netlify-image-cdn

name: netlify-image-cdn description: Guide for using Netlify Image CDN for image optimization and transformation. Use when serving optimized images, creating responsive image markup, setting up user-uploaded image pipelines, or configuring image transformations. Covers the /.netlify/images endpoint, query parameters, remote image allowlisting, clean URL rewrites, and composing uploads with Functions + Blobs.

Netlify Image CDN

Every Netlify site has a built-in /.netlify/images endpoint for on-the-fly image transformation. No configuration required for local images.

Basic Usage

<img src="/.netlify/images?url=/photo.jpg&w=800&h=600&fit=cover&q=80" />

Query Parameters

When fm is omitted, Netlify auto-negotiates the best format based on browser support (preferring webp, then avif).

Remote Image Allowlisting

External images must be explicitly allowed in netlify.toml:

[images]
remote_images = ["https://example\\.com/.*", "https://cdn\\.images\\.com/.*"]

Values are regex patterns.

When referencing an allow-listed remote image, percent-encode the source URL before placing it in the url parameter:

<!-- source: https://cdn.example.com/marketing/banner.jpg -->
<img src="/.netlify/images?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.example.com%2Fmarketing%2Fbanner.jpg&w=800&fm=webp&q=80" />

Percent-encode the source value (e.g. with encodeURIComponent) whenever it contains characters that would otherwise be read as Image CDN params — ?, &, =, #, or whitespace. This applies to remote URLs and relative paths alike (a filename or user-generated key can contain them too, e.g. url=/uploads/a%26b.jpg). Basic paths without those characters don't need encoding.

Clean URL Rewrites

Create user-friendly image URLs with redirects:

# Basic optimization
[[redirects]]
from = "/img/*"
to = "/.netlify/images?url=/:splat"
status = 200

# Preset: thumbnail
[[redirects]]
from = "/img/thumb/:key"
to = "/.netlify/images?url=/uploads/:key&w=150&h=150&fit=cover"
status = 200

# Preset: hero
[[redirects]]
from = "/img/hero/:key"
to = "/.netlify/images?url=/uploads/:key&w=1200&h=675&fit=cover"
status = 200

Caching

• Transformed images are cached at the CDN edge automatically
• Cache invalidates on new deploys
• Set cache headers on source images to control caching:

[[headers]]
for = "/uploads/*"
[headers.values]
Cache-Control = "public, max-age=31536000, immutable"

User-Uploaded Images

Combine Netlify Functions (upload handler) + Netlify Blobs (storage) + Image CDN (serving/transforming) to build a complete user-uploaded image pipeline. See references/user-uploads.md for the full pattern.