images-search

$27

With Parameters

curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/images/search" \

  -H "Accept: application/json" \

  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}" \

  -G \

  --data-urlencode "q=northern lights photography" \

  --data-urlencode "country=US" \

  --data-urlencode "search_lang=en" \

  --data-urlencode "count=20" \

  --data-urlencode "safesearch=strict"

Endpoint

GET https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/images/search

Authentication: X-Subscription-Token: <API_KEY> header

Parameters

Parameter

Type

Required

Default

Description

q

string

Yes

-

Search query (1-400 chars, max 50 words)

country

string

No

US

Search country (2-letter country code or ALL)

search_lang

string

No

en

2+ char language code

count

int

No

50

Results to return (1-200)

safesearch

string

No

strict

off or strict (no moderate for images)

spellcheck

bool

No

true

Auto-correct query; corrected query in query.altered

Response Format

{

  "type": "images",

  "query": {

    "original": "mountain landscape",

    "altered": null,

    "spellcheck_off": false,

    "show_strict_warning": false

  },

  "results": [

    {

      "type": "image_result",

      "title": "Beautiful Mountain Landscape",

      "url": "https://example.com/mountain-photo",

      "source": "example.com",

      "page_fetched": "2025-09-15T10:30:00Z",

      "thumbnail": {

        "src": "https://imgs.search.brave.com/...",

        "width": 200,

        "height": 150

      },

      "properties": {

        "url": "https://example.com/images/mountain.jpg",

        "placeholder": "https://imgs.search.brave.com/placeholder/...",

        "width": 1920,

        "height": 1080

      },

      "meta_url": {

        "scheme": "https",

        "netloc": "example.com",

        "hostname": "example.com",

        "favicon": "https://imgs.search.brave.com/favicon/...",

        "path": "/mountain-photo"

      },

      "confidence": "high"

    }

  ],

  "extra": {

    "might_be_offensive": false

  }

}

Response Fields

Field

Type

Description

type

string

Always "images"

query.original

string

Original query

query.altered

string?

Spellchecked query (null if no correction)

query.spellcheck_off

bool?

Whether spellcheck was disabled

query.show_strict_warning

bool?

True if strict safesearch hid relevant results

results[]

array

List of image results

results[].type

string

Always "image_result"

results[].title

string?

Image title

results[].url

string?

Page URL where image was found

results[].source

string?

Source domain

results[].page_fetched

string?

ISO datetime of last page crawl

results[].thumbnail.src

string?

Brave-proxied thumbnail URL (~500px width)

results[].thumbnail.width

int?

Thumbnail width

results[].thumbnail.height

int?

Thumbnail height

results[].properties.url

string?

Original full-size image URL

results[].properties.placeholder

string?

Low-res placeholder URL (Brave-proxied)

results[].properties.width

int?

Original image width (may be null)

results[].properties.height

int?

Original image height (may be null)

results[].meta_url.scheme

string?

URL protocol scheme

results[].meta_url.netloc

string?

Network location

results[].meta_url.hostname

string?

Lowercased domain

results[].meta_url.favicon

string?

Favicon URL

results[].meta_url.path

string?

URL path

results[].confidence

string?

Relevance: low, medium, or high

extra.might_be_offensive

bool

Whether results may contain offensive content

Use Cases

• Visual content discovery: Build image galleries, mood boards, or visual research tools. Use count=200 for comprehensive coverage. Prefer over web-search when you need image-specific metadata (dimensions, thumbnails).

• Content enrichment: Add relevant images to articles or generated content. Use country and search_lang to target your audience's locale.

• Safe image retrieval: Default safesearch=strict ensures family-friendly results out of the box. Only two modes (off/strict) — no moderate option, unlike web/video/news search.

• High-volume batch retrieval: Up to 200 images per request (vs 20 for web, 50 for videos/news). Ideal for bulk image sourcing or visual analysis pipelines.

Notes

• SafeSearch: Defaults to strict for images (stricter than web search)

• High volume: Can return up to 200 results per request

• Thumbnails: Brave-proxied for user privacy (500px width). Use properties.url for original full-resolution image.

• Dimensions: properties.width/height may be missing for some images

• Placeholder: properties.placeholder is a low-res URL (not inline base64) useful for progressive loading UX