How Do I Protect Images on Website?

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What is a good way to protect images on a website from being copied? Normally I don't care about that, but a client wants me to do it for a site.
#main internet marketing discussion forum #images #protect #website
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  • I would suggest you place a copyright watermark on your images (this can be done in Photoshop but can bloat the image size). Also to stop people linking to your images (and using your bandwidth) I would suggest you URL rewrite so only your own site can present the image (you can add an alternative image to ensure the thief changes his ways!
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    • Code:
      RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www.)?yourdomain.com [NC]
RewriteRule .(jpg|jpeg|png|gif)$ - [NC,F,L]
      edit .htacces, and place this code... change yourdomain.com to your sitename
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  • I don't know above code works for all webpage or for PHP. My suggestion is to make use of vector image format. It is break and make image that appears to be as one piece when viewed. This is actually helpful when one tries to save it for thier use. They cannot play or morphed around with image. This is very much tied to pixel rather percentage based. Also you can check /validate and lock image through encryption and decryption format using code.
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    • If the images belong to them (not from royalty free) then do above with the watermark or logo - but make sure it is a URL address. Your client should understand that further use of those images will likely result in more traffic back to the website URL used in the logo.

      Your images should also be tagged extensively so they show up in Google image searches related to your clients product/service. The more and higher those images show in search, the more they will get used, and the more traffic you will get in return.

      In this case, embrace content thieves by getting them to work for you!
  • If the thief wants to steal the image, he will do it. Even from flash or image sliced in a table, just through PrintScreen. Watermark is good, but only if it's big and covers at least half of the image.
  • There are services that have the technology to search
    for people that have taken your image and used it on
    there websites. I just can't remember the name.

    But yeah, like Pixus stated - the only thing that will work
    is a big watermark.

    Cyrus seems to have posted htaccess code that stops
    a user from leeching your images.
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    • I use two services:

      Gazopa.com and tineye.com - both are available as a firefox addon
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  • Even I would recommend placing a watermark on you images.

    I'd recommend using watermarktool.com for this purpose, cause its a real quick way of effectively placing a watermark on ur images.

    Also I'd recommend that you read the following article .... really answers ur question well.

    10+ Ways To Protect Images From Being Stolen|Website Design Blog
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    • Thanks for the link mate!

      Really good info!

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  • If you have the time put a watermark in then do that and that will keep away the little fish who are just going to hack up your images and detract from your brand. Your not going to stop the big fish from scraping them in any case but on the bright side they will have the tech skills to at least present your products correctly. I tend to agree with Marty, do everything you can to make them work for you!
  • Like others here, I prefer to utilize images for extra SEO, ie google images. It is a client, not me, who wants to somehow block off the images from being downloaded. I am letting them know the progs of letting them copy away, since it actually helps broadcast the brand (and it isn't an image selling site anyway). Images can easily be copied with Print Scr. However, if the client is insistent, I'll do what I can to guard the images.
  • Not a complete solution, but something that you can implement immediately if you have a decent cpanel host is to "disable the hotlinking of images". You will find an icon in your cpanel host with the words "hotlink protection"

    It usually involves 2 steps.

    1. Simply click "Enable", to block all sites outside of your account from linking directly to the picture.

    2. Whitelisting the sites that you want to allow specifically. ex. if you want to post an image hosted on your site to warrior forums, you would specifically add hxxp://www.warriorforum.com to the hotlink whitelist.
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  • You can also try Image Guard | Protect your images online with automatic watermarking and other special effects! Stop Hot Linking cold as well (non-affiliate). I haven't used it myself but I think that is what you might be looking for.
  • As it has been said, anyone could steal an image using the print screen function. Though, if you are looking for a quick fix, here are a few alternatives to the above suggestions...

    You could disallow the right click function on the site; use CSS to set the image as part of the background; or cover the image with a transparent image that matches its size. I have use the ladder in the past. When someone tries to save the image, they just end up with a blank...
  • Your best bet is to watermark the images to prevent them from being copied.
  • Hey mate,

    If it doesn't take too long, then watermark the images
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