Hotlinked Images – Load time

  • Resolved filoumenos

    (@filoumenos)


    5 years, 8 months ago

    Sorry for this one, but I was just too curious…
    I am hotlinking images via wikipedia (an official hotlinking though)
    Anyways, when I am hotlinking an image are load times better than loading them from my own server?
    I am preparing a gigantic (really) article and the 90% of my images will be coming directly from wikipedia’s server.
    Please, I would love to hear your suggestions…
    Best regards,
    F.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    5 years, 8 months ago

    Load times will always be better from your own server, unless you’re speaking of an image-optimized CDN, because your site has to load first anyway.

    When you’re hotlinking images from someone else’s site, you’re risking a few things:

    1. The external images could be deleted, leaving you without images.

    2. Your site could be blocked from loading the images, leaving you without images.

    3. My personal favorite, your site could be marked to serve a replacement image, like porn or something generally distasteful or offensive.

    There is no such thing as “official hotlinking” from Wikipedia or any Wikimedia property, unless you have a legally binding agreement with the Wikimedia Foundation.

    When you hotlink someone else’s images, you are effectively stealing their content, their bandwidth, and their server resources. It is theft.

    Thread Starter filoumenos

    (@filoumenos)

    5 years, 8 months ago

    Hey @macmanx
    Thank you for your fast reply!
    I really hate to say that but indeed, there’s legal hotlinking though it is not recommended.
    FIY
    Thank you for mentioning the 3 reasons why it is advised NOT to hotlink to another website which, I must confess, I have red several times.
    But I would love to hear an answer beyond any ethical advises and answers to the eternal question: to HOTLINK or NOT to HOTLINK…
    So let me rephrase that: loading an image from an external server can improve load times? Lazy loading is helpful in situations like these?
    Thank you for your time,
    Best regards,
    F.

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by filoumenos.
    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    5 years, 8 months ago

    But I would love to hear an answer beyond any ethical advise

    You might have skimmed past the first line of my reply:

    Load times will always be better from your own server, unless you’re speaking of an image-optimized CDN, because your site has to load first anyway.

    Thread Starter filoumenos

    (@filoumenos)

    5 years, 8 months ago

    Ha,
    you ‘re right!
    Thank you very much 🙂

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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