The Movie Database Support
Support → API Support
Configuration & Profile Images
posted by Peter DzomlijaSTAFFMOD on July 26, 2017 at 2:35 AM
I have a rather odd question concerning Configuration and the Profile Image sizes that are listed "w45", "w185", "h632" and "original".
In itself, the codes listed are not a problem, and image URLs that I generate using those code work without any problems. The following links show as an example the profile images for Morgan Freeman: W45, W185, H632 and ORIGINAL.
Except that when I generate a URL for retrieve a profile image, I'm able to use size codes that are not listed in the "profile_sizes" section of the configuration retrieval results. To illustrate, the following links also display profile images of Morgan Freeman, except that the URLs make use of size codes from other image size sections: logo_sizes (W92), poster_sizes (W342) and backdrop_sizes (W1280)
Is it just a lucky bug in my use of the API that size codes from other sections work with profile images, or simply that the "w92", "w342" and "w1280" are not supposed to be used for Profile Images, and are therefore not listed in the "profile_sizes" section of the configuration results?
Oh, and for the record, I have no interest in using the "w342" and "w1280" size codes. I only used them here in this post to illustrate how image size code that are not part of "profile_sizes" would still work. I do, however (knowing that it works) want to use "w92" to download images of people when displaying cast search results. "w45" is too small for my needs, with "w185", "h632" and "original" being too big for display in a list.
Reply by Travis Bell
on July 26, 2017 at 12:23 PM
Technically speaking all of the sizes you can find everywhere can be used for any image. The reason to have some standardized image sizes is that these are the sizes I am willing to guarantee. The contract between you and I, so to speak. The image service is just a "dumb" web app, pass it a different param and anything will work. But I don't guarantee other sizes. They might come and go and if you decide to rely on size that isn't official, you're doing so at your own risk.
There's another benefit to choosing official sizes and it's because these sizes are well cached on the CDN. If no other app is using another size, you'll end up creating the assets yourself. This is not only a slow process from the origin but also, these assets won't be warmed and cached at the edges so your customers will also have a slow experience.
Hopefully that explains it all
Reply by Peter Dzomlija
on July 26, 2017 at 11:28 PM
This does clear things up somewhat, because I was concerned precisely about whether or not the "unofficial size" would always be available.
I wanted to use the "w92" instead of "w45" when displaying search results for people, because they are easier on the eyes. I think what I will do is to change my application to use "w45" images when displaying people results, and only when the user double-clicks on a person to display their Movie/TV credits, will I download a larger image. I might even use "w185" as a static poster display.
Thanks for the help, Travis.