Lorem Picsum

picsum.photos · Developer Tools

Developer Tools No Auth Free & Open Images Placeholder Developer Tools

Beautiful placeholder images from Unsplash. Specify any width and height, add blur or greyscale filters. No API key required.

Authentication

No authentication requiredFree to use with no key needed.

Sample Requests

GET Random image

Get a random 200x300 placeholder image.

https://picsum.photos/200/300

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://picsum.photos/200/300"

import requests
response = requests.get(
    "https://picsum.photos/200/300",
)
print(response.json())

const url = 'https://picsum.photos/200/300';

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	targetURL := "https://picsum.photos/200/300"
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://picsum.photos/200/300")

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://picsum.photos/200/300";
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

GET Specific image by ID

Get a specific Picsum photo (id=10) at 800x600.

https://picsum.photos/id/10/800/600

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://picsum.photos/id/10/800/600"

import requests
response = requests.get(
    "https://picsum.photos/id/10/800/600",
)
print(response.json())

const url = 'https://picsum.photos/id/10/800/600';

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	targetURL := "https://picsum.photos/id/10/800/600"
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://picsum.photos/id/10/800/600")

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://picsum.photos/id/10/800/600";
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

GET Image list JSON

Get list of available photos with metadata.

https://picsum.photos/v2/list?page=1&limit=5

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://picsum.photos/v2/list?page=1&limit=5"

import requests
params = {
    "page": "1",
    "limit": "5"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://picsum.photos/v2/list",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://picsum.photos/v2/list');
url.searchParams.set('page', '1');
url.searchParams.set('limit', '5');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://picsum.photos/v2/list")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("page", "1")
	q.Set("limit", "5")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://picsum.photos/v2/list")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "page" => "1",
  "limit" => "5"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://picsum.photos/v2/list?" . http_build_query([
    "page" => "1",
    "limit" => "5"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

Postman Setup Guide

Get Postman ↗

No API key needed
Use in HTML: <img src="https://picsum.photos/200/300">
Greyscale: https://picsum.photos/200/300?grayscale
Blur: https://picsum.photos/200/300?blur=2
Specific photo: https://picsum.photos/id/237/200/300 (dog photo)

What can you build with Lorem Picsum?

Lorem Picsum is a Developer Tools API. Developers commonly use developer tools APIs for:

automating code review and quality checks
integrating CI/CD pipelines and build systems
managing feature flags and A/B tests
monitoring errors and application performance
generating and validating test data

No authentication required. This API is open — no signup or key needed. Ideal for quick prototypes and public-facing features. Lorem Picsum is free to use, making it a low-risk choice to experiment with.

New to APIs? Read our beginner's guide

Open documentation ↗