Hotlink Protection is a critical security feature that prevents other websites from directly linking to (and displaying) your images, videos, and other files. This practice, known as "hotlinking" or "bandwidth theft," consumes your server's bandwidth and resources, potentially costing you money or slowing down your site.
Use the following steps to enable and configure Hotlink Protection in your cPanel control panel.
Hotlink Protection Steps:
- Log into your cPanel dashboard.
- Scroll down to the Security section and click the Hotlink Protection icon.
- Click the Enable button.
- Under URLs to allow access, ensure all versions of your domain are listed (e.g.,
http://domain.com,http://www.domain.com, etc.). This ensures your own website can display your files. - Under Block direct access for these extensions, enter the file types you want to protect, separated by commas (e.g.,
jpg, jpeg, gif, png, bmp). - (Optional) Check Allow direct requests if you want to be able to enter a file's URL directly into a browser and view it.
- (Optional) Enter a Redirect request to this URL link to send hotlinkers to a specific page (e.g., an HTML file with a "No Hotlinking" message).
- Click Submit.
You can return to this screen at any time to Disable the protection or modify your settings.
Note: Hotlink Protection works by checking the HTTP Referer header. If the referer is not one of your allowed URLs, access is blocked or redirected.
