How to Post Images on Reddit (Upload or Link)
Post images on Reddit from desktop or app: native uploads, galleries, images in comments, and when an external image link works better.
By Ahsan Khowaja · · 7 min read
Facts checked against official sources on
On this page
To post an image on Reddit, open the community you want to post in, choose Create a post, add a title, then use the Image option in the editor to upload a picture from your computer or phone. To add several pictures, enable a gallery-style post if the community allows it. If the image is already online, or the community only accepts links, you can post a link to the image instead. Each method is explained below, along with why an image might be removed or fail to load.
Native image posts
Uploading directly to Reddit is the simplest option and keeps the image on Reddit's own servers. Reddit's help article on posting and commenting describes the steps.
On reddit.com (desktop)
- Go to the community you want to post in and click Create a post, to the right of the community name. You can also start from the home page with Create, then pick a community from the dropdown.
- Add a descriptive title that summarises the post.
- In the rich text editor, choose Image and select a picture from your computer.
- Add a description if you want, plus any tags such as spoiler or NSFW where they apply.
- Click Post.
In the Reddit app (iPhone and Android)
- Tap Create. Reddit's help article says the button is at the bottom of the screen on Android and in the top-right corner on iOS, and you can also start from inside a community.
- Add a title.
- Tap the Image option and choose a photo from your camera roll.
- Add tags if needed. The NSFW and spoiler tags sit behind the overflow menu.
- Tap Post.
Reddit notes that not all communities allow all post options. If you do not see the Image option, the community has image posts switched off. Read its rules in the sidebar; some ask for links or text posts only.
How do I post multiple images on Reddit?
To post multiple images on Reddit, use a gallery, which puts several images in one post. Start an image post as normal and add more than one picture, then add a caption and a link to each image. Each community decides whether galleries are allowed, and they can only be created on reddit.com and in the mobile app.
Reddit's moderator help page on community settings describes gallery posts as posts "containing more than one image" that show "a static slide show with the post, and captions and links for each image".
Two things to know:
- Moderators decide. Galleries are a separate setting that each community can switch on or off.
- Old Reddit is not supported for creating them. Reddit's help says multiple-image posts can only be posted on reddit.com and mobile.
Galleries work well for before-and-after photos, step-by-step builds and sets of screenshots. Put the most important image first, as it is what most people see in the feed.
Can I post an image in a Reddit comment?
You can add an image to a Reddit comment in communities that allow it. Select the Image icon in the comment box, choose an image from your device and post the comment. Image comments are only available in Safe for Work communities, so if there is no image icon, the community has turned the feature off or is marked NSFW.
Some communities let you add an image to a comment. Reddit's article on adding images in comments gives these steps.
On reddit.com:
- In the comment box, click the Image icon.
- Select an image from your device.
- Finish your comment and click Comment.
In the app:
- Tap Add a Comment and select the Image icon.
- Choose an image from your camera roll.
- Finish your comment and tap send.
Reddit's article mentions a "max height/width of 240px" for these comment images, and says image comments are only available in Safe for Work communities. If there is no image icon in the comment box, the community has turned the feature off or is marked NSFW.
When should I post an image link instead of uploading?
Post a link instead of uploading to Reddit when the community only allows link or text posts, when you want the same image in several places with one address, when you want a copy you control and can delete later, or when image comments are off and you want a picture in a text post or comment.
How to post one
- Upload your image to an image host and copy the direct link, the one that ends in
.jpg,.png,.gifor.webp. - On Reddit, create a post and choose the Link option.
- Paste the address, add a title and post.
In a text post or comment, you can also turn words into a link using Reddit's formatting. The Reddit formatting guide covers the syntax, which is based on Markdown:
[Screenshot of the error message](https://example.com/i/abc123.png)
Direct link or share page?
Use the direct link to the image file when you want Reddit, or any other site, to treat the address as a picture. A share or viewer page is better when you are linking for people to click through and see the image on a page. Our guide to direct links, viewer links and embed codes explains the difference in more detail.
Using PictureToLink for this
With PictureToLink, you drop or paste an image, and you get a direct link and a share page link straight away, with no account. Location data and other metadata are stripped from every upload, which is worth having before you post a phone photo publicly.
The honest limits: we accept JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF and AVIF up to 25 MB (iPhone HEIC photos are converted to JPG in your browser before they upload). The image stays online while people keep viewing it and is removed after 12 months without views, so a link in a Reddit post from years ago can eventually stop working. If you want the image to last as long as the post, a native Reddit upload is the safer choice.
Size and format limits
Reddit's help center, as of our check, does not publish a single table of file-size limits or accepted formats for image posts, so we are not going to quote numbers we cannot confirm. In practice:
- Standard photo formats (JPG, PNG) and GIFs are the safest choices.
- If an upload fails, the app or website shows an error. Try a smaller file or a JPG copy.
- Resize very large photos before uploading. A photo straight from a modern phone camera is far larger than any screen needs.
Profile pictures, banners and community icons have their own size requirements, covered in our guide to Reddit banner and avatar sizes.
Why was my Reddit image removed or not loading?
A Reddit post that does not appear has usually been hidden by Hot sorting, removed by a moderator, caught by the spam filter or delayed by a Reddit incident. If the image does not load, the link may point to a page rather than the picture, or the image may be deleted, blocked or in an unsupported format.
Your post does not appear
Reddit's article Why can't I see my post? lists the common causes:
- You are sorting by Hot. New posts are easy to miss. Sort by New.
- A moderator removed it for breaking a community rule, such as a required title format.
- The spam filter caught it. Reddit limits how often new accounts, or accounts with little karma, can post in a community, especially in communities sensitive to spam.
- Reddit is having an incident. Check Reddit's status page.
The image will not load
If your post exists but the image does not show:
- You linked to a page, not a picture. Many hosts' default links open a web page. Use the direct link that ends in an image extension.
- The image was deleted or expired. If you set your upload to auto-delete, or the host removed it, the link breaks.
- The host is blocked where the viewer is. For example, Imgur has stopped serving content to UK users, including images embedded on other sites.
- The format is unusual. HEIC files from iPhones are not supported by most browsers, so convert to JPG first.
Our guide to broken image links goes through each of these in more depth.
Next step
For most posts, upload the image directly to Reddit. When a community wants links, or you need one image in several places, upload it to get a direct link and paste that into a Link post instead.