GET https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/images/search
Authentication
:
X-Subscription-Token:
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