Free & reliable way to host your own images for Bitcointalk

[CONVOAI]

Bitcointalk does not host images. Users, therefore, rely on third-party image hosting providers. If, for some reason, those providers are shut down, old quality posts get broken.



GitHub can be used as a free self-hosted image server. We can easily host our images on GitHub. It gives direct image URLs that work with the Bitcointalk [img] tag. It is a well-known platform used by millions of developers to store and serve files reliably.

How to set it up: (Straightforward method)
1. Create an account on GitHub.
2. Create a new repository.
3. Choose visibility public.
4. Click on uploading an existing file.
5. Now choose your image.
6. Click the commit changes button.
7. Now click on your file.
8. Right-click on the image and open the image in a new tab, and then copy the URL and paste it on bitcointalk.

Improved setup: Using GitHub Pages (Recommended for long-term use)
GitHub Pages gives you cleaner, more stable URLs and is better for organizing many images or GIFs.

1. Go to your repository.
2. Click Settings.
3. Open Pages from the left sidebar.
4. Under Branch, select main, and select folder /root
5. Click Save.
6. GitHub will generate a Pages URL like: https://username.github.io/repository-name/image-name.png

Example:
https://convoai2024.github.io/bitcointalk-images/CONVOAI-LOGO.png

Explanation:
My URL: https://convoai2024.github.io
My Repository Name: bitcointalk-images
My Image Name: CONVOAI-LOGO.png

Why this works:
1. 100% free.
2. No ads, no hotlink blocking.
3. You control your images.
4. Very reliable for long-term posts.

Feedback and improvements are welcome.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

Good to learn something new every day. I had no idea this is possible with GitHub. However, it doesn't seem so straight forward for an everyday/average user
Most would still prefer to just upload on talkimg and other image hosting websites without having to create an account.

I tried to visit the link you posted, and it says that "There isn't a GitHub Pages site here". Why?

[LoyceV]

GitHub can be used as a free self-hosted image server.
~
4. Very reliable for long-term posts.

Imgur was also very reliable for a long time, until they stopped Bitcointalk's hotlinking. There's no guarantee Github won't do the same at some point.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

Bitcointalk does not host images. Users, therefore, rely on third-party image hosting providers. If, for some reason, those providers are shut down, old quality posts get broken.

It's actually nice to know that there is an alternative way to upload image on the forum with GitHub, but one thing I will like to ask is that is this method mobile friendly? And is it easy to use? Because with the current image hosting site popularly been used today on this forum (i.e Talking.com) and owned by Joker_josue who happens to be a reputable member of this forum has always been easy to use and user friendly, of which if a competitor image hosting site is to exist, it has to offer far more benefits than the current ones. Because we just got one launched on the forum few days ago by "zororaka" who is also a member of this forum and the name of his site is "ImgPeak".

However, I will be giving this a try with my mobile device and give you an update before the week ends.

Imgur was also very reliable for a long time, until they stopped Bitcointalk's hotlinking. There's no guarantee Github won't do the same at some point.

You have got a point, most especially when they start seeing a high traffic coming from the Bitcointalk community. And as members of this forum, the worst decision we can do is repeating the same mistake twice.

[Mia Chloe]

~snip

Thumbs up op but I don't think I'll fancy going through all these processes just to upload an image that I can do within les than 2 mins max with talk IMG. Well before now I wasn't sure this was actually possible however thanks to you for proving it is. There are countless image hosting sites out there but I prefer talkiMG still.

Only function I'm still hoping on is for talk IMG to bring back their image optimization too to reduce oversized images before an actual upload.

[Lida93]

~snip

Thumbs up op but I don't think I'll fancy going through all these processes just to upload an image that I can do within les than 2 mins max with talk IMG. Well before now I wasn't sure this was actually possible however thanks to you for proving it is. There are countless image hosting sites out there but I prefer talkiMG still.

Thumbs up indeed, it's something worth giving accolade to, except that for those of us who have being using TalkImg which has being working perfectly for us without much procedures to upload image like what the OP has provided, it's just improbable that members would give much attention.

And the skeptism of the span of time GitHub will continue function with the forum is another thing just as Imgur did.

[Ivystar5]

GitHub can be used as a free self-hosted image server.
~
4. Very reliable for long-term posts.

Imgur was also very reliable for a long time, until they stopped Bitcointalk's hotlinking. There's no guarantee Github won't do the same at some point.

Right! that is basically the reason Talkimg was introduced since there is no guarantee that any other platform wouldn't stop at some point in Bitcointalk hotlinking, I think I will stick with what's already existing.

Thumbs up op but I don't think I'll fancy going through all these processes just to upload an image that I can do within les than 2 mins max with talk IMG. Well before now I wasn't sure this was actually possible however thanks to you for proving it is. There are countless image hosting sites out there but I prefer talkiMG still.

A very long process just to end up uploading the image, I think Talkimg made it simpler and I will prefer that than  all that long process even though wanting to host an image myself will be interesting yet I see no need for someone who is just trying to make clarifications with image.

[CONVOAI]

Good to learn something new every day. I had no idea this is possible with GitHub. However, it doesn't seem so straight forward for an everyday/average user
Most would still prefer to just upload on talkimg and other image hosting websites without having to create an account.

I tried to visit the link you posted, and it says that "There isn't a GitHub Pages site here". Why?

Kindly tell me which link you visited? Here I have given 3 links.

This is an example of the link format:
https://username.github.io/repository-name/image-name.png

This is the link to the actual image:
https://convoai2024.github.io/bitcointalk-images/CONVOAI-LOGO.png

My URL: https://convoai2024.github.io
After setting up the GitHub page, it will give you a unique link for your profile. It shows a 404 error because there is no index.html file. Since I am using it only for image hosting, I will add my repository name and the image file name to this link to get a direct link to the image.

Example of full URL:
https://convoai2024.github.io/bitcointalk-images/CONVOAI-LOGO.png

URL Breakdown:

This is my URL
https://convoai2024.github.io

My Repository Name:
bitcointalk-images

My Image Name:
CONVOAI-LOGO.png