per-Item Overrides – Title, description, dimensions, animation, zoom, drag, download, and status, all configurable per item
Safe by Default – Item titles and descriptions are filtered as safe HTML on save: formatting and links are kept, scripts and event handlers are not
Multilingual Support – Complete Hungarian and English admin interface
No External Dependencies – No jQuery; GLightbox and the Plyr video player are bundled with the module, nothing is loaded from a CDN
Free and Open Source – GNU GPL v2+, no license restrictions
Simple Installation – Upload ZIP, activate module, add or import items, publish