An Image Host is a specialized web service that allows you to upload images on the Internet. The host site stores the images on its server and provides the uploader of the image with code, allowing him or her to share photos with other people on the internet, without having their own webspace. There are a variety of these services, both free and paid available.

Functions of image hosting services

The image hosting services offer a place to the images on the Internet, so that they can be utilized in different forums, message boards, online auctioning, blogs, online journals, photo gallery, interactive pages and exchanging. Generally dedicated servers operate on free web hosting services owing to their popularity and the high bandwidth usage needed.

Features of image hosting services

Image hosting services offer you to upload multiple files at once. The host then allows you to show the images in a number of ways like linking with BB code, linking with HTML code and clickable thumbnails that are linked to the full size images.

The image hosts usually restrict the image size, image space or the bandwidth allowed. Due to the high cost of bandwidth, free web hosting services usually do not offer very large size limits per image compared to the paid services. If you wish to upload large images then it is always better to go for paid hosting services. You can take your pick for paid image hosting service from websites like www.alstrasoft.com, www.advancescripts.com, www.sitescripts.com and so on. Your image host can allow creation of photoblogs/galleries with your images or a slideshow for better viewing. You can also add notes to an uploaded image, transloaders or browsers sidebars. Some web hosting services also allow the users to resize the images.

There are a number of free image hosting sites on the Internet. Some of the websites also offer optional paid image hosting facilities. If you compare the costs of purchasing paid image hosting, the latter will turn out to be cheaper. Most of the free images hosting sites are supported by advertisements.

Uploading images on image hosting websites

The uploading of an image on a free hosting site is quite easy. Free web hosting services like, www.pixpond.com can host image files with the extension of jpg/jpeg, bmp, gif and png. Uploading images on this site is quite fast and easy. You just need to click on the Browse button to select the image saved on your computer and next click on the Upload button. You do not need to bother about other hassles. However, there are a few restrictions imposed on uploading images, so go through them before you begin uploading.