How to check and copy an image URL in any browser

To copy the URL of an image, right-click it (Control-click on a Mac) and choose Copy image address in Chrome, Copy image link in Edge, Copy Image Link in Firefox or Copy Image Address in Safari. On a phone or tablet, touch and hold the image instead. Then paste the address with Ctrl+V, or Cmd+V on a Mac.

The image URL, also called the image address or image path, is the direct web address of the file. Below you find how to see the URL of an image and how to check image URLs in every common browser, on desktop and mobile. You also find how to use Inspect when the menu has no image option, and how to check images that your site serves through Quicq.

Copy an image URL on a computer

1. Open the page with the image.
2. Right-click the image. On a Mac, Control-click it or click with two fingers on the trackpad.
3. Choose the option that copies the image URL in your browser (see the table).
4. Paste the URL where you need it.

Want to see the file on its own? Choose Open image in new tab in Chrome or Edge, or Open Image in New Tab in Firefox or Safari. The image opens in a new tab, and the address bar shows its full URL. It is also how to find the link to a picture when a colleague asks: "could you give me the link to that photo?"

Is the image also a link? Then the menu shows a second copy option, such as Copy link address in Chrome. That option copies the page the image links to, not the image file.

On Google Images, the share button gives you a link that starts with https://share.google/, according to Google's own help. That link points to the Google result, not to the image file. To copy the file address, open the website that shows the image and copy it there.

How to see image URLs on Android, iPhone and iPad

A phone has no right-click. To get the image URL on Android, iPhone or iPad, touch and hold the image until a menu appears, then:

• Chrome on Android: tap Open image in new tab, switch to the new tab and copy the address from the address bar.
• Chrome on iPhone and iPad: tap Open Image in New Tab, then copy the address in that tab.
• Safari on iPhone and iPad: tap Share… and then Copy in the share sheet. That copies the image address, or the link if the image is a link. The Copy option in the first menu copies the picture itself, not its URL.
• Firefox on Android: tap Copy image location.
• Firefox on iPhone and iPad: tap Copy Image Link.

Using another browser? Look for an option with image address, image link or image location. If the menu has none, open the image in a new tab and copy the address there.

How to find the image URL in Inspect Element

Inspect shows the HTML behind the page, including the exact address the page uses for each image. Use it when the menu has no image option, or when you need the URL for HTML.

1. In Safari on a Mac, turn on the developer tools first: choose Safari > Settings, click Advanced and select Show features for web developers (Apple's guide).

2. Right-click the image and choose Inspect in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, or Inspect Element in Safari. The developer tools open with the HTML of the image selected.

3. Find the img tag. The image URL sits in the src attribute.

4. Copy the URL. In Chrome and Edge, right-click the address and choose Copy link address. In every browser, you can also double-click the value, select it and copy it.

For example, if the HTML for the image looks like this:

<img src="https://www.example.com/images/myimage.jpg" alt="My Image">

Then the image URL is https://www.example.com/images/myimage.jpg.

In Chrome and Edge, hover over the address in src for a preview. It shows the image with its Rendered size, its Intrinsic size and the Current source: the file the browser actually shows.

When src is not the file you see

Many sites offer one image in several sizes with srcset. The browser then picks the file that fits the screen, and src only serves as the fallback:

<img src="https://cdn.example.com/photo.jpg?w=400"
     srcset="https://cdn.example.com/photo.jpg?w=400 400w, https://cdn.example.com/photo.jpg?w=800 800w"
     sizes="400px" alt="Product photo">

On a screen with twice the pixel density, Chrome loads the ?w=800 file, while src still says ?w=400. To see the URL the browser really uses, select the image in the Elements panel, open the Console and type $0.currentSrc. MDN explains the currentSrc property in detail.

No image option in the menu?

• The picture is a background. The page shows it with CSS, not with an img tag. Select the element in Inspect and look in the Styles panel for background-image: url(...).
• A layer covers the image, or the site blocks right-click. Use the Network panel below. It lists every image the page loads.
• The image loads lazily. Scroll to the image first, so the browser loads it, and look again.

Use the image URL in HTML

Paste the URL you copied as the src of an img tag, and add an alt text that describes the picture:

<img src="https://www.example.com/images/myimage.jpg" alt="Red leather sneakers, side view">

Only use images you have the rights to. An image on someone else's server can also move or disappear, and then your page shows a broken image.

Find every image on a page in the Network panel

The Network panel lists every file a page loads, including images you can't right-click. It also shows the real format of each image.

1. Open the developer tools with Ctrl+Shift+I, or Cmd+Option+I on a Mac, and go to the Network tab. In Safari, use Develop > Show Web Inspector.
2. Reload the page, so the panel records every request.
3. Filter on images: Img in Chrome and Edge, Images in Firefox. In Safari, pick the filter for images.
4. Click an image in the list. The headers show the full URL and the content-type, for example image/webp.

In Chrome and Edge, the Type column shows the format right away, such as webp, jpeg or png. Google describes the panel in its Network panel reference.

Check if an image URL works

To check an image URL, paste it into the address bar of a new tab. If the image appears on its own, the URL works. If you see an error page or a 404, the address is wrong or the file no longer exists.

In the Network panel, the Status column tells you the same: 200 means the image loaded, 404 means the server did not find it.

Check image URLs for Quicq

The Quicq image CDN optimises your images and serves them in a lighter format the browser supports, such as WebP, and JPG to browsers that support none. With the methods above, you can see whether an image on your site really comes through Quicq.

When you add a Quicq CDN

When you add a Quicq CDN in admin.afosto.app, the form asks for the URL of an image on your site. Copy the URL of any image on your site, paste it there and click Validate site. Quicq then detects your platform and the path to your images. If it can't find the path, you can try again with another image URL or enter the path yourself.

Check that an image comes through Quicq

1. Check the address. Copy the URL of an image with Inspect or the Network panel. Through a Quicq CDN, it starts with https://cdn.quicq.io/ followed by your key, the one in the Key column under Quicq - CDNs:

   https://cdn.quicq.io/your-key/catalog/product/shoe.jpg

   Does the URL still start with your own domain? Then your platform doesn't use the Quicq address yet. Follow the guide for your platform again, for example Magento or PrestaShop, and clear the platform cache.

2. Check the format. In the Network panel, a Quicq image in a modern browser shows a lighter format such as webp or avif as its type, even when the file name ends in .jpg. In our test, the sample image from the Quicq guides at a width of 400 pixels arrived in Chrome as a WebP of 11.5 kB. A browser without WebP support got a JPG of 16.1 kB.

3. Still the old file? Check that the CDN shows Operational in the Quicq - CDNs overview, use Clear cache for that CDN and reload the page.

On an Afosto webshop, Quicq only handles images that have the image filter in the template. Quicq ignores images without the filter, so check the src or data-src of the image in Inspect. The steps are in Connect Quicq to an Afosto shop.

Want a different size, a square crop or a lower quality? Add parameters such as ?w=400 to the Quicq URL, as described in Edit images via the URL.