this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2025
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Alright, so what is the current recommended way to share pictures on Lemmy? (feddit.org)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by Blaze@feddit.org to c/fedigrow@lemm.ee
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Hello everyone,

Following this post, it seems that quite a few users can't see catbox.moe pictures.

Catbox was my preferred option as they have a handy Firefox extension that allows to upload pictures with just a click, and get the link directly in the clipboard.

My understanding was also that by having the pictures on catbox, we avoided storing copies of pictures on every Lemmy instance. Is this still the case? I read a bit about proxying pictures (https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/pull/4035) and it seems like this is more related to keep all media required by an instance locally, to avoid broken links.

So long story short: what should be the recommended way to share pictures on Lemmy?

  1. Use a hoster like https://imgbb.com/
  2. Upload pictures locally
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[–] ptz@dubvee.org 28 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

Whatever solution you use, just make sure it allows "hotlinking" without having to leave the app/Lemmy web interface to see them. If an image doesn't embed, I won't click outside to see it; I'll just scroll past.

I've not had any problems with Catbox, though (I use it to share gifs larger than my instance allows for uploads). It was down a bit yesterday (was going to share a screen recording demonstrating a new feature), but works fine for the most part.

I have read Yarn (gif archive) is sometimes problematic/unreliable, but I usually wrap those in Tesseract's image proxy which addresses it.

For 95% of cases, I just upload directly to my instance. It's got a 250kb max limit, but we use Tesseract as the default UI which can pre-process uploads to webp prior to uploading which will typically get them under that limit.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And allows VPN users too please

[–] CidVicious@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

Fuck Imgur.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Catbox links are usually fucked on my end.

[–] drkt@scribe.disroot.org 4 points 2 days ago

I have had nothing but problems with catbox, they ban every IP I've had. I emailed them about it and they said "no we don't". Just keep in mind that random people won't be able to see your post if you use catbox.

[–] muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee 14 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Image hosting for Lemmy is a significant issue. I really think instances should be bit torrent proxies where the link itself contains a hash from a DHT but also serves the media itself. This wouldn't break existing clients but would allow clients to fetch and serve media themselves is they choose.

Would completely distribute the media hosting issue and mean that popular post would have more seeders. Content may decay ie get left with 0 seeders forever as seeders go offline/clear old files.

Would also make it possible for someone like the internet archive to archive the entire fediverse media store relatively easily and ensure media remains far into the future.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 days ago (3 children)

It would be difficult to host. Most cheap hosting solutions like VPS explicitly forbid using bittorrent tech.

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[–] Blaze@feddit.org 7 points 2 days ago

Could be a good idea, but that seems like a long term improvement. Here we are looking for a solution that wouldn't require changes to the codebase.

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 9 points 2 days ago (4 children)

FYI @ShareMySims@lemmy.dbzer0.com

Pinging @nutomic@lemmy.ml and @dessalines@lemmy.ml as I guess they are probably the more knowledgeable.

Also @Shadow@lemmy.ca @TheDude@sh.itjust.works @db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com @Demigodrick@lemmy.zip @ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone for admins of instances with large communities

IIRC @sunaurus@lemm.ee has a 500 KB limit per picture.

And maybe also @Emperor@feddit.uk, @ticoombs@reddthat.com @Illecors@lemmy.cafe and @BurningTurtle@feddit.org

[–] Illecors@lemmy.cafe 5 points 2 days ago (6 children)

For my family pixelfed instance I've discovered ffshare - it's job is to act something like a pipe in a unix shell and strip exif data as well as downsize the source before sending it off to the target app.

It's not exactly what you've asked for, but it could be used here. Android, at least.

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[–] ticoombs@reddthat.com 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Lemmy is still saving thumbnails and (previously) sometimes the whole image! The majority of image issues have been cleared up in my opinion and it works very well. Nearly all of our hosts allow hotlinking as it's basically required for our use cases.

Lemmy also knows when the image is another Lemmy instance (through "magic", or just cross posting). So if you upload once and then use that same link on all other posts then that would still be the same.

The problem I think you have is your usecase also includes posting externally to Lemmy. & to some extent, you don't want those images tied to your Lemmy account. If my users post via my instance then they are welcome to also hotlink the images externally. This is only possible because Reddthat uses a CDN and caches the images as much as possible.

Even if we didn't use a cdn there are plenty of VPS' and proxy software that we could use which would transparently function in the same way. You could even setup your own VPS, some image hosting software like https://chibisafe.moe/ or https://github.com/nokonoko/Uguu or https://github.com/hauxir/imgpush

To sum up:

  • post once to Lemmy instance and then use that image everywhere
  • use a random image host that allows hotlinking to do the same
  • get your own VPS, setup an image upload and use that (and maybe get a domain too!)

The 3rd option you can do completely anonymously via crypto.

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago

Thank you for the detailed answer!

[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

supakaity@lemmy.blahaj.zone implemented a custom image proxy for us.

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Interesting, so from your admin perspective do you prefer users to use the Lemmy built-in image upload or use a link to an external hoster?

[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

We let people use the built in uploader, then offload the uploaded image to the proxy, and then redirect requests for the uploaded image URL to the proxy. It was the only way we could really deal with the volume of images without having to either limit images or force them to be external

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Interesting, but I guess if you had the choice that every user would use an external hoster, that would be easier for you?

I'm trying to ease the load on instance admins as well

[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's not a great user experience, so it's not an ideal approach IMO.

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago

Indeed, but it's okay for me 😅

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 4 points 2 days ago

@Nothing4You@programming.dev and @Die4Ever@programming.dev as I see you from time to talking about databases

[–] Demigodrick@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

On a personal level I'm not fussed if people use local storage or offsite - i too can't ever see catbox images so that's the only host I have a problem with.

[–] tamlyn@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

According to catbox uk banned the website. That could be the reason and that's why i refrain from using it beimg on a uk instance

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago

Thanks! I moved to https://postimages.org/

[–] Libb@jlai.lu 6 points 2 days ago (6 children)

I never considered the question, sharing the (rare) pictures I post using the Upload Image button.

A few years ago I used this: https://postimages.org/
It worked well but I have no idea how trustworthy it is?

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 4 points 2 days ago

Hello,

Thank you for posting this, another person mentioned them as well: https://jlai.lu/post/14514460/12047196

They don't have a browser extension, but I guess that could be a good solution still

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[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

From a browser image: Right-click an image and click Copy Image on the popup. In the lemmy comment editor press ctrl-V or right-click and click Paste. Lemmy uploads the image and constructs an inline link to it.

From an image file: In the Lemmy comment editor click the Upload Image button and select an image file.

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I was mostly cautious about storing that picture across hundreds of instances

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[–] fxomt@lemm.ee 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Upload pictures locally

Too small for me, personally. I love catbox, but it's frustrating that many users can't see its content. I even had to put a disclaimer in latins description as a warning on how to fix it.

I'll look for image hosters then recommend them here.

[–] fxomt@lemm.ee 8 points 2 days ago (9 children)

Testing out postimages, a host specifically for forums

This is a test image, if anyone has problems with it comment please.

[–] I_Miss_Daniel@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I don't see an image, using Voyager.

I don't see any links either.

[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I also use Voyager but I see the test image.

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 4 points 2 days ago

The plot thickens

[–] fxomt@lemm.ee 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

~~Strange... I_Miss_Daniel@lemmy.world may i know what country/DNS you are using?~~

Nevermind, i saw your other comment

[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm on Voyager 2.23.1 using android 15 if that helps

[–] yo_scottie_oh@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I am using Voyager v2.23.1 on GrapheneOS, and I see the image.

Do you have any kind of ad blocking or other content filtering extensions you can think of that could be affecting your ability to view the image? Or anything at the router level?

EDIT: The only other thing I can think of is that you and I are on different Lemmy instances. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago (4 children)
[–] I_Miss_Daniel@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Only if I follow the link. It took a long time to load. Might have been my 4G.

Edit: after visiting the link then returning, the preview image appeared ok.

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[–] Elevator7009sAlt@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Image visible.

Just the Lemmy website, iOS

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago

Image seems to embed properly in Thunder on Android.

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[–] Blaze@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago

Thanks! If there would be an image hoster with an extension that would be great, I just tried using imgbb for a few posts, and it's just much more cumbersome unfortunately

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