***

title: Image Inputs
subtitle: How to send images to OpenRouter models
headline: OpenRouter Image Inputs | Complete Documentation
canonical-url: '[https://openrouter.ai/docs/guides/overview/multimodal/images](https://openrouter.ai/docs/guides/overview/multimodal/images)'
'og:site\_name': OpenRouter Documentation
'og:title': OpenRouter Image Inputs - Complete Documentation
'og:description': Send images to vision models through the OpenRouter API.
'og:image':
type: url
value: >-
[https://openrouter.ai/dynamic-og?title=OpenRouter%20Image%20Inputs\&description=Send%20images%20to%20vision%20models%20through%20the%20OpenRouter%20API](https://openrouter.ai/dynamic-og?title=OpenRouter%20Image%20Inputs\&description=Send%20images%20to%20vision%20models%20through%20the%20OpenRouter%20API).
'og:image:width': 1200
'og:image:height': 630
'twitter:card': summary\_large\_image
'twitter:site': '@OpenRouter'
noindex: false
nofollow: false
---------------

Requests with images, to multimodel models, are available via the `/api/v1/chat/completions` API with a multi-part `messages` parameter. The `image_url` can either be a URL or a base64-encoded image. Note that multiple images can be sent in separate content array entries. The number of images you can send in a single request varies per provider and per model. Due to how the content is parsed, we recommend sending the text prompt first, then the images. If the images must come first, we recommend putting it in the system prompt.

OpenRouter supports both **direct URLs** and **base64-encoded data** for images:

* **URLs**: More efficient for publicly accessible images as they don't require local encoding
* **Base64**: Required for local files or private images that aren't publicly accessible

### Using Image URLs

Here's how to send an image using a URL:

<Template
  data={{
  API_KEY_REF,
  MODEL: 'google/gemini-3-flash-preview'
}}
>
  <CodeGroup>
    ```typescript title="TypeScript SDK"
    import { OpenRouter } from '@openrouter/sdk';

    const openRouter = new OpenRouter({
      apiKey: '{{API_KEY_REF}}',
    });

    const result = await openRouter.chat.send({
      model: '{{MODEL}}',
      messages: [
        {
          role: 'user',
          content: [
            {
              type: 'text',
              text: "What's in this image?",
            },
            {
              type: 'image_url',
              imageUrl: {
                url: 'https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Gfp-wisconsin-madison-the-nature-boardwalk.jpg/2560px-Gfp-wisconsin-madison-the-nature-boardwalk.jpg',
              },
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
      stream: false,
    });

    console.log(result);
    ```

    ```python
    import requests
    import json

    url = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY_REF}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }

    messages = [
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "text": "What's in this image?"
                },
                {
                    "type": "image_url",
                    "image_url": {
                        "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Gfp-wisconsin-madison-the-nature-boardwalk.jpg/2560px-Gfp-wisconsin-madison-the-nature-boardwalk.jpg"
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    ]

    payload = {
        "model": "{{MODEL}}",
        "messages": messages
    }

    response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=payload)
    print(response.json())
    ```

    ```typescript title="TypeScript (fetch)"
    const response = await fetch('https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions', {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: {
        Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY_REF}`,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        model: '{{MODEL}}',
        messages: [
          {
            role: 'user',
            content: [
              {
                type: 'text',
                text: "What's in this image?",
              },
              {
                type: 'image_url',
                image_url: {
                  url: 'https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Gfp-wisconsin-madison-the-nature-boardwalk.jpg/2560px-Gfp-wisconsin-madison-the-nature-boardwalk.jpg',
                },
              },
            ],
          },
        ],
      }),
    });

    const data = await response.json();
    console.log(data);
    ```
  </CodeGroup>
</Template>

### Using Base64 Encoded Images

For locally stored images, you can send them using base64 encoding. Here's how to do it:

<Template
  data={{
  API_KEY_REF,
  MODEL: 'google/gemini-3-flash-preview'
}}
>
  <CodeGroup>
    ```typescript title="TypeScript SDK"
    import { OpenRouter } from '@openrouter/sdk';
    import * as fs from 'fs';

    const openRouter = new OpenRouter({
      apiKey: '{{API_KEY_REF}}',
    });

    async function encodeImageToBase64(imagePath: string): Promise<string> {
      const imageBuffer = await fs.promises.readFile(imagePath);
      const base64Image = imageBuffer.toString('base64');
      return `data:image/jpeg;base64,${base64Image}`;
    }

    // Read and encode the image
    const imagePath = 'path/to/your/image.jpg';
    const base64Image = await encodeImageToBase64(imagePath);

    const result = await openRouter.chat.send({
      model: '{{MODEL}}',
      messages: [
        {
          role: 'user',
          content: [
            {
              type: 'text',
              text: "What's in this image?",
            },
            {
              type: 'image_url',
              imageUrl: {
                url: base64Image,
              },
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
      stream: false,
    });

    console.log(result);
    ```

    ```python
    import requests
    import json
    import base64
    from pathlib import Path

    def encode_image_to_base64(image_path):
        with open(image_path, "rb") as image_file:
            return base64.b64encode(image_file.read()).decode('utf-8')

    url = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY_REF}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }

    # Read and encode the image
    image_path = "path/to/your/image.jpg"
    base64_image = encode_image_to_base64(image_path)
    data_url = f"data:image/jpeg;base64,{base64_image}"

    messages = [
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "text": "What's in this image?"
                },
                {
                    "type": "image_url",
                    "image_url": {
                        "url": data_url
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    ]

    payload = {
        "model": "{{MODEL}}",
        "messages": messages
    }

    response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=payload)
    print(response.json())
    ```

    ```typescript title="TypeScript (fetch)"
    async function encodeImageToBase64(imagePath: string): Promise<string> {
      const imageBuffer = await fs.promises.readFile(imagePath);
      const base64Image = imageBuffer.toString('base64');
      return `data:image/jpeg;base64,${base64Image}`;
    }

    // Read and encode the image
    const imagePath = 'path/to/your/image.jpg';
    const base64Image = await encodeImageToBase64(imagePath);

    const response = await fetch('https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions', {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: {
        Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY_REF}`,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        model: '{{MODEL}}',
        messages: [
          {
            role: 'user',
            content: [
              {
                type: 'text',
                text: "What's in this image?",
              },
              {
                type: 'image_url',
                image_url: {
                  url: base64Image,
                },
              },
            ],
          },
        ],
      }),
    });

    const data = await response.json();
    console.log(data);
    ```
  </CodeGroup>
</Template>

Supported image content types are:

* `image/png`
* `image/jpeg`
* `image/webp`
* `image/gif`