CDN Embedding in Pics.io

We’re excited to launch our new CDN embedding feature. This functionality is designed to help you deliver media faster and more efficiently — especially when embedding content on websites or landing pages — the asset is automatically compressed and delivered from the nearest server, reducing latency and improving performance.

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) stores cached copies of your assets on servers located all over the world. When someone visits your site, files are downloaded from the nearest edge node. This significantly reduces load times and eases the load on your primary server.

With CDN, you no longer need a separate platform for content delivery, because everything is now handled inside Pics.io.

Pics.io’s CDN feature is designed to make external content delivery faster, simpler, and more efficient — without the need to rely on third-party services. By combining both storage and delivery in a single platform, you can reduce technical complexity and save costs, while maintaining full control over your assets.

One of the key advantages is performance. Instead of delivering full-size original files, CDN links serve compressed thumbnails optimized for web use. These lightweight versions load much faster, improving the user experience on your website or landing page and lowering bandwidth usage.

Another major benefit is link stability. Once you generate a CDN link for an asset, it stays the same — even if you upload new revisions. The system will always serve the most up-to-date version of the file automatically. This is especially useful for teams that frequently update banners, product photos, or other public-facing visuals. You won’t need to update the link on your site every time a change is made in Pics.io.

For teams focused on branding, you have the option to use a custom domain for all your CDN links. If your team has the Branding add-on, our support team can help you set up a domain that reflects your brand identity and keeps the URLs consistent with your company name.

Finally, CDN embedding brings cost efficiency. With storage and delivery handled within Pics.io, there’s no need to pay for and manage an external CDN service. This simplifies your tech stack and helps reduce operational expenses.

Together, these features make CDN a practical solution for any team looking to deliver visual content outside of Pics.io in a seamless and professional way.

To start using CDN links, open the asset preview and go to the Details panel. There, you’ll find the CDN section, where you can generate and copy a direct embedding link for the asset. You can also adjust the size of the embedded image by changing the parameters directly in the URL.

If you’re managing large volumes of files, you can select multiple supported assets, then use the “Export CSV” feature to generate a spreadsheet containing all the corresponding CDN links. During export, you can customize the output and choose to include only the direct links or any other fields you need.

If your selection includes unsupported formats, Pics.io will display a warning modal, allowing you to adjust your selection before proceeding.

We’ve now separated CDN delivery links (used for embedding) from sharing links (used for collaboration or downloads). CDN links are best for fast, lightweight content delivery, while sharing links are designed for internal or external collaboration, review, and access control.

If you’ve previously used Direct URLs for embedding, those links will continue to work without interruption — your content will remain accessible wherever it’s currently embedded. However, these legacy links are no longer visible or editable in the asset’s details panel within the Pics.io interface.

If you need to view or modify any of your previously published embedding links, please contact our support team, and we’ll be happy to enable access for your account. But please note that this option is available only for already published links.

Going forward, if you’d like to publish new assets using direct embedding links, your team will need to have the CDN add-on.

At the moment, CDN embedding in Pics.io supports only thumbnails of specific file formats and sizes. Thumbnails for CDN delivery are taken directly from your own storage (bucket) — specifically from the .thumbnails folder.

CDN delivery is available for the following file formats if the thumbnails are stored in your own bucket:
​Images – jpg, jpeg, png, bmp, svg, webp
​Videos – mp4, mov, m4v

For image formats (jpg, jpeg, png, bmp, svg, webp), there is a size limitation: if the file is larger than 45 MB, its thumbnail is stored in Pics.io’s system bucket instead of your own. Since CDN only works with files stored in the user’s bucket, such large files will not be served via CDN.

Video formats (mp4, mov, m4v) are not subject to this size limit, so their thumbnails can be delivered via CDN even if they exceed 45 MB. But the videos themselves are not delivered through the CDN.

Thumbnails for other formats, such as RAW files, are currently stored in Pics.io’s system bucket and therefore cannot be served through the CDN at this time.

The CDN feature is available starting from the Solo plan and is offered exclusively as a paid add-on ($100/mo). It is not included by default in any pricing tier.

We can offer a free trial so you can explore and test the CDN feature before deciding whether to add it to your subscription. If you’re interested in enabling CDN for your team, please contact our support team to learn more or request activation.

Every Pics.io team who has the CDN add-on gets 100 GB of CDN traffic per month for free. After you exceed this quota:

If your team embeds a lot of images on public-facing platforms, or if you’ve been managing both a storage platform and an external CDN service, this update will streamline your workflow, improve performance, and reduce costs. Most importantly, it makes it easier to manage and update visual content without having to swap out links every time a file changes.

Here's what some of our customers say about our new CDN feature:

We’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions as you start using the CDN embedding feature. Feel free to reach out to us via chat or at support@pics.io if you have questions or want to explore this feature further.