Images API

Warning

Deprecation Notice
The Marketing Version 202310 (Marketing October 2023) and earlier versions (excluding 202306 and 202307) have been sunset. Additionally, the unversioned APIs will be sunset soon. We recommend that you migrate to the versioned APIs as well as migrate to the new Content and Community Management APIs to avoid disruptions. See the Migration page for more details. If you haven’t yet migrated and have questions, submit a request on the LinkedIn Developer Support Portal.

Image API makes it easier for you to manage image assets and create image ads.

Note

The Images API replaces the Assets API. See Migration Guide for more details.

Schema

Note

All APIs require the request headers LinkedIn-Version: {Version in YYYYMM format} and X-Restli-Protocol-Version: 2.0.0. Refer to the Protocol Versions page to learn more about Rest.li Protocol 2.0.0.

Field Name Type Description Required
aspectRatioHeight float The aspect ratio height of the media. For a 16:9 media, this will be 9. There might be decimal values for high density displays for a greater degree of precision. aspectRatioHeight and aspectRatioWidth would either both be present or both be null. Empty if the media asset isn't available, failed processing, etc. No
aspectRatioWidth float The aspect ratio width of the media. For a 16:9 media, this will be 16. There might be decimal values for high density displays for a greater degree of precision. aspectRatioHeight and aspectRatioWidth would either both be present or both be null. Empty if the media asset isn't available, failed processing, etc. No
downloadUrl URL Public URL to download/view the media asset. Is empty if the media asset isn't available, failed processing, etc. No
downloadUrlExpiresAt Time Milliseconds since the epoch (1970-01-01 00:00 UTC) when the identifier expires. If not present, it might never expire but there's no guarantee. Unless the use case has a security+legal exception, all URLs have an expiration time. If they don't, they can still expire because URLs are signed, and the sign keys might be rotated. If a non expiring URL was signed with a key that gets invalidated, it essentially expires. No
id Imageurn Unique URN for an Image. Synthetic key that should not be allowed during the creation of an Image. The field is read only and derived to be populated internally. Yes
mediaLibraryMetadata MediaLibraryMetadata Metadata for assets stored in the media library. Metadata is tied to a specific account which must be specified in queries / requests. No
mediaLibraryMetadata.associatedAccount URN The associated account that owns the media library (e.g. urn:li:sponsoredAccount:123). The media library specific metadata fields will be filled with the data from this account's library. Yes
mediaLibraryMetadata.assetName String The name of the asset in the associatedAccount's library. Yes
mediaLibraryMetadata.mediaLibraryStatus MediaLibraryStatus Status of the asset's entry in the media library. Defaults to "ACTIVE" on creation.
  • ACTIVE Owner considers asset available and usable.
  • ARCHIVED Owner considers asset archived.
  • No
    owner URN The URN of the entity that owns this asset. It can be a person(urn:li:person:123), organization(urn:li:organization:123) or sponsoredAccount(urn:li:sponsoredAccount:123) URN Yes
    status MediaStatus PROCESSING Asset is processing to generate missing artifacts. PROCESSING_FAILED - Processing failed due to client error such as file size too large, unsupported file format, internal error (e.g., performance issue, database error, network failure), or other issue. AVAILABLE - All of the recipe's required artifacts are ready. The asset is available to be served. WAITING_UPLOAD Waiting for client to upload source file or uploading process to be completed. No
    altText String The alternate text of this thumbnail. Used for screen reader accessibility. Maximum length is 4086 characters, recommended length is less than 120 characters. No
    initializeUploadRequest.mediaLibraryMetadata MediaLibraryMetadata Metadata for assets stored in the media library. Metadata is tied to a specific account which must be specified in queries / requests. When this field is present, the uploaded asset will also be registered in the account's media library. No
    initializeUploadRequest.owner URN URN of the entity that owns this asset. Can be a person(urn:li:person:123), or organization(urn:li:organization:123) URN Yes

    The Images API supports the following image pixel count and formats:

    • Images with less than 36152320 pixels
    • JPG, GIF, and PNG formats
    • GIF format supports up to 250 frames

    Permissions

    The following permission checks are performed when uploading an image:

    • For images with company URN owners, the caller must have ADMIN or DSC permissions for the company page.
    • For images with SponsoredContentAccount URN owners, all GET's and UPDATE's are permitted.
    • For images with member URN owners, the caller must match the image owner.

    The permissions required for rest/images access are: rw_ads, w_member_social, w_organization_social, and w_power_creators. However, w_member_social permission are write-only and tokens with only w_member_social permissions would be unable to perform a GET call for rest/images.

    Note

    This only applies to versioned gateway calls. w_member_social permissions are sufficient to make legacy GET calls to rest/images.

    Invalid permissions results in the following API response:

    {
        "message": "Accessing this image resource is forbidden. Please check your permissions for this resource",
        "status": 403
    }
    

    Managing Image asset

    Uploading an Image

    Initialize Image Upload

    Use the initializeUpload action to register the upload. When you initialize, you declare the upcoming upload. Use the upload URL to upload the image.

    Note

    SYNCHRONOUS_UPLOAD is not supported in Images API.

    Sample Request
    POST https://api.linkedin.com/rest/images?action=initializeUpload
    
    {
      "initializeUploadRequest": {
            "owner": "urn:li:organization:5583111"
      }
    }
    
    Sample Response
    {
       "value": {
           "uploadUrlExpiresAt": 1650567510704,
           "uploadUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/dms-uploads/C4E10AQFoyyAjHPMQuQ/uploaded-image/0?ca=vector_ads&cn=uploads&sync=0&v=beta&ut=08zHQjMjAOLqc1",
           "image": "urn:li:image:C4E10AQFoyyAjHPMQuQ"
       }
    }
    
    Sample Request
    Image with MediaLibraryMetadata for media library registration

    Note

    mediaLibraryMetadata.mediaLibraryStatus defaults to ACTIVE on creation.

    POST 'https://api.linkedin.com/rest/images?action=initializeUpload'
    
    { "initializeUploadRequest": {
           "owner": "urn:li:organization:2414183",
           "mediaLibraryMetadata": {
                "associatedAccount": "urn:li:sponsoredAccount:123456789",
                "assetName": "My media library asset"
          }
        }
    }
    
    Sample Response

    A successful response returns a 200 OK status code with the uploadUrl to upload the image.

    {
       "value": {
           "uploadUrlExpiresAt": 1650567510704,
           "uploadUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/dms-uploads/C4E10AQFoyyAjHPMQuQ/uploaded-image/0?ca=vector_ads&cn=uploads&sync=0&v=beta&ut=08zHQjMjAOLqc1",
           "image": "urn:li:image:C4E10AQFoyyAjHPMQuQ"
       }
    }
    

    Upload the Image

    Using the uploadUrl returned from the previous step, upload the image. For more information, see Upload the Image.

    Note

    Images uploaded with the Images API can now be reused across different image and image ad formats. For example, an image can be used in a single image ad, a carousel ad and a spotlight ad and does not require separate image uploads.

    GET a single image

    GET https://api.linkedin.com/rest/images/urn:li:image:C4E10AQFn10iWtKexVA
    

    Sample Response

    {
        "owner": "urn:li:organization:5583111",
        "downloadUrlExpiresAt": 1676584800000,
        "downloadUrl": "https://media.licdn-ei.com/dms/image/C4E10AQFn10iWtKexVA/image-shrink_1280/0/1675963270302/imagecreatedfirst?e=1676584800&v=beta&t=zuE2bQG5S-pY2R1v-FNJu15Pbs2K_Z02Q4naeM2kh00",
        "id": "urn:li:image:C4E10AQFn10iWtKexVA",
        "downloadUrlExpiresAt": 1679083200000,
        "status": "AVAILABLE"
    }
    

    Batch get images

    GET https://api.linkedin.com/rest/images?ids=List(urn%3Ali%3Aimage%3AC4E10AQFn10iWtKexVA,urn%3Ali%3Aimage%3AC4E10AQFgOYeVoHFeBw)
    

    Sample Response

    {
        "results": {
            "urn:li:image:C4E10AQFn10iWtKexVA": {
                "owner": "urn:li:organization:5583111",
                "downloadUrlExpiresAt": 1676584800000,
                "downloadUrl": "https://media.licdn-ei.com/dms/image/C4E10AQFn10iWtKexVA/image-shrink_1280/0/1675963270302/imagecreatedfirst?e=1676584800&v=beta&t=zuE2bQG5S-pY2R1v-FNJu15Pbs2K_Z02Q4naeM2kh00",
                "id": "urn:li:image:C4E10AQFn10iWtKexVA",
                "downloadUrlExpiresAt": 1679083200000,
                "status": "AVAILABLE"
            },
            "urn:li:image:C4E10AQFgOYeVoHFeBw":
            {
                "owner": "urn:li:organization:5583111",
                "downloadUrlExpiresAt": 1676584800000,
                "downloadUrl": "https://media.licdn-ei.com/dms/image/C4E10AQFgOYeVoHFeBw/image-shrink_1280/0/1675963270302/imagecreatedfirst?e=1676584800&v=beta&t=zuE2bQG5S-pY2R1v-FNJu15Pbs2K_Z02Q4naeM2kh00",
                "id": "urn:li:image:C4E10AQFgOYeVoHFeBw",
                "status": "WAITING_UPLOAD"
            }
        },
        "statuses":
        {
            "urn:li:image:C4E10AQFn10iWtKexVA": 200,
            "urn:li:image:C4E10AQFgOYeVoHFeBw": 200
        },
        "errors":
        {}
    }
    

    Partial Update on an Image

    Only supports updates on the media library metadata and only for the specified account. As such, the associatedAccount parameter is mandatory. Silently ignores any other patch data.

    When updating the mediaLibraryMetadata.mediaLibraryStatus field, an asset can go from ACTIVE to ARCHIVED only if it is not currently in processing (i.e. is done processing or processing failed). An asset can only go from ARCHIVED to ACTIVE if it succeeded processing. Updating the mediaLibraryMetadata.mediaLibraryStatus field will not update the last modified time of the asset.

    POST https://api.linkedin.com/rest/images/urn%3Ali%3Aimage%3AC5510AQEB1AGuxQ1NEA?associatedAccount=urn%3Ali%3AsponsoredAccount%3A123456789
    
    {
       "patch":{
          "mediaLibraryMetadata":{
             "$set":{
                "assetName":"updated name",
                "mediaLibraryStatus":"ARCHIVED"
             }
          }
       }
    }
    

    Sample Response

    A successful response returns a 204 status code.

    Find by associated account

    Get the Images associated with the specified account, by descending order of last modified time.

    Parameters

    Parameter Required Possible Values
    q Yes Must be associatedAccount
    mediaLibraryStatus No Optional filter on the media library status. When omitted, all images will be returned.
    start No The index at which the returned elements should begin. Defaults to 0.
    count No The number of elements to return, up to 1000. Defaults to 10.

    Sample Request

    GET https://api.linkedin.com/rest/images?start=0&count=1&associatedAccount=urn%3Ali%3AsponsoredAccount%3A123456789&mediaLibraryStatus=(value:ACTIVE)&q=associatedAccount \
    

    Sample Response

    {
        "elements": [
            {
                "owner": "urn:li:company:5791012",
                "downloadUrlExpiresAt": 1676584800000,
                "downloadUrl": "https://media.licdn-ei.com/dms/image/C5510AQGbefUcYjBtaA/image-shrink_1280/0/1675963270302/imagecreatedfirst?e=1676584800&v=beta&t=zuE2bQG5S-pY2R1v-FNJu15Pbs2K_Z02Q4naeM2kh00",
                "id": "urn:li:image:C5510AQGbefUcYjBtaA",
                "mediaLibraryMetadata": {
                    "associatedAccount": "urn:li:sponsoredAccount:521498108",
                    "mediaLibraryStatus": "ACTIVE",
                    "assetName": "image created first"
                },
                "status": "AVAILABLE"
            }
        ],
        "paging": {
            "count": 1,
            "start": 0,
            "links": [
                {
                    "rel": "next",
                    "type": "application/json",
                    "href": "https://api.linkedin.com/rest/images?associatedAccount=urn%3Ali%3AsponsoredAccount%3A521498108&q=associatedAccount&start=1&count=1"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
    

    Permissions

    The following permission checks are performed when retrieving or uploading an image

    • For images with company URN owners, the caller needs to have have ADMIN or DSC permissions for the company page.
    • For images with SponsoredContentAccount URN owners, all the GET and UPDATE methods are permitted.
    • For images with member URN owners, the caller needs to match the image owner.

    Invalid permissions results in the following API response:

    {
        "message": "Accessing this image resource is forbidden. Please check your permissions for this resource",
        "status": 403
    }
    

    Managing Image content

    Create Image content

    POST https://api.linkedin.com/rest/posts
    
    {
        "author": "urn:li:organization:5515715",
        "commentary": "test strings!",
        "visibility": "PUBLIC",
        "distribution": {
            "feedDistribution": "MAIN_FEED",
            "targetEntities": [],
            "thirdPartyDistributionChannels": []
        },
        "content": {
            "media": {
                "altText": "testing for alt tags",
                "id": "urn:li:image:C5610AQFj6TdYowm17w"
            }
        },
        "lifecycleState": "PUBLISHED",
        "isReshareDisabledByAuthor": false
    }
    

    Sample Response

    A successful response returns a 201 Created HTTP status code and the ID in the x-linkedin-id response header.

    Get Image content

    You can retrieve image content associated with a Post performing GET call to the Posts API on a post that was created with image content. Example post ID: urn:li:share:6876614985750310912

    GET https://api.linkedin.com/rest/posts/{postId}
    

    Sample Response

    {
        "lifecycleState": "PUBLISHED",
        "publishedBy": "urn:li:member:231303601",
        "lastModifiedAt": 1639512853791,
        "visibility": "PUBLIC",
        "publishedAt": 1639512774391,
        "author": "urn:li:company:5515715",
        "lastModifiedBy": "urn:li:csUser:2",
        "distribution": {
            "feedDistribution": "MAIN_FEED",
            "thirdPartyDistributionChannels": []
        },
        "content": {
            "media": {
                "taggedEntities": [],
                "id": "urn:li:image:C5F22AQEYStbwuCM12w"
            }
        },
        "lifecycleStateInfo": {
            "isEditedByAuthor": false
        },
        "isReshareDisabledByAuthor": false,
        "createdAt": 1639512774185,
        "createdBy": "urn:li:member:231303601",
        "id": "urn:li:share:6876614985750310912",
        "commentary": "test strings"
    }
    

    Batch Get Image Content

    You can fetch multiple posts with image content by providing multiple post IDs.

    POST https://api.linkedin.com/rest/posts?ids=List({encoded postId},{encoded postId})
    

    Sample Response

    {
       "results": {
           "urn:li:share:6927408039457087488": {
               "isReshareDisabledByAuthor": false,
               "createdAt": 1651622781932,
               "lifecycleState": "PUBLISHED",
               "lastModifiedAt": 1651622781932,
               "visibility": "PUBLIC",
               "publishedAt": 1651622781932,
               "author": "urn:li:organization:5515715",
               "id": "urn:li:share:6927408039457087488",
               "distribution": {
                   "feedDistribution": "MAIN_FEED",
                   "thirdPartyDistributionChannels": []
               },
               "content": {
                   "media": {
                       "id": "urn:li:image:C5F22AQFIMShx0jJbQw"
                   }
               },
               "commentary": "test strings",
               "lifecycleStateInfo": {
                   "isEditedByAuthor": false
               }
           },
           "urn:li:share:6927408326569783296": {
               "isReshareDisabledByAuthor": false,
               "createdAt": 1651622850346,
               "lifecycleState": "PUBLISHED",
               "lastModifiedAt": 1651622850346,
               "visibility": "PUBLIC",
               "publishedAt": 1651622850346,
               "author": "urn:li:organization:5515715",
               "id": "urn:li:share:6927408326569783296",
               "distribution": {
                   "feedDistribution": "MAIN_FEED",
                   "thirdPartyDistributionChannels": []
               },
               "content": {
                   "media": {
                       "id": "urn:li:image:C5F22AQFIMShx0jJbQw"
                   }
               },
               "commentary": "test strings1",
               "lifecycleStateInfo": {
                   "isEditedByAuthor": false
               }
           }
       },
       "statuses": {
           "urn:li:share:6927408039457087488": 200,
           "urn:li:share:6927408326569783296": 200
       },
       "errors": {}
    }
    

    Error Messages

    Code HTTP Status Code Error Message Template
    INVALID_IMAGE_ID 400 This Image ID is invalid
    INVALID_URN_ID 400 This Urn ID is invalid
    INVALID_URN_TYPE 400 {field} value {value} must be a {urnType} URN
    NOT_FOUND 400 Could not find entity
    UPDATING_ASSET_FAILED 400 Failed to update asset {urn} for the intended usecase. Please recreate the asset and try again.