The methods for uploading and retrieving files don’t require an API key. The methods for creating and retrieving lists also don’t require an API key. All methods which delete or modify a resource do require an API key.
API keys can be obtained from the login API.
Some JSON responses include fields which end in “_href” (some people don’t know this, but “href” stands for “Hypertext Reference”, the more you know). These point to different places in the API, which you can retrieve with a GET request. The path is to be appended to the API URL, so “/file/someid/thumbnail” becomes “/api/file/someid/thumbnail”.
The base URL for the API is “/api”, all paths below are relative to that URL.
I recommend you put files at the end of every file upload form. By doing this the pixeldrain server can respond to malformed requests before the file upload finishes and this may save you a lot of time and bandwidth when uploading large files. Make sure your HTTP client has support for premature responses, pixeldrain uses them a lot. If the server responds before your request is finished it will always indicate an error and you may abort the connection.
Upload a file. HTTP 200: OK HTTP 422: Unprocessable Entity HTTP 500: Internal Server Error HTTP 413: Payload Too Large HTTP 500: Internal Server Error HTTP 413: Payload Too LargePOST/file
Description
Parameters
Param
Type
Required
Maximum Size
Default
Description
name
string
false
255 characters
multipart file name
Name of the file to upload
anonymous
boolean
false
N/A
false
File is not linked to user if true
file
multipart file
true
1000^3 bytes
none
File to upload
Returns
{
"success": true,
"id": "abc123" // ID of the newly uploaded file
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "no_file",
"message": "The file does not exist or is empty."
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "internal",
"message": "An internal server error occurred."
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "file_too_large",
"message": "The file you tried to upload is too large"
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "writing",
"message": "Something went wrong while writing the file to disk, the server may be out of storage space."
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "name_too_long",
"message": "File Name is too long, Max 255 characters allowed."
}
Returns the full file associated with the ID. Supports byte range requests. When ‘?download’ is added to the URL the server will send an attachment header
instead of inline rendering, which causes the browser to show a ‘Save File’
dialog. Warning: If a file is using too much bandwidth it can be rate limited. The rate
limit will be enabled if a file has ten times more downloads than views. The
owner of a file can always download it. When a file is rate limited the user
will need to fill out a captcha in order to continue downloading the file. The
captcha will only appear on the file viewer page (pixeldrain.com/u/{id}). Rate
limiting has been added to prevent the spread of viruses and to stop direct
linking. Pixeldrain also includes a virus scanner. If a virus has been detected in a file
the user will also have to fill in a captcha to download it. HTTP 404: Not Found HTTP 403: Forbidden HTTP 403: ForbiddenGET/file/{id}
Description
Parameters
Param
Required
Location
Description
id
true
URL
ID of the file to request
download
false
URL
Sends attachment header instead of inline
Returns
HTTP 200: OK
Requested file data
{
"success": false,
"value": "not_found",
"message": "The entity you requested could not be found"
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "file_rate_limited_captcha_required",
"message": "This file is using too much bandwidth. For anonymous downloads a captcha is required now. The captcha entry is available on the download page"
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "virus_detected_captcha_required",
"message": "This file has been marked as malware by our scanning systems. To avoid infecting other systems through automated downloads we require you to enter a captcha. The captcha entry is available on the download page"
}
Returns information about one or more files. You can also put a comma separated
list of file IDs in the URL and it will return an array of file info, instead of
a single object. HTTP 200: OK HTTP 404: Not FoundGET/file/{id}/info
Description
Parameters
Param
Required
Location
Description
id
true
URL
ID of the file
Returns
{
"success": true,
"id": "1234abcd",
"name": "screenshot.png",
"date_upload": 2020-02-04T18:34:05.706801Z,
"date_last_view": 2020-02-04T18:34:05.706801Z,
"size": 5694837, // Bytes
"views" 1234, // Amount of unique file views
"bandwidth_used": 1234567890, // Bytes
"mime_type" "image/png",
"thumbnail_href": "/file/1234abcd/thumbnail" // Link to a thumbnail of this file
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "file_not_found"
}
Creates a list of files that can be viewed together on the file viewer page. POST body should be a JSON object, example below. A list can contain at most
10000 files. If you try to add more the request will fail. HTTP 200: OK HTTP 422: Unprocessable Entity HTTP 413: Payload too large HTTP 422: Unprocessable Entity HTTP 413: Payload too large HTTP 413: Payload too large HTTP 422: Unprocessable EntityPOST/list
Description
Parameters
Example
{
"title": "My beautiful photos", // Defaults to "Pixeldrain List"
"anonymous": false / true, // If true this list will not be linked to your user account. Defaults to "false"
"files": [ // Ordered array of files to add to the list
{
"id": "abc123",
"description": "First photo of the week, such a beautiful valley"
},
{
"id": "123abc",
"description": "The week went by so quickly, here's a photo from the plane back"
}
]
}
Returns
{
"success": true,
"id": "yay137" // ID of the newly created list
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "list_file_not_found",
"message": "File Oh42No was not found in the database.",
"extra": {
"file_not_found": "0h42No" // The file you tried to add with this ID does not exist
}
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "too_many_files",
"message": "This list contains too many files, max 10000 allowed."
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "json_parse_failed",
"message": "The JSON object in the request body could not be read."
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "title_too_long",
"message": "The title of this list is too long, max 300 characters allowed."
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "description_too_long",
"message": "The description of one of the files in the list is too long, max 3000 characters allowed."
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "cannot_create_empty_list",
"message": "You cannot make a list with no files."
}
Returns information about a file list and the files in it. The API will return some basic information about every file. Every file also has
a “detail_href” field which contains a URL to the info API of the file. Follow
that link to get more information about the file like size, checksum, mime type,
etc. The address is relative to the API URL and should be appended to the end. HTTP 200: OK HTTP 404: Not FoundGET/list/{id}
Description
Parameters
Param
Required
Location
Description
id
true
URL
ID of the list
Returns
{
"success": true,
"id": "L8bhwx",
"title": "Rust in Peace",
"date_created": 2020-02-04T18:34:13.466276Z,
"files": [
// These structures are the same as the file info response, except for the detail_href and description fields
{
"detail_href": "/file/_SqVWi/info",
"description": "",
"success": true,
"id": "_SqVWi",
"name": "01 Holy Wars... The Punishment Due.mp3",
"size": 123456,
"date_created": 2020-02-04T18:34:13.466276Z,
"date_last_view": 2020-02-04T18:34:13.466276Z,
"mime_type": "audio/mp3",
"views": 1,
"bandwidth_used": 1234567890,
"thumbnail_href": "/file/_SqVWi/thumbnail"
},
{
"detail_href": "/file/RKwgZb/info",
"description": "",
"success": true,
"id": "RKwgZb",
"name": "02 Hangar 18.mp3",
"size": 123456,
"date_created": 2020-02-04T18:34:13.466276Z,
"date_last_view": 2020-02-04T18:34:13.466276Z,
"mime_type": "audio/mp3",
"views": 2,
"bandwidth_used": 1234567890,
"thumbnail_href": "/file/RKwgZb/thumbnail"
},
{
"detail_href": "/file/DRaL_e/info",
"description": "",
"success": true,
"id": "DRaL_e",
"name": "03 Take No Prisoners.mp3",
"size": 123456,
"date_created": 2020-02-04T18:34:13.466276Z,
"date_last_view": 2020-02-04T18:34:13.466276Z,
"mime_type": "audio/mp3",
"views": 3,
"bandwidth_used": 1234567890,
"thumbnail_href": "/file/DRaL_e/thumbnail"
}
]
}
{
"success": false,
"value": "list_not_found",
}