How to optimize images

The Next.js <Image> component extends the HTML <img> element to provide:

• Size optimization: Automatically serving correctly sized images for each device, using modern image formats like WebP.
• Visual stability: Preventing layout shift automatically when images are loading.
• Faster page loads: Only loading images when they enter the viewport using native browser lazy loading, with optional blur-up placeholders.
• Asset flexibility: Resizing images on-demand, even images stored on remote servers.

To start using <Image>, import it from next/image and render it within your component.

import Image from 'next/image'
 
export default function Page() {
  return <Image src="" alt="" />
}

The src property can be a local or remote image.

🎥 Watch: Learn more about how to use next/image → YouTube (9 minutes).

Local images

You can store static files, like images and fonts, under a folder called public in the root directory. Files inside public can then be referenced by your code starting from the base URL (/).

import Image from 'next/image'
 
export default function Page() {
  return (
    <Image
      src="/profile.png"
      alt="Picture of the author"
      // width={500} automatically provided
      // height={500} automatically provided
      // blurDataURL="data:..." automatically provided
      // placeholder="blur" // Optional blur-up while loading
    />
  )
}

When using local images, Next.js will automatically determine the intrinsic width and height of your image based on the imported file. These values are used to determine the image ratio and prevent Cumulative Layout Shift while your image is loading.

Remote images

To use a remote image, you can provide a URL string for the src property.

import Image from 'next/image'
 
export default function Page() {
  return (
    <Image
      src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/profile.png"
      alt="Picture of the author"
      width={500}
      height={500}
    />
  )
}

Since Next.js does not have access to remote files during the build process, you'll need to provide the width, height and optional blurDataURL props manually. The width and height are used to infer the correct aspect ratio of image and avoid layout shift from the image loading in.

To safely allow images from remote servers, you need to define a list of supported URL patterns in next.config.js. Be as specific as possible to prevent malicious usage. For example, the following configuration will only allow images from a specific AWS S3 bucket:

import type { NextConfig } from 'next'
 
const config: NextConfig = {
  images: {
    remotePatterns: [
      {
        protocol: 'https',
        hostname: 's3.amazonaws.com',
        port: '',
        pathname: '/my-bucket/**',
        search: '',
      },
    ],
  },
}
 
export default config