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    Hotlink Protection

    Prevent other sites from using your bandwidth

    Table of Contents

    What is Hotlinking?

    Hotlinking (also called inline linking) occurs when someone displays an image or file from your website on their website by directly linking to your file URL. This uses your bandwidth and server resources without your permission.

    Example of Hotlinking:

    <!-- Their website hotlinking your image -->
<img src="https://yourdomain.com/images/photo.jpg" />

    Why Enable Hotlink Protection?

    Save Bandwidth

    Prevent others from using your bandwidth allowance

    Reduce Costs

    Avoid overage charges from excessive bandwidth use

    Improve Performance

    Reduce load on your server

    Protect Content

    Control how your images and files are used

    Enabling Hotlink Protection in cPanel

    1Access Hotlink Protection

    1. Log in to your cPanel account
    2. Navigate to the "Security" section
    3. Click on "Hotlink Protection"

    2Configure Settings

    1. Click "Enable" button
    2. URLs to allow access: Enter domains that are allowed to link to your files
    3. Extensions: Specify file types to protect (e.g., jpg, jpeg, gif, png, bmp, pdf)
    4. Allow direct requests: Check this if you want people to view images by entering the URL directly
    5. Redirect URL: Optionally specify a URL to redirect hotlinkers to

    3Submit Configuration

    1. Review your settings
    2. Click "Submit"
    3. Protection is now active

    Configuration Examples

    Basic Protection

    Allowed Domains:

    yourdomain.com, www.yourdomain.com

    Protected Extensions:

    jpg, jpeg, gif, png, bmp, pdf

    Allow Direct Requests:

    Yes

    Advanced Protection with Redirect

    Allowed Domains:

    yourdomain.com, www.yourdomain.com, cdn.yourdomain.com

    Protected Extensions:

    jpg, jpeg, gif, png, svg, mp4, pdf, zip

    Redirect to:

    https://yourdomain.com/hotlink-warning.html

    Manual .htaccess Method

    Basic Protection:

    RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www\.)?yourdomain.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www\.)?google.com [NC]
RewriteRule \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|pdf)$ - [F,NC]

    With Image Replacement:

    RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www\.)?yourdomain.com [NC]
RewriteRule \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif)$ https://yourdomain.com/hotlink-image.jpg [R,NC]

    Allowing Specific Sites:

    RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www\.)?yourdomain.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www\.)?facebook.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www\.)?twitter.com [NC]
RewriteRule \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif)$ - [F,NC]

    Testing Hotlink Protection

    1. Create a simple HTML file on a different domain or use a test service
    2. Try to embed an image from your protected site
    3. If protection is working, the image won't display (or will show your redirect image)

    Common Issues and Solutions

    Images Not Showing on Your Own Site

    • • Make sure your domain is in the "allowed" list
    • • Include both www and non-www versions
    • • Check for HTTPS vs HTTP mismatches

    Social Media Previews Not Working

    • • Add social media domains to allowed list
    • • Consider allowing direct requests (no referrer)
    • • Some social networks use specific domains for crawling

    Email Embedded Images Not Working

    • • Check "Allow direct requests" option
    • • Many email clients don't send referrer headers

    Best Practices

    • •Always include your own domain in the allowed list
    • •Test thoroughly after enabling protection
    • •Consider allowing search engines and social media
    • •Monitor bandwidth usage to measure effectiveness
    • •Create a friendly redirect image explaining the protection
    • •Don't protect files that need to be publicly accessible (like RSS feeds)

    Disabling Hotlink Protection

    To disable hotlink protection:

    1. Go to Hotlink Protection in cPanel
    2. Click the "Disable" button
    3. Confirm the action

    Or remove the hotlink protection rules from your .htaccess file.