Upload API reference

The Upload API is a rate-unlimited RESTful API that enables you to upload your media assets (resources) and provides a wide range of functionality, including basic and advanced asset management, metadata management, and asset generation.

Cloudinary's backend SDKs wrap these REST APIs, handle authentication, and enable you to perform these methods using your preferred programming language or framework. This reference provides both SDK and REST/cURL syntax and examples for each endpoint method.

Overview

By default, the API endpoints use the following format:

https://api.cloudinary.com/v1_1/:cloud_name/:action

For example, to upload an image asset to the demo product environment:

Your Cloudinary Cloud name and API Key (which can be found on the API Keys page of the Cloudinary Console Settings) are used for the authentication.

All the methods in this API also require a signature, for which you need your API Secret, to authenticate the request on the Cloudinary servers. The Cloudinary SDKs automatically generate this signature for you, so you only need to add it when using the REST API calls directly to the endpoint. For more details on how to manually generate a signature, see the Generating authentication signatures documentation.

You can upload an image on your own Cloudinary product environment by replacing the CLOUD_NAME, FILE, TIMESTAMP, API_KEY, and SIGNATURE in the cURL command below:

Responses to API calls include information about the action that was performed as well as data about the relevant assets.

After you upload files, you can use the Cloudinary Admin API, which has useful methods for managing and organizing your media assets, such as listing all uploaded assets, listing tags, finding all assets that share a given tag, updating transformations, bulk deleting, and more.

Using Postman for Upload REST API calls

Take advantage of our Cloudinary Postman Collections to experiment with our REST APIs and view the responses before adding them to your own code.

For details on setting up your own fork of our collections and configuring your Postman environment with your Cloudinary product environment credentials, see Using Cloudinary Postman collections.

Using SDKs with the Upload API

Our backend SDK libraries provide a wrapper for the Upload API, enabling you to use your native programming language of choice. When using an SDK, request building and authentication are handled automatically, and the JSON response is parsed and returned.

For example, you can use the following SDK command to create an image asset saved to your Cloudinary product environment from a string passed as a parameter:

Using the CLI to access the Upload API

You can use the Cloudinary CLI (Command Line Interface) to interact with the Upload API. This can provide an easy way to add automation to your workflows and manage your assets without the need for a formal coding environment or having to access your Cloudinary Console.

You can find instructions for setting up and using the CLI in the CLI reference.

Error handling

The Admin API returns the status of requests using HTTP status codes:

200: OK | Success.
400: Bad request.
401: Authorization required.
403: Not allowed.
404: Not found.
409: Already exists.

The SDKs report errors by raising applicative exceptions. Additionally, an informative JSON message is returned. For example:

EU or AP data centers and endpoints (premium feature)

By default, Cloudinary accounts use US-based data centers. In these cases, the endpoint format is as shown at the beginning of this Overview.

If the majority of your users are located in Europe or Asia, Cloudinary can set up your account to use our Europe (EU) or Asia Pacific (AP) data center. In that case, your endpoints will take the form:

https://api-eu.cloudinary.com/v1_1/:cloud_name/:action

OR

https://api-ap.cloudinary.com/v1_1/:cloud_name/:action

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Asset management

Enables you to perform basic and advanced management tasks on your assets.

Method	Description
POST/:resource_type/upload	Uploads an asset to a Cloudinary product environment.
POST/:resource_type/explicit	Applies actions to existing assets.
POST/:resource_type/rename	Renames an asset.
POST/:resource_type/destroy	Destroys an asset.
GET/download_backup	Gets a specific version of a backed-up asset.

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upload

The upload method is used to upload assets to the cloud.

For additional information and examples, see the Upload guide. The Cloudinary SDKs wrap the upload method and offer two separate methods: one for signed uploading and one for unsigned uploading.

Signed upload syntax

POST /:resource_type/upload

Unsigned upload syntax

POST /:resource_type/upload

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
file	String	The file to upload. It can be: a local file path (supported in SDKs only) the remote HTTP or HTTPS URL address of an existing file a private storage bucket (S3 or Google Storage) URL of a whitelisted bucket the actual data (byte array buffer). For example, in some SDKs, this could be an IO input stream of the data (e.g., File.open(file, "rb")). the Data URI (Base64 encoded), max ~60 MB (62,910,000 chars) the FTP address of an existing file For details and examples, see: file source options.
upload_preset	String	(Required for unsigned uploading / optional for signed uploading) Name of an upload preset that you defined for your Cloudinary product environment. An upload preset consists of upload parameters centrally managed using the Admin API or from the Upload page of the Console Settings. An upload preset may be marked as unsigned, which allows unsigned uploading directly from the browser and restricts the optional parameters to: public_id, folder, tags, context, face_coordinates, regions and custom_coordinates.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
Naming and storage:
public_id	String	The identifier that's used for accessing and delivering the uploaded asset. If not specified, then the public ID of the asset will either be comprised of random characters or will use the original file's filename, depending whether use_filename was set to true. Notes: The public ID value for images and videos should not include a file extension. Include the file extension for raw files only. Can be up to 255 characters, including non-English characters, periods (.), forward slashes (/), underscores (_), hyphens (-). Public ID values cannot begin or end with a space or forward slash (/). Additionally, they cannot include the following characters: ? & # \ % < > +
public_id_prefix	String	A string or path that's automatically prepended to the public_id with a forward slash. The value can contain the same characters as the public_id including additional forward slashes. This prefix can be useful to provide context and improve the SEO of an asset's filename in the delivery URL, but the value does not impact the location where the asset is stored. Not relevant for product environments using the legacy fixed folder mode.
display_name	String	A user-friendly name for the asset. Default: Same value as the public_id (or the last segment of the public ID if the public ID includes slashes). Display names can have spaces and special characters, but can't include forward slashes (/). This name can be completely different than the asset's public id and its value doesn't impact the delivery URL in any way. The display name is shown in user interface pages such as the Console Media Explorer, Cloudinary collections, and Cloudinary media portals. Though not a best practice, it's possible for the same display name to be used for different assets, even in the same asset folder. Not relevant for product environments using the legacy fixed folder mode.
asset_folder	String	The folder where the asset is placed within the Cloudinary repository. This value does not impact the asset’s public ID path (unless the use_asset_folder_as_public_id_prefix option is applied). Default: If not specified, the uploaded asset will be located in the root of your product environment asset repository, even if the public ID value includes slashes. Not relevant for product environments using the legacy fixed folder mode.
use_asset_folder_as_public_id_prefix	Boolean	Whether to add the asset_folder value as a prefix to the public_id value (prepended with a forward slash). This ensures that the public ID path will always match the initial asset folder, and can help to retain the behavior that previously existed in fixed folder mode. However, keep in mind that even when this option is used during upload, an asset with a certain public ID path can later be moved to a completely different asset folder hierarchy without impacting the public ID. This option only ensures path matching for the initial upload. Relevant only when public_id_prefix (or folder) has not been separately specified. Default: false Not relevant for product environments using the legacy fixed folder mode.
folder	String	Only relevant for product environments using the legacy fixed folder mode. Defines both the full path of the folder where the uploaded asset will be placed and also a path value that's prepended to public_id value with a forward slash. Default: root folder. Note: If Dynamic folders mode is enabled on your product environment, this parameter is deprecated, and it's recommended to use the asset_folder parameter to control where the asset will be placed. If you also want your public_id to match the initial asset folder path, include the use_asset_folder_as_public_id_prefixparameter.
use_filename	Boolean	Whether to use the original file name of the uploaded file as the public_id. Relevant only if the public_id parameter isn't set. When false and the public_id parameter is also not defined, the public ID will be comprised of random characters. When true and the public_id parameter is not defined, the uploaded file's original filename becomes the public ID. Random characters are appended to the filename value to ensure public ID uniqueness if unique_filename is true. If the filename of the asset you upload contains a character that's not supported for public IDs, preceding/trailing occurrences are trimmed off, while illegal characters anywhere else in the filename are replaced with underscores. Default: false.
use_filename_as_display_name	Boolean	Whether to automatically assign the original filename of the uploaded asset as the asset's display name. Relevant only if the display_name parameter isn't set. Note: If you set use_filename_as_display_name to true (in the upload call or upload preset) and the original filename of the asset includes forward slashes, the upload will fail with an error that the display name can't include slashes. Default: false. Not relevant for product environments using the legacy fixed folder mode.
unique_filename	Boolean	When set to false, does not add random characters at the end of the filename that guarantee its uniqueness. Note that if the overwrite parameter is also false, the public ID will be comprised of random characters. This parameter is relevant only if use_filename is also set to true. Default: true.
filename_override	String	Sets the 'original-filename' metadata header stored on the asset (instead of using the actual filename of the uploaded file). Useful together with the use_filename parameter and for advanced search by filename, and relevant when delivering assets as attachments (setting the flag transformation parameter to attachment).
resource_type	String	Set the type of file you are uploading or use auto to automatically detect the file type. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the resource_type is included in the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Valid values: image, raw, video and auto. Defaults: image for server-side uploading (with the exception of the Go SDK which defaults to auto) and auto for client-side uploading. Note: Use the video resource type for all video assets as well as for audio files, such as .mp3.
type	String	The delivery type. Allows uploading assets as private or authenticated instead of the default upload mode. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the delivery type value is part of the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Valid values: upload, private and authenticated. Default: upload.
access_control	JSON	Restrict access to the asset by passing an array of access types for the asset. The asset is restricted unless one of the access types is valid. Possible values for each access type: - token requires either Token-based access or Cookie-based access for accessing the asset. For example: access_type: "token" - anonymous allows public access to the asset. The anonymous access type can optionally include start and/or end dates (in ISO 8601 format) that define when the asset is publicly available. Note that you can only include a single 'anonymous' access type. For example: access_type: "anonymous", start: "2017-12-15T12:00Z", end: "2018-01-20T12:00Z"
access_mode	String	Allows the asset to behave as if it's of the authenticated 'type' (see above) while still using the default 'upload' type in delivery URLs. The asset can later be made public by changing its access_mode via the Admin API, without having to update any delivery URLs. Valid values: public, and authenticated. Default: public.
discard_original_filename	Boolean	Whether to discard the name of the original uploaded file. Relevant when delivering assets as attachments (setting the flag transformation parameter to attachment). Default: false.
overwrite	Boolean	Whether to overwrite existing assets with the same public ID. When set to false, a response is returned immediately if an asset with the same public ID was found. When overwriting assets, if you include versions in your delivery URLs, you will need to update the URLs with the new version number to deliver the new asset. If you don't include versions, you will need to invalidate the old assets on the CDN server cache. Default: true (when using unsigned upload, the default is false and cannot be changed to true). Important: Depending on your product environment setup, overwriting an asset may clear the tags, contextual, and structured metadata values for that asset. If you have a Master admin role, you can change this behavior for your product environment in the Media Library Preferences pane, so that these field values are retained when new version assets overwrite older ones (unless you specify different values for the tags, context, or metadata parameters as part of your upload).
Resource data:
tags	String	A comma-separated list of tag names to assign to the uploaded asset for later group reference. For example: animal,dogSDKs: Supports arrays. For example: ['animal', 'dog']
context	String	A pipe-separated list of the key-value pairs of contextual metadata to attach to an uploaded asset. The context values of uploaded files can be retrieved using the Admin API. For example: alt=My image|caption=Profile image Notes: The = and | characters can be supported as values when escaped with a prepended backslash (\). Key values are limited to 1024 characters and an asset can have a maximum of 1000 context key-value pairs. SDKs: Supports maps. For example: ['alt': 'My image', 'caption': 'Profile image']
metadata	String	A pipe-separated list of custom metadata fields (by external_id) and the values to assign to each of them. For example: in_stock_id=50|color_id=[\"green\",\"red\"]. SDKs: Supports maps. Notes: The =, " and | characters can be supported as values when escaped with a prepended backslash (\). For a multi-select field, you can set a maximum of 3000 different metadata values on an asset.
clear_invalid	Boolean	(Relevant for cascading metadata, and assets with multiple metadata fields) When updating the value of a metadata field results in another metadata field’s value becoming invalid, that invalid value is cleared instead of resulting in an error. Default: false.
colors	Boolean	Whether to retrieve predominant colors & color histogram of the uploaded image. Note:If all returned colors are opaque, then 6-digit RGB hex values are returned. If one or more colors contain an alpha channel, then 8-digit RGBA hex quadruplet values are returned. Default: false. Relevant for images only.
faces	Boolean	Whether to return the coordinates of faces contained in an uploaded image (automatically detected or manually defined). Each face is specified by the X & Y coordinates of the top left corner and the width & height of the face. The coordinates for each face are returned as an array (using the SDKs) or a comma-separated list (for REST API calls), and individual faces are separated with a pipe (|). For example: 10,20,150,130|213,345,82,61. Default: false. Relevant for images only.
quality_analysis	Boolean	Whether to return a quality analysis value for the image between 0 and 1, where 0 means the image is blurry and out of focus and 1 means the image is sharp and in focus. Default: false. Relevant for images only. Paid customers can request to take part in the extended quality analysis Beta trial. When activated, this parameter returns quality scores for various other factors in addition to focus, such as jpeg_quality, noise, exposure, lighting and resolution, together with an overall weighted quality_score. The quality_score, quality_analysis.color_score and quality_analysis.pixel_score fields can be used in the Search API.
accessibility_analysis	Boolean	Currently available only to paid customers requesting to take part in the accessibility analysis Beta trial. Set to true to return accessibility analysis values for the image and to enable the accessibility_analysis.colorblind_accessibility_score field to be used in the Search API. Default: false. Relevant for images only.
cinemagraph_analysis	Boolean	Whether to return a cinemagraph analysis value for the media asset between 0 and 1, where 0 means the asset is not a cinemagraph and 1 means the asset is a cinemagraph. Default: false. Relevant for animated images and video only. A static image will return 0.
image_metadata	Boolean	Deprecated. Use media_metadata instead. Default: false.
media_metadata	Boolean	Whether to return IPTC, XMP, and detailed Exif metadata of the uploaded asset in the response. Default: false. Supported for images, video, and audio. Returned metadata for images includes: PixelsPerUnitX, PixelsPerUnitY, PixelUnits, Colorspace, and DPI. Returned metadata for audio and video includes: audio_codec, audio_bit_rate, audio_frequency, channels, channel_layout. Additional metadata for video includes: pix_format, codec, level, profile, video_bit_rate, dar. (In .NET SDK, parameter name is Metadata.)
phash	Boolean	Whether to return the perceptual hash (pHash) on the uploaded image. The pHash acts as a fingerprint that allows checking image similarity. Default: false. Relevant for images only.
responsive_breakpoints	[JSON]	Requests that Cloudinary automatically find the best breakpoints. The parameter value is an array of breakpoint request settings, where each request setting can include the following parameters: create_derived(Boolean - Required) If true, create and keep the derived images of the selected breakpoints during the API call. If false, images generated during the analysis process are thrown away. format (String - Optional) Sets the file extension of the derived assets to the format indicated (as opposed to changing the format as part of a transformation - which would be included as part of the transformation component (e.g., f_jpg)). transformation (String - Optional) The base transformation to first apply to the image before finding the best breakpoints. The API accepts a string representation of a chained transformation (same as the regular transformation parameter of the upload API). max_width (Integer - Optional) The maximum width needed for this image. If specifying a width bigger than the original image, the width of the original image is used instead. Default: 1000. min_width (Integer - Optional) The minimum width needed for this image. Default: 50. bytes_step (Integer - Optional) The minimum number of bytes between two consecutive breakpoints (images). Default: 20000. max_images (Integer - Optional) The maximum number of breakpoints to find, between 3 and 200. This means that there might be size differences bigger than the given bytes_step value between consecutive images. Default: 20. The return response will include an array of the selected breakpoints for each breakpoint request, where the following information is given for each breakpoint: transformation, width, height, bytes, url and secure_url. Relevant for images only.
auto_tagging	Decimal	Automatically assigns tags to an asset according to detected objects or categories with a confidence score higher than the specified value. Use together with the detection parameter for: Cloudinary AI Content Analysis Amazon Rekognition Celebrity Detection Use together with the categorization parameter for: Google Automatic Video Tagging Google Auto Tagging Imagga Auto Tagging Amazon Rekognition Auto Tagging Range: 0.0 to 1.0
categorization	String	A comma-separated list of the categorization add-ons to run on the asset. Set to google_tagging, google_video_tagging, imagga_tagging and/or aws_rek_tagging to automatically classify the scenes of the uploaded asset. Can be used together with the auto_tagging parameter to apply tags automatically. See the Google Automatic Video Tagging, Google Auto Tagging, Imagga Auto Tagging and Amazon Rekognition Auto Tagging add-ons for more details.
detection	String	Invokes the relevant add-on to return a list of detected content. Set to: <content-aware model>_[<version>] (e.g. coco_v2) to return a list of detected content using the Cloudinary AI Content Analysis add-on. Can be used together with the auto_tagging parameter to apply tags automatically. captioning to analyze an image and suggest a caption based on the image's contents. iqa to analyze the quality of an image. adv_face to return a list of facial attributes using the Advanced Facial Attribute Detection add-on. aws_rek_face to return a list of detected celebrities and facial attributes using the Amazon Rekognition Celebrity Detection add-on. Can be used together with the auto_tagging parameter to apply tags automatically. Relevant for images only.
auto_chaptering	Boolean	Whether to trigger automatic generation of video chapters. Chapters will be generated and saved as a .vtt file with -chapters appended to the public ID of the video. You can enable chapters as part of the Cloudinary Video Player. Default: false. Relevant for videos only.
auto_transcription	Boolean	Whether to trigger automatic video transcription. The transcript will be generated and saved as a .transcript file with the same public ID as the video. You can use your transcript file to show subtitles or captions using the Cloudinary Video Player. Default: false. Relevant for videos only.
ocr	String	Set to adv_ocr to extract all text elements in an image as well as the bounding box coordinates of each detected element using the OCR text detection and extraction add-on. Relevant for images only.
visual_search	Boolean	Whether to index the image for use with visual searches. Default: false. Relevant for images only.
exif	Boolean	Whether to retrieve the Exif metadata of the uploaded photo. Default: false. Deprecated - use media_metadata instead
Manipulations:
eager	String	A list of transformations to create for the uploaded asset, instead of lazily creating them when first accessed by your site's visitors (see the Transformation URL API Reference for more details on possible values). This option accepts either a single transformation or a pipe-separated list of transformations to create for the uploaded asset. SDKs: Supports arrays. (In .NET SDK, parameter name is EagerTransforms.)
eager_async	Boolean	Whether to generate the eager transformations asynchronously in the background after the upload request is completed rather than online as part of the upload call. Default: false.
eager_notification_url	String	An HTTP or HTTPS URL to send a notification to (a webhook) when the generation of eager transformations is completed.
transformation	String	An incoming transformation to run on the uploaded asset before saving it in the cloud. This parameter is given as a string of comma-separated single characters (separated with a slash for chained transformations).SDKs: Supports a hash of transformation parameters (or an array of hashes for chained transformations). Note: When using the SDK for a dynamically-typed language such as Ruby, the transformation parameters can be specified directly without using this transformation parameter.
format	String	An optional format to convert the uploaded asset to before saving in the cloud. For example: jpg.
custom_coordinates	String	The coordinates of a region contained in the image being uploaded that can be subsequently used for cropping or adding layers using the custom gravity mode. The region is specified by the X & Y coordinates of the top left corner and the width & height of the region, as a comma-separated list. For example: 85,120,220,310. Relevant for images only. SDKs: Supports arrays. For example: [85, 120, 220, 310].
regions	JSON	The coordinates of one or more named regions contained in the image being uploaded that can be subsequently used for cropping using the region gravity mode. Each region is specified by a name (alphanumeric characters and hyphens permitted) and an array of at least two X,Y coordinate pairs, e.g., { "name1": [[1, 2], [3, 4]], "name2": [[5,6], [7,8], [9,10]] }. If two pairs are specified, these refer to the top left and bottom right coordinates of a rectangle. Otherwise, if more pairs are specified, they refer to the corners of a custom region. Relevant for images only.
face_coordinates	String	The coordinates of faces contained in an uploaded image to override the automatically detected faces. Each face is specified by the X & Y coordinates of the top left corner and the width & height of the face. The coordinates for each face are given as a comma-separated list, with individual faces separated with a pipe (|)). For example: 10,20,150,130|213,345,82,61. Relevant for images only. SDKs: Supports arrays. For example: [[10, 20, 150, 130],[213, 345, 82, 61]].
background_removal	String	Automatically remove the background of an image using an add-on. Set to cloudinary_ai to use the deep-learning based Cloudinary AI Background Removal add-on. Note: this feature has been superseded by background removal on the fly. Set to pixelz to use the human-powered Pixelz Remove-The-Background Editing add-on service. Relevant for images only. (Asynchronous)
raw_convert	String	Generates a related file based on the uploaded file. Set to aspose to automatically create a PDF or other image format from a raw Office document using the Aspose Document Conversion add-on. Set to google_speech to instruct the Google AI Video Transcription add-on to generate an automatic transcript raw file from an uploaded video. Set to extract_text to extract all the text from a PDF file and store it in a raw file. The public ID of the generated raw file will be in the format: [pdf_public_id].extract_text.json. (Asynchronous)
Additional options:
allowed_formats	String	A comma-separated list of file formats that are allowed for uploading. Files of other types will be rejected. The formats can be any combination of image types, video formats or raw file extensions. For example: mp4,ogv,jpg,png,pdf. Default: any supported format for images and videos, and any kind of raw file (i.e. no restrictions by default). SDKs: Supports arrays. For example: [mp4, ogv, jpg, png, pdf] Note: You can also add the format parameter to convert other file types instead of rejecting them. In this case, only files that would normally be rejected are converted, any file format allowed for upload wont be converted.
async	Boolean	Tells Cloudinary whether to perform the upload request in the background (asynchronously). Default: false. Note: In the Python SDK, this parameter is passed as a dictionary: **{"async": True}
backup	Boolean	Tell Cloudinary whether to back up the uploaded asset. Overrides the default backup settings of your product environment.
callback	String	A URL to redirect to after the upload is completed instead of returning the upload response. Signed upload result parameters are added to the callback URL. This parameter is ignored for XHR (Ajax XMLHttpRequest) or JavaScript Fetch API upload requests. Note: This parameter is relevant for direct uploads from a form in the browser. It is automatically set if you perform direct upload from the browser using Cloudinary's SDKs and the jQuery plugin.
eval	String	Allows you to modify upload parameters by specifying custom logic with JavaScript. This can be useful for conditionally adding tags, contextual metadata, structured metadata or eager transformations depending on specific criteria of the uploaded file. For more details see Evaluating and modifying upload parameters.
on_success	String	Allows you to update an asset by specifying custom logic with JavaScript that is executed after the upload to Cloudinary is completed successfully. This can be useful for conditionally adding tags, contextual metadata, and structured metadata, depending on the results of using the detection parameter on upload. For more details see On Success update script.
headers	String	An HTTP header or a list of headers lines for adding as response HTTP headers when delivering the asset to your users. Supported headers: Link, Authorization, X-Robots-Tag. For example: X-Robots-Tag: noindex.
invalidate	Boolean	Whether to invalidate CDN cached copies of a previously uploaded asset (and all transformed versions that share the same public ID). Default: false. It usually takes between a few seconds and a few minutes for the invalidation to fully propagate through the CDN. There are also a number of other important considerations when using the invalidate functionality.
moderation	String	For all asset types, set to: manual to add the uploaded asset to a list of pending assets that can be moderated using the Admin API or the Cloudinary Console. perception_point to automatically moderate the uploaded asset using the Perception Point Malware Detection add-on. For images only, set to: webpurify to automatically moderate the uploaded image using the WebPurify Image Moderation add-on. aws_rek to automatically moderate the uploaded image using the Amazon Rekognition AI Moderation add-on. duplicate:<threshold> to detect if the same or a similar image already exists using the Cloudinary Duplicate Image Detection add-on. Set threshold to a float greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1.0 to specify how similar an image needs to be in order to be considered a duplicate. Set threshold to 0 to add an image to the index of images that are searched when duplicate detection is invoked for another image. For videos only, set to: aws_rek_video to automatically moderate the uploaded video using the Amazon Rekognition Video Moderation add-on. google_video_moderation automatically moderate the uploaded video using the Google AI Video Moderation add-on. To request multiple moderations in a single API call: Send the desired list of moderations as a pipe-separated string with manual moderation, if relevant, being last. For example: aws_rek|duplicate:0|perception_point|manual Note: Rejected assets are automatically invalidated on the CDN within approximately ten minutes. (Asynchronous)
notification_url	String	An HTTP or HTTPS URL to receive the upload response (a webhook) when the upload or any requested asynchronous action is completed. If not specified, the response is sent to the Notification URL (if defined) in the Webhook Notifications settings of your Cloudinary Console.
proxy	String	Tells Cloudinary to upload assets from remote URLs through the given proxy. Format: https://hostname:port.
return_delete_token	Boolean	Whether to return a deletion token in the upload response. The token can be used to delete the uploaded asset within 10 minutes using an unauthenticated API request. Default: false.
timeout	Integer	(SDKs only) Add this parameter to override the maximum amount of time to wait for a response from Cloudinary before the connection is terminated.

Unsigned upload parameters

Unsigned requests are restricted to the following allowed parameters: public_id, folder, callback, tags, context, face_coordinates (images only), custom_coordinates (images only), regions (images only) and upload_preset. Most of the other upload parameters can be defined in your upload_preset.

Additionally, although the public_id parameter can be specified, the overwrite parameter is always set to 'false' for unsigned uploads to prevent overwriting existing files.

Examples

To upload an image by specifying the local path /home/sample.jpg:

To upload an image from a remote url: https://www.example.com/sample.jpg and request Cloudinary to find the best breakpoints based on the following guidelines: a minimum width of 200 pixels, a maximum width of 1000 pixels, at least 20000 bytes file size difference between the breakpoints, while keeping the generated derived images:

To upload an image from a remote FTP private server ftp://ftp.example.com/sample.jpg with a username of user1 and a password of mypass. Two transformed images are also eagerly generated as follows:

1. Pad to a width of 400 pixels and height of 300 pixels.
2. Crop to a width of 260 pixels and a height of 200 pixels with north gravity.

Sample response

The following is a sample response based on the example upload of sample.jpg with two eager transformations and a request for detailed metadata (media_metadata = true). Because no public_id was specified in the upload, a random public_id was assigned.

---

explicit

The explicit method is used to apply actions to existing assets. The most common usage of this method is to eagerly generate transformations for assets that have already been uploaded, either so that they do not need to be generated on the fly when first accessed by users, or because Strict transformations are enabled for your product environment and you cannot create transformed assets on the fly. You can also use this method to pre-generate transformations for remotely fetched assets.

For more information, see Updating existing assets.

Syntax

POST /:resource_type/explicit

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
public_id	String	The identifier of the uploaded asset or the URL of the remote asset. Note: The public ID value for images and videos should not include a file extension. Include the file extension for raw files only.
type	String	The delivery type of the asset. For a list of all possible delivery types, see Delivery types.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
resource_type	String	The type of asset. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the resource_type is included in the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Valid values: image, raw, and video. Default: image. Note: Use the video resource type for all video assets as well as for audio files, such as .mp3.
display_name	String	A user-friendly name for the asset. Display names can have spaces and special characters, but can't include forward slashes (/). This name can be completely different than the asset's public id and its value doesn't impact the delivery URL in any way. The display name is shown in user interface pages such as the Console Media Explorer, Cloudinary collections, and Cloudinary media portals. Though not a best practice, it's possible for the same display name to be used for different assets, even in the same asset folder. Not relevant for product environments using the legacy fixed folder mode.
asset_folder	String	The folder where the asset is placed within the Cloudinary repository. Setting this value in an explicit method moves the asset to the specified asset folder, but does not impact the asset’s public ID path. Not relevant for product environments using the legacy fixed folder mode.
eager	String	A list of transformations to create for the uploaded asset, instead of lazily creating them when first accessed by your site's visitors (see the Transformation URL API Reference for more details on possible values). This option accepts either a single transformation or a pipe-separated list of transformations to create for the uploaded asset. SDKs: Supports arrays. (In .NET SDK, parameter name is EagerTransforms.)
async	Boolean	Whether to perform the request in the background (asynchronously). Default: false.
eager_async	Boolean	Determines whether to generate the eager transformations asynchronously in the background. Default: false.
eager_notification_url	String	An HTTP or HTTPS URL to notify your application (a webhook) when the generation of eager transformations is completed.
overwrite	Boolean	When applying eager for already existing video transformations, this setting indicates whether to force the existing derived video resources to be regenerated. Default for videos: false. Note: When specifying existing eager transformations for images, corresponding derived images are always regenerated.
tags	String	A comma-separated list of tag names to assign to an asset that replaces any current tags assigned to the asset (if any). For example: animal,dogSDKs: Supports arrays. For example: ['animal', 'dog']
invalidate	Boolean	Whether to invalidate the asset (and all its derived assets) on the CDN. Default: false. It usually takes between a few seconds and a few minutes for the invalidation to fully propagate through the CDN. There are also a number of other important considerations when using the invalidate functionality.
context	String	A pipe-separated list of the key-value pairs of contextual metadata to attach to an uploaded asset. The context values of uploaded files can be retrieved using the Admin API. For example: alt=My image|caption=Profile image Notes: The = and | characters can be supported as values when escaped with a prepended backslash (\). Key values are limited to 1024 characters and an asset can have a maximum of 1000 context key-value pairs. SDKs: Supports maps. For example: ['alt': 'My image', 'caption': 'Profile image']
metadata	String	A pipe-separated list of custom metadata fields (by external_id) and the values to assign to each of them. For example: in_stock_id=50|color_id=[\"green\",\"red\"]. SDKs: Supports maps. Notes: The =, " and | characters can be supported as values when escaped with a prepended backslash (\). For a multi-select field, you can set a maximum of 3000 different metadata values on an asset.
headers	String	An HTTP header or a list of headers lines for returning as response HTTP headers when delivering the uploaded asset to your users. Supported headers: Link, X-Robots-Tag. For example: X-Robots-Tag: noindex.
face_coordinates	String	The coordinates of faces contained in an uploaded image to override the automatically detected faces. Each face is specified by the X & Y coordinates of the top left corner and the width & height of the face. The coordinates for each face are given as a comma-separated list, with individual faces separated with a pipe (|). For example: 10,20,150,130|213,345,82,61. Relevant for images only. SDKs: Supports arrays. For example: [[10, 20, 150, 130],[213, 345, 82, 61]].
custom_coordinates	String	The coordinates of a region contained in an uploaded image that can be subsequently used for cropping or adding layers using the custom gravity mode. The region is specified by the X & Y coordinates of the top left corner and the width & height of the region, as a comma-separated list. For example: 85,120,220,310. Relevant for images only. SDKs: Supports arrays. For example: [85, 120, 220, 310].
regions	JSON	The coordinates of one or more named regions contained in an uploaded image that can be subsequently used for cropping using the region gravity mode. Each region is specified by a name (alphanumeric characters and hyphens permitted) and an array of at least two X,Y coordinate pairs, e.g., { "name1": [[1, 2], [3, 4]], "name2": [[5,6], [7,8], [9,10]] }. If two pairs are specified, these refer to the top left and bottom right coordinates of a rectangle. Otherwise, if more pairs are specified, they refer to the corners of a custom region. Relevant for images only.
notification_url	String	An HTTP or HTTPS URL to send the notification to (a webhook) when the operation or any additional requested asynchronous action is completed. If not specified, the response is sent to the Notification URL (if defined) in the Webhook Notifications settings of your Cloudinary Console.
image_metadata	Boolean	Deprecated. Use media_metadata instead. Default: false.
media_metadata	Boolean	Whether to return IPTC, XMP, and detailed Exif metadata of the uploaded asset in the response. Default: false. Supported for images, video, and audio. Returned metadata for images includes: PixelsPerUnitX, PixelsPerUnitY, PixelUnits, Colorspace, and DPI. Returned metadata for audio and video includes: audio_codec, audio_bit_rate, audio_frequency, channels, channel_layout. Additional metadata for video includes: pix_format, codec, level, profile, video_bit_rate, dar. (In .NET SDK, parameter name is Metadata.)
colors	Boolean	Whether to retrieve predominant colors & color histogram of the uploaded image. If one or more colors contain an alpha channel, then 8-digit RGBA hex quadruplet values are returned. Default: false. Relevant for images only.
phash	Boolean	Whether to return the perceptual hash (pHash) on the uploaded image. The pHash acts as a fingerprint that allows checking image similarity. Default: false. Relevant for images only.
faces	Boolean	Whether to return the coordinates of faces contained in an uploaded image (automatically detected or manually defined). Each face is specified by the X & Y coordinates of the top left corner and the width & height of the face. The coordinates for each face are returned as an array (using the SDKs) or a comma-separated list (for REST API calls), and individual faces are separated with a pipe (|). For example: 10,20,150,130|213,345,82,61. Default: false. Relevant for images only.
quality_analysis	Boolean	Whether to return a quality analysis value for the image between 0 and 1, where 0 means the image is blurry and out of focus and 1 means the image is sharp and in focus. Default: false. Relevant for images only. Paid customers can request to take part in the extended quality analysis Beta trial. When activated, this parameter returns quality scores for various other factors in addition to focus, such as jpeg_quality, noise, exposure, blockiness and resolution, together with an overall weighted quality_score. Note: Unlike when used with the upload method, the returned quality_score, quality_analysis.color_score and quality_analysis.pixel_score fields are not indexed for search.
accessibility_analysis	Boolean	Currently available only to paid customers requesting to take part in the accessibility analysis Beta trial. Set to true to return accessibility analysis values for the image. Default: false. Relevant for images only. Note: Unlike when used with the upload method, the accessibility_analysis.colorblind_accessibility_score field is not indexed for search.
quality_override	String	Sets a quality value to override the value used when the image is encoded with Cloudinary's automatic content-aware quality algorithm.
cinemagraph_analysis	Boolean	Whether to return a cinemagraph analysis value for the media asset between 0 and 1, where 0 means the asset is not a cinemagraph and 1 means the asset is a cinemagraph. Default: false. Relevant for animated images and video only. A static image will return 0.
moderation	String	For all asset types, set to: manual to add the asset to a list of pending assets that can be moderated using the Admin API or the Cloudinary Console. perception_point to automatically moderate the uploaded asset using the Perception Point Malware Detection add-on. For images only, set to: webpurify to automatically moderate the image using the WebPurify Image Moderation add-on. aws_rek to automatically moderate the image using the Amazon Rekognition AI Moderation add-on. duplicate:<threshold> to detect if the same or a similar image already exists using the Cloudinary Duplicate Image Detection add-on. Set threshold to a float greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1.0 to specify how similar an image needs to be in order to be considered a duplicate. Set threshold to 0 to add an image to the index of images that are searched when duplicate detection is invoked for another image. For videos only, set to: aws_rek_video to automatically moderate the uploaded video using the Amazon Rekognition Video Moderation add-on. google_video_moderation automatically moderate the uploaded video using the Google AI Video Moderation add-on. To request multiple moderations in a single API call: Send the desired list of moderations as a pipe-separated string with manual moderation, if relevant, being last. For example: aws_rek|duplicate:0|perception_point|manual Note: Rejected assets are automatically invalidated on the CDN within approximately ten minutes.
responsive_breakpoints	[JSON]	Requests that Cloudinary automatically find the best breakpoints. The parameter value is an array of breakpoint request settings, where each request setting can include the following parameters: create_derived(Boolean - Required) If true, create and keep the derived images of the selected breakpoints during the API call. If false, images generated during the analysis process are thrown away. format (String - Optional) Sets the file extension of the derived assets to the format indicated (as opposed to changing the format as part of a transformation - which would be included as part of the transformation component (e.g., f_jpg)). transformation (String - Optional) The base transformation to first apply to the image before finding the best breakpoints. The API accepts a string representation of a chained transformation (same as the regular transformation parameter of the upload API). max_width (Integer - Optional) The maximum width needed for this image. If specifying a width bigger than the original image, the width of the original image is used instead. Default: 1000. min_width (Integer - Optional) The minimum width needed for this image. Default: 50. bytes_step (Integer - Optional) The minimum number of bytes between two consecutive breakpoints (images). Default: 20000. max_images (Integer - Optional) The maximum number of breakpoints to find, between 3 and 200. This means that there might be size differences bigger than the given bytes_step value between consecutive images. Default: 20. The return response will include an array of the selected breakpoints for each breakpoint request, where the following information is given for each breakpoint: transformation, width, height, bytes, url and secure_url. Relevant for images only.
auto_chaptering	Boolean	Whether to trigger automatic generation of video chapters. Chapters will be generated and saved as a .vtt file with -chapters appended to the public ID of the video. You can enable chapters as part of the Cloudinary Video Player. Default: false. Relevant for videos only.
auto_transcription	Boolean	Whether to trigger automatic video transcription. The transcript will be generated and saved as a .transcript file with the same public ID as the video. You can use your transcript file to show subtitles or captions using the Cloudinary Video Player. Default: false. Relevant for videos only.

Example

To perform two eager transformations for the already uploaded image with a public ID of sample as follows:

1. Crop to a width and height of 400 pixels including the biggest face detected.
2. Pad to a width of 660 pixels and a height of 400 pixels with a blue background.

Sample response

The following is a sample response based on the example above. Two explicit transformations were performed on the sample image.

---

rename (public ID)

Modifies the public ID (or optionally the delivery type) of an existing asset.

Syntax

POST /:resource_type/rename

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
from_public_id	String	The current identifier of the uploaded asset.
to_public_id	String	The new identifier to assign to the uploaded asset.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
resource_type	String	The type of asset to rename. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the resource_type is included in the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Valid values: image, raw, video. Default: image. Note: Use the video resource type for all video assets as well as for audio files, such as .mp3.
type	String	The delivery type of the asset. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the delivery type is included in the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Valid values: upload, private, authenticated. Default: upload.
to_type	String	The new delivery type for the asset. Valid values: upload, private, authenticated. Default: the asset's current type is unchanged.
overwrite	Boolean	Whether to overwrite an existing asset with the target public ID. Default: false. Important: Depending on your product environment setup, overwriting an asset may clear the tags, contextual, and structured metadata values for that asset. If you have a Master admin role, you can change this behavior for your product environment in the Media Library Preferences pane, so that these field values are retained when new version assets overwrite older ones (unless you specify different values for the tags, context, or metadata parameters as part of your upload).
notification_url	String	An HTTP or HTTPS URL to notify your application (a webhook) when the process has completed. If not specified, the response is sent to the Notification URL (if defined) in the Webhook Notifications settings of your Cloudinary Console.
invalidate	Boolean	Whether to invalidate CDN cached copies of the asset (and all its transformed versions). Default: false. It usually takes between a few seconds and a few minutes for the invalidation to fully propagate through the CDN. There are also a number of other important considerations when using the invalidate functionality
context	Boolean	Whether to include contextual metadata for the asset in the response. Default: false.
metadata	Boolean	Whether to include structured metadata for the asset in the response. Default: false.

Example

To rename an image from canyon to grand_canyon:

Sample response

The following is a sample response based on the example above. The canyon image was renamed to grand_canyon.

---

destroy

The destroy method is used to immediately and permanently delete a single asset from your Cloudinary product environment (to delete multiple assets see the Admin API Delete resources method). Backed up assets are not deleted, and any assets and transformed assets already downloaded by visitors to your website might still be accessible through cached copies on the CDN.

To bypass the CDN caching, you can include the invalidate parameter in your POST request in order to also invalidate the cached copies of the asset on the CDN. It usually takes between a few seconds and a few minutes for the invalidation to fully propagate through the CDN. For details on invalidating media assets, see Invalidating cached media assets on the CDN.

Syntax

POST /:resource_type/destroy

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
public_id	String	The identifier of the uploaded asset. Note: The public ID value for images and videos should not include a file extension. Include the file extension for raw files only.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
resource_type	String	The type of asset to destroy. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the resource_type is included in the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Valid values: image, raw, and video. Default: image. Note: Use the video resource type for all video assets as well as for audio files, such as .mp3.
type	String	The delivery type of the asset. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the type is included in the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Default: upload. For a list of all possible delivery types, see Delivery types.
notification_url	String	An HTTP or HTTPS URL to notify your application (a webhook) when the process has completed. If not specified, the response is sent to the Notification URL (if defined) in the Webhook Notifications settings of your Cloudinary Console.
invalidate	Boolean	If true, invalidates CDN cached copies of the asset (and all its transformed versions). Default: false. It usually takes between a few seconds and a few minutes for the invalidation to fully propagate through the CDN. There are also a number of other important considerations when using the invalidate functionality.

Examples

Deleting an image with the public ID of sample:

Deleting a video with the public ID of sample:

Sample response

A successful destroy operation returns the following:

---

download_backup

The download_backup method returns a specific version of a backed up asset without restoring it.

• The endpoint returns the specified version of the asset in bytes.
• The SDKs return a URL of the asset that can be used to download that version of the asset (within an hour of the request).

Syntax

GET /download_backup

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
asset_id	String	The identifier of the uploaded asset. Note: This is returned in the response to various Admin API methods.
version_id	String	The identifier of a backed up version of the asset. Note: To see details of backed up versions, including version_id, for a specific asset, use the resource method of the Admin API, setting the versions parameter to true.

Example

To return the URL of a backed up version of an asset with asset_id of 62c2a18d622be7e190d21df8e05b1416 and version_id of 26fe6d95df856f6ae12f5678be94516a (the cURL example returns the asset in bytes):

Sample response

The following is a sample SDK response based on the example above. The URL to download the requested backed up version of the asset is returned.

---

Metadata management

Enables you to manage your assets' metadata.

Method	Description
POST/:resource_type/context	Manages the contextual metadata of an uploaded asset.
POST/:resource_type/metadata	Adds values to metadata fields.
POST/:resource_type/tags	Manages the tags applied to your assets.

---

context

The context parameter of an uploaded asset contains a pipe-separated list of key-value pairs of contextual metadata (up to 255 characters). The context method can be used to manage the contextual metadata of an uploaded asset by setting the value of the command parameter to either add a new key-value pair, or remove_all contextual metadata from the asset.

SDKs: The Cloudinary SDKs wrap the REST API context method and offer 2 separate methods: one for adding contextual metadata and one for removing all contextual metadata.

Adding context syntax

POST /:resource_type/context

Removing all context syntax

POST /:resource_type/context

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
context	String	(Only relevant when adding contextual metadata) A pipe-separated list of the key-value pairs of contextual metadata to attach to an uploaded asset. The contextual metadata values of uploaded files can be retrieved using the Admin API. For example: alt=My image|caption=Profile image Notes: The = and | characters can be supported as values when escaped with a prepended backslash (\). Key values are limited to 1024 characters and an asset can have a maximum of 1000 contextual metadata key-value pairs. SDKs: Supports maps. For example: ['alt': 'My image', 'caption': 'Profile image']
public_ids	String[]	An array of public IDs of assets uploaded to Cloudinary.
command	String	(Only relevant when using the REST API - not for use with SDKs) The action to perform on assets: either add the specified contextual metadata, or remove_all the contextual metadata key-value pairs assigned.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
resource_type	String	The type of asset. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the resource_type is included in the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Valid values: image, raw, and video. Default: image. Note: Use the video resource type for all video assets as well as for audio files, such as .mp3.
type	String	The delivery type of the asset. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the delivery type is included in the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Default: upload. For a list of possible delivery types, see Delivery types.

Examples

To add the contextual metadata key-pairs alt=Animal and class=Mammalia to the images with the public IDs of dog and lion

To remove all existing contextual metadata for the images with the public IDs of dog and lion

Sample response

The following is a sample response based on the example above. A contextual metadata value was added to the dog and lion images.

---

metadata

The metadata parameter of an uploaded asset contains a map (for SDKs) or pipe-separated list (for REST API calls) of key-value pairs of custom predefined metadata fields. The metadata method can be used to add values to these metadata fields.

Syntax

POST /:resource_type/metadata

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
metadata	String	A pipe-separated list of custom metadata fields (by external_id) and the values to assign to each of them. For example: in_stock_id=50|color_id=[\"green\",\"red\"]. SDKs: Supports maps. Notes: The =, " and | characters can be supported as values when escaped with a prepended backslash (\). For a multi-select field, you can set a maximum of 3000 different metadata values on an asset.
public_ids	String[]	An array of public IDs of assets uploaded to Cloudinary.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
resource_type	String	The type of asset. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the resource_type is included in the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Valid values: image, raw, and video. Default: image. Note: Use the video resource type for all video assets as well as for audio files, such as .mp3.
type	String	The delivery type. Valid values: upload, private and authenticated. Default: upload

Example

To add the datasource IDs of "id_us", "id_uk", and "id_france" to the metadata field with id 'countryFieldId', to the images with the public IDs of 'shirt' and 'pants':

Sample response

The following is a sample response based on the example above. Metadata values were added to the shirt and pants images.

---

tags

Tags are used to categorize and organize your assets, and can also be used to apply group actions to assets, for example to delete assets, create sprites, ZIP files, JSON lists, or animated GIFs. A tag is a short name (up to 255 characters) that you can dynamically use (no need to predefine tags). Each asset can be assigned up to 1000 tags.

The tags method can be used to manage asset tags by setting the value of the command parameter to either add, remove, remove_all, or replace tags.

SDKs: The Cloudinary SDKs wrap the tags method and offer 4 separate methods: one for adding tags, one for removing specific tags, one for removing all tags, and one for replacing tags.

Adding tags syntax

POST /:resource_type/tags

Removing tags syntax

POST /:resource_type/tags

Removing all tags syntax

POST /:resource_type/tags

Replacing tags syntax

POST /:resource_type/tags

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
tag	String	The tag(s) to assign, remove, or replace. Not relevant when removing all tags. You can pass multiple tags as a single comma-separated list of tag names to assign. For example: animal,dog SDKs: Supports arrays. For example: ['animal', 'dog']
public_ids	String	A list of public IDs for the assets you want to update.
command	String	(Only relevant when using the REST API or the .NET SDK - not for use with other SDKs) The action to perform on the assets: either add the given tag, remove the given tag, remove_all the tags assigned, or replace the given tag, which adds the given tag while removing all other tags assigned.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
resource_type	String	The type of asset. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the resource_type is included in the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Valid values: image, raw, and video. Default: image. Note: Use the video resource type for all video assets as well as for audio files, such as .mp3.
type	String	The delivery type of the asset. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the delivery type is included in the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Default: upload. For a list of possible delivery types, see Delivery types.

Examples

To add the tag animal to the images with the public IDs of dog and lion

To remove the tag animal from the images with the public IDs of dog and lion

To remove all existing tags for the images with the public IDs of dog and lion

To replace all existing tags with the tag animal for the images with the public IDs of dog and lion

Sample response

The following is a sample response based on the example above. A tag was added to the dog and lion images.

---

Asset generation

Enables you to create different types of assets from existing assets to be stored in your Cloudinary product environment.

Method	Description
POST/:resource_type/create_collage	Creates a collage from existing assets.
POST/:resource_type/create_video	Creates a video from existing assets.
POST/image/explode	Derives images for the individual pages in a multi-page file (PDF or animated GIF).
POST/:resource_type/generate_archive	Creates an archive file from existing assets.
POST/image/multi	Generates animated images, videos, or PDFs from existing images.
POST/image/sprite	Generates sprites from existing assets.
POST/image/text	Dynamically generates an image from a given textual string.

---

create_collage

Cloudinary supports the creation of image collages by combining a number of assets together in a defined or custom layout. Creating a collage generates a new image asset in your Cloudinary storage. To create a collage you need to supply a manifest_json that defines all the images, colors and positions as well as any image specific transformations.

Syntax

POST /image/create_collage

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
manifest_json	String	The collage specific manifest transformation as stringified JSON that specifies the assets to use as well as the dimensions and layout of the collage, color spacing and any image specific transformations. See the collage generation reference for full details on syntax.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.
upload_preset	String	(Required for unsigned uploading / optional for signed uploading) Name of an upload preset that you defined for your Cloudinary product environment. An upload preset consists of upload parameters centrally managed using the Admin API or from the Upload page of your Console Settings. An upload preset may be marked as unsigned, which allows unsigned uploading directly from the browser and restricts the optional parameters to: public_id, folder, tags, context, face_coordinates, regions and custom_coordinates.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
public_id	String	The identifier that is used for accessing the image collage. The public ID may contain a full path including folders separated by a slash (/). If not specified, then the public ID of the collage will be comprised of random characters. Note: The public ID value for collages should not include a file extension.
transformation	String	A transformation to apply to the collage after it has been generated. This parameter is given as a comma-separated list of transformations, and separated with a slash for chained transformations.
overwrite	Boolean	Whether to overwrite existing assets with the same public ID. When set to false, a response is returned immediately if an asset with the same public ID was found. When overwriting assets, if you include versions in your delivery URLs, you will need to update the URLs with the new version number to deliver the new asset. If you don't include versions, you will need to invalidate the old assets on the CDN server cache. Default: true (when using unsigned upload, the default is false and cannot be changed to true). Important: Depending on your product environment setup, overwriting an asset may clear the tags, contextual, and structured metadata values for that asset. If you have a Master admin role, you can change this behavior for your product environment in the Media Library Preferences pane, so that these field values are retained when new version assets overwrite older ones (unless you specify different values for the tags, context, or metadata parameters as part of your upload).
tags	String	A comma-separated list of tag names to assign to the collage for later group reference. For example: animal,dog.
notification_url	String	An HTTP or HTTPS URL to notify your application (a webhook) when the process has completed. If not specified, the response is sent to the Notification URL (if defined) in the Webhook Notifications settings of your Cloudinary Console.

Examples

Generate a collage using the defined 3x3 grid layout, setting the public ID to test_collage:

Generate a collage using a custom layout, setting the public ID to custom_collage:

Sample response

The following is a sample response based on the examples above. As collage generation occurs asynchronously, a notification is sent once the collage has been successfully generated. You can see an example of the notification response below.

---

create_video

Cloudinary supports the creation of videos by combining assets, text and colors together as tracks, including animations, effects and transitions. Creating a video generates a new video asset in your Cloudinary storage. To create a video you need to supply a manifest_json that defines all the tracks, clips, keyframes, durations, transitions, and more. You can use the manifest_json as a template with variables to create many different variations of the video.

Syntax

POST /video/create_video

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
manifest_json	String	The video specific manifest transformation as stringified JSON that specifies the assets to use as well as tracks, clips, keyframes, durations, transitions and effects. See the video generation reference for full details on syntax.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.
upload_preset	String	(Required for unsigned uploading / optional for signed uploading) Name of an upload preset that you defined for your Cloudinary product environment. An upload preset consists of upload parameters centrally managed using the Admin API or from the Upload page of your Console Settings. An upload preset may be marked as unsigned, which allows unsigned uploading directly from the browser and restricts the optional parameters to: public_id, folder, tags, context, face_coordinates, regions and custom_coordinates.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
public_id	String	The identifier that is used for accessing or delivering the video. The public ID may contain a full path including folders separated by a slash (/). If not specified, then the public ID of the video will be comprised of random characters. Note: The public ID value for videos should not include a file extension.
transformation	String	A transformation to apply to the video after it has been generated. This parameter is given as a comma-separated list of transformations, and separated with a slash for chained transformations.
overwrite	Boolean	Whether to overwrite existing assets with the same public ID. When set to false, a response is returned immediately if an asset with the same public ID was found. When overwriting assets, if you include versions in your delivery URLs, you will need to update the URLs with the new version number to deliver the new asset. If you don't include versions, you will need to invalidate the old assets on the CDN server cache. Default: true (when using unsigned upload, the default is false and cannot be changed to true). Important: Depending on your product environment setup, overwriting an asset may clear the tags, contextual, and structured metadata values for that asset. If you have a Master admin role, you can change this behavior for your product environment in the Media Library Preferences pane, so that these field values are retained when new version assets overwrite older ones (unless you specify different values for the tags, context, or metadata parameters as part of your upload).
tags	String	A comma-separated list of tag names to assign to the video for later group reference. For example: animal,dog.
notification_url	String	An HTTP or HTTPS URL to notify your application (a webhook) when the process has completed. If not specified, the response is sent to the Notification URL (if defined) in the Webhook Notifications settings of your Cloudinary Console.

Example

Generating a video setting the public ID to test_video:

Sample response

The following is a sample response based on the example above. As video generation occurs asynchronously, a notification is sent once the video has been successfully generated. You can see an example of the notification response below.

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explode

The explode method creates derived images for all of the individual pages in a multi-page file (PDF or animated GIF). Each derived image is stored with the same public ID as the original file, and can be accessed using the page parameter, in order to deliver a specific image (for more details, see the documentation on delivering content from PDF files).

You could deliver individual pages of a multi-page file on the fly without using the explode method first: this method is useful for pre-generating all the pages of the file so that they do not need to be generated on the fly when first accessed by your users.

Syntax

POST /image/explode

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
public_id	String	The identifier of the uploaded multi-page file (PDF or animated GIF). Note: The public ID for images does not include a file extension.
transformation	String	A transformation to run on all the pages before storing them as derived images. This parameter is given as a comma-separated list of transformations, and separated with a slash for chained transformations. At minimum, you must pass the page transformation with the value all. If you supply additional transformations, you must deliver the image using the same relative order of the page and the other transformations. If you use a different order when you deliver, then it is considered a different transformation, and will be generated on the fly as a new derived image.SDKs: Supports a hash of transformation parameters (or an array of hashes for chained transformations). Note: When using the SDK for a dynamically-typed language, the transformation parameters can be specified directly without using this transformation parameter, as seen in the examples for Ruby, PHP, Python, and Node.js below.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
type	String	The specific file type of the asset. Valid values: upload, private and authenticated. Default: upload.
format	String	An optional format to convert the images before storing them in your Cloudinary product environment. Default: png.
notification_url	String	An HTTP or HTTPS URL to notify your application (a webhook) when the process has completed.

Example

To explode a PDF file with the public ID of "sample":

Sample response

The following is a sample response indicating that the explode command is in process.

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generate_archive

The generate_archive method creates an archive file that contains all the assets meeting specified tag, public ID, or prefix criteria (or a combination thereof). The REST API method can be used to either return the generated archive file ('download'), store it as a raw asset in your Cloudinary product environment ('create'), or do both ('create_and_download') by setting the value of the mode parameter.

By default, if all the assets in the archive have the identical transformation applied, they are stored in the archive with the original asset filename only, regardless of the value of the flatten_transformations or skip_transformation_name parameters. If assets of the same type with different transformations are included in the archive, then the relevant transformation data is appended to the filename of each asset, according to the settings of the flatten_transformations or skip_transformation_name parameters.

The archive can contain up to 1000 different assets, and up to 5000 files if adding different derived versions of those assets using transformations. The maximum archive file size is the larger of 100 MB or your product environment's raw file size limit.

The Cloudinary SDKs wrap the generate_archive REST API method and offer several related helper methods:

• create_zip: generates a ZIP file based on the specified parameter values, uploads the file to your Cloudinary product environment, returns a JSON response with the URLs for accessing the ZIP file, and can then be delivered like any other raw file uploaded to Cloudinary.
• create_archive: generates an archive file based on the specified parameter values (default target_format = zip), uploads the file to your Cloudinary product environment, returns a JSON response with the URLs for accessing the archive file, and can then be delivered like any other raw file uploaded to Cloudinary.
• download_zip_url (downloadZip in Java, DownloadArchiveUrl in .NET): generates a signed URL that expires after 1 hour (by default). The URL can be accessed to dynamically create and then download a ZIP file based on the specified parameter values. The resulting ZIP file is not cached or stored in your Cloudinary product environment.
• download_archive_url (downloadArchive in Java): generates a signed URL that expires after 1 hour (by default). When the URL is invoked, it dynamically creates and downloads an archive file based on the given parameter values. The resulting archive file is not cached or stored in your Cloudinary product environment.
• download_folder: generates a signed URL representing the contents of the specified folder (and its sub-folders). By default, the URL expires after 1 hour and includes all assets from the requested folder regardless of resource_type. When this folder URL is invoked, it dynamically creates and downloads an archive file with the folder contents. The resulting archive file is not cached or stored in your Cloudinary product environment.

create_zip syntax

POST /:resource_type/generate_archive

create_archive syntax

POST /:resource_type/generate_archive

download_zip_url syntax

POST /:resource_type/generate_archive

download_archive_url syntax

POST /:resource_type/generate_archive

download_folder syntax

POST /:resource_type/generate_archive

Required parameters

At least one of the 'tags', 'public_ids', or 'prefixes' parameters needs to be specified, in order to tell Cloudinary which assets to include in the archive file. Specifying any combination of the three parameters is also allowed - a unique union of all the matching assets will then be included in the archive file:

Parameter	Type	Description
tags	String	A comma-separated list of tag names. All assets with the specified tags are included in the archive. Up to 20 tags are supported. For example: animal,dogSDKs: Supports arrays. For example: ['animal', 'dog']
public_ids	String	A comma-separated list of public IDs for the specific assets to be included in the archive. Up to 1000 public IDs are supported. SDKs: Supports arrays.
prefixes	String	A comma-separated list of prefixes of public IDs (e.g., folders). Setting this parameter to a slash (/) is a shortcut for including all assets in the product environment for the given resource_type and type (up to the max files limit). Up to 20 prefixes are supported.SDKs: Supports arrays.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
resource_type	String	The type of assets to include. Only relevant as a parameter when using the SDKs (the resource_type is included in the endpoint URL when using the REST API). Valid values: image, raw, video, all. Default: image. Notes: Use the video resource type to request video assets as well as for audio files, such as .mp3. When using the download_folders SDK method, the default is all.
type	String	The specific file type of assets to include in the archive (upload/private/authenticated). If tags are specified as a filter then all types are included. Default: upload.
transformations	String	A transformation to run on all the derived assets before storing them in your Cloudinary product environment. This parameter is given as a comma-separated list of transformations, and separated with a slash for chained transformations. If this parameter is not specified then the original assets are included in the archive. If you are including multiple asset types in your archive, make sure the transformations you specify are supported for all assets that will be included in the archive.SDKs: Supports a hash of transformation parameters (or an array of hashes for chained transformations). Note: When using the SDK for a dynamically-typed language, the transformation parameters can be specified directly without using the transformation parameter.
mode	String	(Only relevant when using the REST API - not for use with SDKs) Determines how to generate and deliver the archive: download - generates and delivers the archive file without storing it in your product environment. create - creates and stores it as a raw asset in your Cloudinary product environment (does not deliver the archive file itself, but returns a JSON response with the URLs for accessing the archive file). create_and_download - creates, stores AND delivers the archive file. Default: create.
target_format	String	(Only relevant when using the REST API or the 'archive' SDK methods - not for use with the 'zip' SDK methods)The format for the generated archive: zip or tgz. Default: zip.
target_public_id	String	The name to use for the generated file: When the mode parameter is set to create (or when using one of the create* SDK methods), this parameter defines the public ID to assign to the generated archive. When the mode parameter is set to download (or when using one of the download* SDK methods), this parameter defines the filename of the downloaded archive file. If not specified, a random public ID (or download filename) is generated.
target_asset_folder	String	Not supported for product environments using the legacy fixed folder mode and only for the create* SDK methods / create mode. The folder where the generated file is placed within the Cloudinary repository. Default: If not specified, the generated file will be located in the root of your product environment asset repository, even if the public ID value includes slashes.
flatten_folders	Boolean	Determines whether to flatten all files to be in the root of the archive file (no sub-folders). Any folder information included in the public ID is stripped and a numeric counter is added to the file name in the case of a name conflict. Default: false.
flatten_transformations	Boolean	If multiple transformations are also applied, determines whether to flatten the folder structure of the derived assets and store the transformation details on the file name instead. Default: false.
skip_transformation_name	Boolean	Determines whether to strip all transformation details from file names and add a numeric counter to a file name in the case of a name conflict. Default: false.
allow_missing	Boolean	Allows generation of the archive if any of the supplied public IDs are not found, instead of returning an error. Default: false.
expires_at	Integer	(Only relevant when using the 'download' SDK methods and the 'download' mode in REST API calls) The date (UNIX time in seconds) for the URL expiration (e.g., 1415060076). Default: 1 hour from the time that the URL is generated.
use_original_filename	Boolean	Whether to use the original file name of the included assets (if available) instead of the public ID. Default: false.
async	Boolean	(Only relevant when using the 'create' SDK methods and the 'create' mode in REST API calls) Whether to perform the archive generation in the background (asynchronously). Default: false.
notification_url	String	(Only relevant when using the 'create' SDK methods and the 'create' mode in REST API calls) An HTTP or HTTPS URL to notify your application (a webhook) when the archive creation process has completed. If not specified for create operations, the response is sent to the Notification URL (if defined) in the Webhook Notifications settings of your Cloudinary Console.
target_tags	String	(Only relevant when using the 'create' SDK methods and the 'create' mode in REST API calls) A comma-separated list of tag names to assign to the generated archive. For example: animal,dogSDKs: Supports arrays. For example: ['animal', 'dog']
keep_derived	Boolean	Whether to keep the derived assets used for generating the archive. Default: false.

Examples

To create a zip file that contains all images that have the lion tag:

To generate a URL for downloading a zip file that contains the images with the following public_ids: dog, cat and lion:

To generate a URL, that when accessed will download a zip file called MyFolder.zip, which contains all assets from the MyFavoriteFolder folder (and its sub-folders), regardless of resource_type:

Sample response

The following is a sample response based on the create_zip example above. 6 image assets with the tag 'lion' were added to the zip file. Because no target_public_id was specified in the upload, a random public_id was assigned to the zip file.

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multi

The multi method creates either a single animated image (GIF, PNG or WebP), video (MP4 or WebM) or a single PDF from all image assets that have been assigned a specified tag or from a set of image URLs. Each asset is included as a single frame of the resulting animated image/video, or a page of the PDF (sorted alphabetically by their public ID).

For a detailed explanation on generating animated images, see Creating animated images.

For further information about generating a PDF from a selection of images, see Creating PDF files from images.

Syntax

POST /image/multi

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
tag	String	(Required if not using urls) The animated GIF or PDF is created from all images with this tag.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
urls	Array	(Required if not using tag) The animated GIF or PDF is created from all image URLs in the array.
transformation	String	A transformation to run on all the derived assets before creating the animated image or PDF. This parameter is given as a comma-separated list of transformations, and separated with a slash for chained transformations. SDKs: Supports a hash of transformation parameters (or an array of hashes for chained transformations). Note: When using the SDK for a dynamically-typed language, the transformation parameters can be specified directly without using the transformation parameter.
async	Boolean	Tells Cloudinary whether to perform the animated image or PDF generation in the background (asynchronously). Default: false.
format	String	The file format of the result. Valid values: gif, png, webp, mp4, webm and pdf. Default: gif
delay	Integer	The delay in milliseconds between frames. Valid for animated images and video formats.
notification_url	String	An HTTP or HTTPS URL to notify your application (a webhook) when the process has completed. If not specified, the response is sent to the Notification URL (if defined) in the Webhook Notifications settings of your Cloudinary Console.

Examples

Generating an animated GIF from all images tagged with logo:

Generating an animated webp from all images tagged with logo:

Generating a PDF from a set of sample image URLs:

Sample response

The following is a sample response based on the logo example above. An animated logo.webp image was created from all the images with the tag logo.

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sprite

Cloudinary supports generating sprites by merging multiple images into a single large image for reducing network overhead and bypassing download limitations. The browser downloads only a single image and a CSS file that directs the browser to which part of the sprite to use for displaying each contained image. The sprite method creates a sprite from all images that have been assigned a specified tag or from a list of image URLs. The process produces 2 files as follows:

• A single image file (PNG by default) containing all the images that were specified either with a tag, or with a set of URLs.
• A CSS file that includes the style class names and the location of the individual images in the sprite.

For a detailed explanation on generating and using sprites, see the documentation on sprite generation.

Syntax

POST /image/sprite

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
tag	String	(Required if not using urls) The sprite is created from all images with this tag.
urls	Array	(Required if not using tag) The sprite is created from all image URLs in the array.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
transformation	String	A transformation to run on all the derived assets before creating the sprite. This parameter is given as a comma-separated list of transformations, and separated with a slash for chained transformations. SDKs: Supports a hash of transformation parameters (or an array of hashes for chained transformations). Note: When using the SDK for a dynamically-typed language, the transformation parameters can be specified directly without using the transformation parameter.
format	String	An optional format to convert the sprite before saving it in your Cloudinary product environment. Default: png.
async	Boolean	Tells Cloudinary whether to perform the sprite generation in the background (asynchronously). Default: false.
notification_url	String	An HTTP or HTTPS URL to notify your application (a webhook) when the process has completed. If not specified, the response is sent to the Notification URL (if defined) in the Webhook Notifications settings of your Cloudinary Console.

Example

Generating a sprite from all images tagged with logo, creates a single PNG image file with the public ID of logo that contains all the tagged images, and a CSS file with the public ID of logo.css.

Sample response

The following is a sample response based on the example above. 3 images with the tag logo were added to the logo png and css files to create the sprite.

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text

You can use Cloudinary to dynamically generate an image from a given textual string with the text method. You can then use this textual image as any other image, for example, as an overlay for other images. Various font, color and style parameters can be specified to customize the look & feel of the text before converting it to an image.

Syntax

POST /image/text

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
text	String	The text string to generate an image for.
signature	String	(Required for signed REST API calls) Used to authenticate the request and based on the parameters you use in the request. When using the Cloudinary SDKs for signed requests, the signature is automatically generated and added to the request. If you manually generate your own signed POST request, you need to manually generate the signature parameter and add it to the request together with the api_key and timestamp parameters. For more details, see manually generating signatures.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
public_id	String	The identifier that is used for accessing the generated image. If not specified, a unique identifier is generated by Cloudinary. Note: The public ID value for images and videos should not include a file extension. Include the file extension for raw files only.
font_family	String	The name of the font family.
font_size	Integer	Font size in points. Default: 12.
font_color	String	Name or RGB representation of the font's color. For example: red or #ff0000. Default: black.
font_weight	String	Whether to use a normal or a bold font. Default: normal.
font_style	String	Whether to use a normal or an italic font. Default: normal.
background	String	Name or RGB representation of the background color of the generated image. For example: red or #ff0000. Default: transparent.
opacity	Integer	Text opacity value between 0 (invisible) and 100. Default: 100.
text_decoration	String	Set to underline to define a line below the text. Default: none.

Example

Create an image of the text string "Sample text string" in 42 point, red, Roboto bold font, and the public ID of "sample_text_image":

Sample response

The following is a sample response based on the example above. A text image is created with the public ID sample_text_image based on the transformations requested in the text method.