Ultra Image Server

🌐 A production grade on-the-fly image processing server setup using imgproxy and Nginx caching.

Disclaimer

This project provides a solid foundation for building a custom image processing server. While it's designed for general use, you might need to tweak it further to perfectly match your specific needs.

I poured my heart into this project, hoping it serves as a valuable learning resource for anyone interested in exploring image processing configurations. If it doesn't fully address your current requirements, don't hesitate to keep searching for the perfect solution!

Support my activities

If you find this project useful, consider donating via PayPal or open an issue on Github. Your support helps keep this project maintained and improved for the community.

Why it's good

Experience the ultimate in efficient image delivery with our cutting-edge solution:

Lightning-fast on-the-fly thumbnail generation powered by imgproxy.
High availability and unparalleled performance thanks to Nginx content caching.
Bid farewell to URL signature management hassles while maintaining top-notch security.
Effortless serving of local files or remote server content.
SEO-friendly URL crafting without exposing complex imgproxy options.
Unmatched flexibility:
- Customize image presets for any request.
- Dynamic origin server selection.
- Graceful fallback image handling for unavailable sources.
Hassle-free SSL configuration with built-in HTTP/2 support for blazing-fast load times.
Intelligent image format conversion to WebP (or AVIF) for browser compatibility.
Seamless visual experience across devices.

Unleash the power of our cutting-edge solution and take your project to new heights with efficient image delivery.

Getting started

Pull this project from Github

Please run the below command to download the project to your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/shinsenter/docker-imgproxy.git docker-imgproxy

Or:

curl -skL https://github.com/shinsenter/docker-imgproxy/archive/refs/heads/main.zip -o docker-imgproxy.zip && unzip docker-imgproxy.zip
rm -f docker-imgproxy.zip
mv docker-imgproxy-main docker-imgproxy

Prepare your files

Change your working directory to downloaded directory in the above step.

cd docker-imgproxy

Then put your image files to be served to the folder www/.

There are some sample files available (a sample image cacti.jpg, a watermark, and some fallback images).

Start the server

cd docker-imgproxy
docker-compose up -d --build --remove-orphans --force-recreate

That's all! 😉

Note: This setup requires Docker Compose installed. If you have already installed Docker Desktop or Docker Toolbox, then no need of installation for Docker Compose.

If you like this setup, please support my works 😉.

Examples

Local images

Assuming that we want to generate various thumbnail images from the original file named cacti.jpg.

I already created some preset names, such as _thumb or _w200, and I add preset names to the original URL to get thumbnails from it.

Image with no preset (it is resized to max-width=1600 as default).
http://localhost/cacti.jpg

The image with preset _w200 applied (200 is a dynamic number).
http://localhost/_w200/cacti.jpg

The image with preset _blurry applied.
http://localhost/_blurry/cacti.jpg

The image with preset _small applied.
http://localhost/_small/cacti.jpg

The image with preset _medium applied.
http://localhost/_medium/cacti.jpg

The image with preset _thumb applied.
http://localhost/_thumb/cacti.jpg

The image with preset _square applied.
http://localhost/_square/cacti.jpg

The image with preset _masked applied.
http://localhost/_masked/cacti.jpg

Or just to download the image (with filters applied).
http://localhost/_download/cacti.jpg

See my configurations to know how it works.

Remote images

With the same presets as above examples, we are going to serve an image by NASA using the alias @nasa, that will be added in these URLs.

Note: the image source is from NASA, it may be unavailable in the future.

Image with no preset (it is resized to max-width=1600 as default).
http://localhost/@nasa/40368_PIA22228.jpg

The image with preset _w200 applied (200 is a dynamic number).
http://localhost/@nasa/_w200/40368_PIA22228.jpg

The image with preset _blurry applied.
http://localhost/@nasa/_blurry/40368_PIA22228.jpg

The image with preset _small applied.
http://localhost/@nasa/_small/40368_PIA22228.jpg

The image with preset _medium applied.
http://localhost/@nasa/_medium/40368_PIA22228.jpg

The image with preset _thumb applied.
http://localhost/@nasa/_thumb/40368_PIA22228.jpg

The image with preset _square applied.
http://localhost/@nasa/_square/40368_PIA22228.jpg

The image with preset _masked applied.
http://localhost/@nasa/_masked/40368_PIA22228.jpg

Or just to download the image (with filters applied).
http://localhost/@nasa/_download/40368_PIA22228.jpg

Supported origin servers

This setup serve images from other public origin servers, as well as from Amazon S3 buckets, Google Cloud and Azure Blob.

You can learn how to serve files from private storage in the configurations section.

Base64 encoded URLs

The source URL can be encrypted with URL-safe Base64, prepended by the /@base64/ prefix. So you can access the remote images like the below:

Note: the image source is from NASA, it may be unavailable in the future.

⚠️ Warning: Since this project has simplified the "URL signature" function of imgproxy, please be cautious with the use of Base64-encoded URLs. Malicious actors could exploit this to process images from any untrusted sources for unethical purposes.

Image with no preset (it is resized to max-width=1600 as default).
http://localhost/@base64/aHR0cHM6Ly9tYXJzLm5hc2EuZ292L3N5c3RlbS9kb3dubG9hZGFibGVfaXRlbXMvNDAzNjglNUZQSUEyMjIyOC5qcGc=

The image with preset _w200 applied (200 is a dynamic number).
http://localhost/@base64/_w200/aHR0cHM6Ly9tYXJzLm5hc2EuZ292L3N5c3RlbS9kb3dubG9hZGFibGVfaXRlbXMvNDAzNjglNUZQSUEyMjIyOC5qcGc=

The image with preset _blurry applied.
http://localhost/@base64/_blurry/aHR0cHM6Ly9tYXJzLm5hc2EuZ292L3N5c3RlbS9kb3dubG9hZGFibGVfaXRlbXMvNDAzNjglNUZQSUEyMjIyOC5qcGc=

The image with preset _small applied.
http://localhost/@base64/_small/aHR0cHM6Ly9tYXJzLm5hc2EuZ292L3N5c3RlbS9kb3dubG9hZGFibGVfaXRlbXMvNDAzNjglNUZQSUEyMjIyOC5qcGc=

The image with preset _medium applied.
http://localhost/@base64/_medium/aHR0cHM6Ly9tYXJzLm5hc2EuZ292L3N5c3RlbS9kb3dubG9hZGFibGVfaXRlbXMvNDAzNjglNUZQSUEyMjIyOC5qcGc=

The image with preset _thumb applied.
http://localhost/@base64/_thumb/aHR0cHM6Ly9tYXJzLm5hc2EuZ292L3N5c3RlbS9kb3dubG9hZGFibGVfaXRlbXMvNDAzNjglNUZQSUEyMjIyOC5qcGc=

The image with preset _square applied.
http://localhost/@base64/_square/aHR0cHM6Ly9tYXJzLm5hc2EuZ292L3N5c3RlbS9kb3dubG9hZGFibGVfaXRlbXMvNDAzNjglNUZQSUEyMjIyOC5qcGc=

The image with preset _masked applied.
http://localhost/@base64/_masked/aHR0cHM6Ly9tYXJzLm5hc2EuZ292L3N5c3RlbS9kb3dubG9hZGFibGVfaXRlbXMvNDAzNjglNUZQSUEyMjIyOC5qcGc=

Or just to download the image (with filters applied).
http://localhost/@base64/_download/aHR0cHM6Ly9tYXJzLm5hc2EuZ292L3N5c3RlbS9kb3dubG9hZGFibGVfaXRlbXMvNDAzNjglNUZQSUEyMjIyOC5qcGc=

Customize resizing via query string

Image width and height

You can also parse arguments from the request's query string, such as ?width=300 for the image's width or ?height=200 for the image's height, or even both of demensions, to flexibly change some parameters for resizing.

In this setup example, I used the width and height arguments to override the existing presets.

Image with specific demensions (1200x960).
http://localhost/@nasa/40368_PIA22228.jpg?width=1200&height=960

Image with width is set to 500px.
http://localhost/@nasa/40368_PIA22228.jpg?width=500

Image with height is set to 500px.
http://localhost/@nasa/40368_PIA22228.jpg?height=500

The image with preset _medium applied, but the query string will override the dimensions of the output image to 50x200px.
http://localhost/@nasa/_medium/40368_PIA22228.jpg?width=50&height=200

Image quality

In addition, you can override the default quality defined by IMGPROXY_FORMAT_QUALITY in the docker-compose.yml file by passing a quality value (ranging from 1 to 100) in the query string of the request. For example, adding ?quality=100 will set the output image quality to 100% (the best quality).

Image with quality is set.
You can check the download size of the image using browser's Developer Tools.
http://localhost/cacti.jpg?quality=1

http://localhost/cacti.jpg?quality=10

http://localhost/cacti.jpg?quality=50

http://localhost/cacti.jpg?quality=80

http://localhost/cacti.jpg?quality=100

Image quality with a human readable quality value.
You can check the download size of the image using browser's Developer Tools.
http://localhost/cacti.jpg?quality=low

http://localhost/cacti.jpg?quality=clear

http://localhost/cacti.jpg?quality=high

http://localhost/cacti.jpg?quality=highest

You can combine the quality option with any above preset.
http://localhost/_medium/cacti.jpg?quality=high

http://localhost/_blurry/cacti.jpg?width=500&height=500&quality=1

See my configurations to know how it works.

Debugging

Debugging rewrite rule:

When you make a request with the query component debug=1, you will see an X-Debug header contains its internal imgproxy's options.

Example 1 (local file with preset _small):

curl -Isk 'http://localhost/_small/cacti.jpg?debug=1'

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx
Content-Type: image/webp
X-Debug: /unsafe/size:320:320:0:0/sharpen:0.3/preset:logo/dpr:1/plain/local:///cacti.jpg

Example 2 (remote file with preset _w640):

curl -Isk 'http://localhost/@nasa/_w640/40368_PIA22228.jpg?debug=1'

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx
Content-Type: image/webp
X-Debug: /unsafe/size:640:0:0:0/preset:logo/dpr:1/plain/https://mars.nasa.gov/system/downloadable_items/40368_PIA22228.jpg

Debugging fallback image:

When you requested a file which is not available, a fallback image will be served. There will be a 404 response with a header called X-Fallback, which contains the fallback image's path.

curl -Isk 'http://localhost/i-am-a-teacup.jpg'

HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Server: nginx
Content-Type: image/jpeg
X-Fallback: /noimage.jpg

Other helper URL parameters:

We can use these URL query components to modify some requests.

skip=1
Skip imgproxy processing for current request. The original file will be served.
E.g. http://localhost/_small/cacti.jpg?skip=1
E.g. http://localhost/@nasa/_small/40368_PIA22228.jpg?skip=1

nocache=1
Disable Nginx caching for current request. The response will not be saved to a cache.
E.g. http://localhost/cacti.jpg?nocache=1
E.g. http://localhost/@nasa/40368_PIA22228.jpg?nocache=1

bypass=1
By pass Nginx caching for current request. The response will not be taken from a cache.
E.g. http://localhost/_small/cacti.jpg?bypass=1
E.g. http://localhost/@nasa/_small/40368_PIA22228.jpg?bypass=1

If you like this setup, please support my works 😉.

Configurations

Enabling SSL (and HTTP/2)

Create a folder certs/ in the same place with the docker-compose.yml file, then rename and put your SSL certificates server.crt and server.key to that certs/ folder.

Open the file at nginx/nginx.conf and uncomment 4 lines right after the # SSL line, like this:

# SSL
listen              443 ssl http2 reuseport;
listen              [::]:443 ssl http2 reuseport;
ssl_certificate     /etc/nginx/certs/server.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/certs/server.key;

Then run the command in the Start the server section to recreate and restart the service.

Serving files from private storage

Please uncomment settings in docker-compose.yml file to enable serving files from Amazon S3 buckets, Google Cloud or Azure Blob, etc. Then run the command in the Start the server section to recreate and restart the service.

You can find more details on imgproxy documentation.

Flushing cache files

Just remove the folder cache/.

rm -rf cache/

Then run the command in the Start the server section to restart the service.

Advanced settings

All settings for handling image URLs are written in the imgproxy.conf file using Nginx's map directives.

I keep all configurations in very simple variables. You can also make your own version from this base.

$use_imgproxy
This flag indicates that the request will be proceeded by imgproxy.

map $uri_omitted_origin_preset $use_imgproxy
{
    default 0;

    # Add any rules that you want to skip image processing.
    #> E.g. this line excludes files under "hq-cactus" folder.
    ~^/hq-cactus/ 0;

    # File URL is base64-encoded
    #> Warning: Since this project has simplified the "URL signature" function of imgproxy,
    #> please be cautious with the use of Base64-encoded URLs.
    #> Malicious actors could exploit this to process images from any untrusted sources for unethical purposes.
    #> Comment out these two lines to disable Base64-encoded URLs.
    ~^/@base64/         1;
    ~[-A-Za-z0-9+/]*=*$ 1;

    # Else, process all image files with these file extensions
    ~*\.(jpe?g|png|gif|tiff?|bmp)$  1;
}

$origin_server
Define origin base URL from the request. This setup assumes that an origin server starts with an @ symbol (such as @nasa, @pinterest, etc.). You can also add your own origin servers using regular expressions.

map $uri $origin_server
{
    default         'local://';

    # Put your rewrite rules for origin servers from here.
    #> E.g.
    ~^/@mybucket/   's3://my-bucket';
    ~^/@myhost/     'http://myhost.com';
    ~^/@nasa/       'https://mars.nasa.gov/system/downloadable_items';
    ~^/@pinterest/  'https://i.pinimg.com/originals';

    # Source URL can be encoded with URL-safe Base64 (please be cautious!)
    #> See: https://docs.imgproxy.net/usage/processing#source-url
    #> Warning: Since this project has simplified the "URL signature" function of imgproxy,
    #> please be cautious with the use of Base64-encoded URLs.
    #> Malicious actors could exploit this to process images from any untrusted sources for unethical purposes.
    #> Comment out the below line to disable Base64-encoded URLs.
    ~^/@base64/     ''; # no origin server
}

$origin_uri
Parse real origin URI of the file. This setup just omits origin server and preset name in the URI if they exist, but you can also rewrite requested URI using regular expressions.
map $uri_omitted_origin_preset $origin_uri
{
    default '$uri_omitted_origin_preset';

    # Put your rewrite rules for origin URI from here.
    #> E.g. this line rewrites cactus.jpg to the real path cacti.jpg.
    ~*^/cactus\.jpe?g$  '/cacti.jpg';
}

$preset_name
Parse preset name from requested URI. This setup assumes that preset name starts with an underscore (_) symbol (such as _thumb or _w200). You can define your own presets using regular expressions.

map $uri_omitted_origin $preset_name
{
    default '';

    # You can define dynamic presets,
    #> but beware that dynamic presets are able to cause a denial-of-service attack
    #> by allowing an attacker to request multiple different image resizes.
    #> E.g. a dynamic preset with a variable $width.
    # ~^/_w(?<parsed_width>[0-9_-]+)/  'max_w:${parsed_width}';

    # This is a better version for above dynamic preset.
    #> It allows only certain image sizes,
    #> and fallbacks other undefined image sizes to max_w:200
    ~^/_w(?<parsed_width>(200|640|800|1200|1600))/  'max_w:${parsed_width}';
    ~^/_w(?<parsed_width>([0-9_-]+))/               'max_w:200';

    # Get static preset name from the URI
    ~^/_(?<parsed_name>[a-z0-9_-]+)/ '$parsed_name';
}

$imgproxy_preset
Define imgproxy options for each preset name. You can view more details by following their documentation.

map $preset_name $imgproxy_preset
{
    default 'size:1600:0:0:0/preset:logo'; # preset:logo adds watermark to the image

    # Dynamic preset
    ~^max_w:(?<width>[0-9]+)$ 'size:${width}:0:0:0/preset:logo';

    # Static presets
    blurry   'size:320:320:1:0/blur:10/quality:50';
    small    'size:320:320:0:0/sharpen:0.3/preset:logo';
    medium   'size:640:640:0:0/preset:logo';
    thumb    'size:160:160:1:1/bg:ffffff/resizing_type:fill/sharpen:0.3';
    square   'size:500:500:0:1/bg:ffffff/resizing_type:fill/preset:logo';
    masked   'size:500:0:0:1/bg:ffffff/resizing_type:fill/preset:repeated_logo';
    download 'size:1600:0:0:0/preset:logo/return_attachment:1';
}

$imgproxy_preset_query (overriding presets with query string)
Override the $imgproxy_preset whenever width or height provided. But beware that dynamic image sizes are able to cause a denial-of-service attack by allowing an attacker to request multiple different image resizes.
map "$arg_width:$arg_height" $imgproxy_preset_query
{
    default '';

    # only width
    ~^(?<width>[0-9]+):$ '/size:${width}:0:1:0/bg:ffffff/resizing_type:fill';

    # only height
    ~^:(?<height>[0-9]+)$ '/size:0:${height}:1:0/bg:ffffff/resizing_type:fill';

    # both width and height
    ~^(?<width>[0-9]+):(?<height>[0-9]+)$ '/size:${width}:${height}:1:0/bg:ffffff/resizing_type:fill';
}

$imgproxy_quality (overriding photo quality with query string)
Control photo quality with query string. You can also add your custom settings.

map $arg_quality $imgproxy_quality
{
    default '';

    # if the given value is between 1 and 100, override the quality
    ~^(?<quality>[1-9][0-9]?|100)$ '/q:${quality}';

    # or receive some readable quality values
    low         '/q:30';
    clear       '/q:50';
    high        '/q:80';
    highest     '/q:100';
}

$imgproxy_dpr (controlling photo dimensions, aka Device Pixel Ratio)
This will multiplying the image dimensions according to this factor for HiDPI (Retina) devices.

map $http_user_agent@$http_dpr $imgproxy_dpr
{
    default '/dpr:1';

    # parse from DPR header
    ~@(?<dpr>[1-4])     '/dpr:${dpr}';

    # Put your rewrite rules for DPR settings from here.
    #> E.g. these lines will set custom DPR for smartphones.
    # ~iPhone|iPad|Mac    '/dpr:3';
    # ~Android            '/dpr:2';
}

$imgproxy_options
Generate final URL for imgproxy following their documentation. When URL query ?skip=1 is set, use another rule to skip imgproxy processing.
map $arg_skip $imgproxy_options
{
    default '/unsafe/${imgproxy_preset}${imgproxy_preset_query}${imgproxy_quality}${imgproxy_dpr}${imgproxy_type}/${origin_server}${origin_uri}${imgproxy_extension}';
    ~.+     '/unsafe${imgproxy_type}/${origin_server}${origin_uri}';
}

$fallback_uri
Define fallback file to serve when the requested file is unavailable. E.g. /noimage.jpg or /noimage_thumb.jpg, which is stored in the folder www/.
map $preset_name $fallback_uri
{
    default '/noimage.jpg';
    thumb   '/noimage_thumb.jpg';
    # small   '/noimage_small.jpg';
    # medium  '/noimage_medium.jpg';
    # square  '/noimage_square.jpg';
}

I think you can even make a better version than mine 😊.

If you like this project, please support my works 😉.

From Vietnam 🇻🇳 with love.

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README.md

README.md

Ultra Image Server

Table of contents

Disclaimer

Support my activities

Why it's good

Getting started

Pull this project from Github

Prepare your files

Start the server

Examples

Local images

Remote images

Supported origin servers

Base64 encoded URLs

Customize resizing via query string

Image width and height

Image quality

Debugging

Debugging rewrite rule:

Debugging fallback image:

Other helper URL parameters:

Configurations

Enabling SSL (and HTTP/2)

Serving files from private storage

Flushing cache files

Advanced settings

Files

README.md

Latest commit

History

README.md

File metadata and controls

Ultra Image Server

Table of contents

Disclaimer

Support my activities

Why it's good

Getting started

Pull this project from Github

Prepare your files

Start the server

Examples

Local images

Remote images

Supported origin servers

Base64 encoded URLs

Customize resizing via query string

Image width and height

Image quality

Debugging

Debugging rewrite rule:

Debugging fallback image:

Other helper URL parameters:

Configurations

Enabling SSL (and HTTP/2)

Serving files from private storage

Flushing cache files

Advanced settings