Understanding And Enabling Public Assets

Summary

Bynder empowers users to make assets public by generating a URL for the asset, which can be shared with non-Bynder users or linked on your website. This highly customizable built-in feature offers complete control over how you share your public assets. 

Note: We are upgrading our image link system to a faster and more reliable /asset/ format. Starting the week of March 30th, 2026, the /asset/ structure will become the default link format returned via Bynder APIs. While your legacy /m/ links will remain functional indefinitely for backwards compatibility, we recommend transitioning to the new structure for all new integrations.
 

Who?

This feature/solution is enable-able by any Bynder portal user.

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Users must have the Mark assets as public permission. If you do not have this permission enabled please contact your Bynder Admin.

Why?

Users can choose to make certain assets visible, downloadable, or downloadable with a watermark. Users can even configure their portal so that once an asset is archived, the public URL becomes inaccessible, or users can create a Public Collection to share multiple assets with non-Bynder users.

How?

 

Marking Assets As Public

  1. You can edit one or more images in the asset overview by clicking on them to batch select, or you can click an asset and click the Edit tab on the Asset detail page.
  2. Expand the Advanced Rights tab.
  3. Select Mark as public. When an asset is marked public, a publicly accessible URL is created for it. Any user who has the URL can then view and download the asset. This does not make the derivatives public. This does allow the original asset to be visible via the URL and API.

Note: Contact Customer Support to enable public derivatives to be accessible from the asset detail page, by default derivatives are only visible via the API. Once enabled users will need the Download original assets and the Download public asset derivatives permissions to view public links within the Asset Detail view.

Sharing An Asset Via Public Link

  1. Navigate to your Portal. 
  2. Select an asset and click the thumbnail.
  3. Navigate to your Asset Detail view. 
  4. Scroll down to find link to public files.Screenshot 2024-11-04 at 4.51.20 PM.png
  5. You will see the options for public files depending on how they were configured. 
Note: When downloading an asset from a public link the asset will only download the asset name, and not any custom naming that has been configured. 

Deleting Public Assets

When you delete a public asset, the public URLs will no longer be accessible. If the public URLs have been cached, they will remain working until the cache has expired. The default expiry time of our CDN offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) is 24 hours. If you use a custom CDN, the public URLs will no longer work when your custom expiry time has expired.

Making Public URLs Inaccessible by Archiving or Limiting Assets

By default, an asset's public URLs will be accessible when it is archived or limited. If you don't want this to be the case, we can set up your portal so that public URLs no longer work when an asset is archived or limited, simply contact Customer Support to enable this feature.

Public URLs of an asset that has been visited recently are most likely cached. Archiving or limiting an asset doesn't invalidate the public URLs. This means that even when you archive or limit a public asset the cached public URL(s) will remain accessible until the cache has expired. 

 

Understanding /m/ Structure Public Links

Note: This is a legacy format currently transitioning to the /asset/ link structure. While /m/ links will remain functional indefinitely, please note that our APIs will exclusively return /asset/ links starting March 30th, 2026.

Original file

https://YourPortalURL.com/m/[idhash]/original/[asset-name].[file-extension]

Derivative

https://YourPortalURL.com/m/[idhash]/[derivative-prefix]-[asset-name].[file-extension]

/m/

The /m/ element indicates that it is a public link.

idhash

The idhash is a randomly generated hash based on the mediaID. It's a 16-character hexadecimal string.

original

This indicates that the URL links to the original file.

derivative-prefix

This is a mandatory reference to determine which derivative of the asset to use

asset-name

This value represents the name of the asset.

file-extension

The file extension of the original file or derivative.

ensure download

Type ?download behind the public URL, ensuring the asset will be downloaded immediately instead of only viewed.

 Understanding /asset/ Structure Public Links

Original file

https://YourPortalURL.com/asset/[asset-id]/[asset-name]

Standard Derivative

https://YourPortalURL.com/asset/[asset-id]/thumbnail/[thumbnail-name]-[asset-name]

Custom Derivative

https://YourPortalURL.com/asset/[asset-id]/[derivative-prefix]/[asset-name]

/asset/
The /asset/ element indicates that it is a public link.

asset-id
The ID of the asset in UUID format

Thumbnail

This is a reference to determine a request for a standard derivative

thumbnail-name

This is a reference to a standard derivative, this can be ‘mini’, ‘thul’ or ‘webimage’

derivative-prefix
This is a mandatory reference to determine which derivative of the asset to use
asset-name
This value represents the name of the asset.

?format= 
Adding this value and filling the latter half (after the =) with an output type will force that output type. Output types accepted are: jpg, png, webp, or avif. 
Example: ?format=png will force the download output of the asset to be a .png file. 

Note: Currently, public links are built with these two structures, in the near future, all assets will be the /asset/ links structure. Any /m/ link currently in use will be backwards compatible and continue working.

Technical Requirements for Link Modernization

To ensure a seamless transition to the /asset/ structure, please review the following technical requirements with your IT or Development teams:

  • [CRITICAL] Custom Domain & CDN Routing: If you serve assets through a custom domain or SEO Base URL (e.g., brand.com/images/), your IT team must update your routing rules to recognize and forward the new /asset/ path to your Bynder portal.

    • The Risk: Without this update, new links generated after March 30th will return 404 errors, and you will be unable to invalidate (clear) the cache for these assets.

    • The Solution: Update your CDN or web server (e.g., NGINX, Cloudfront, Akamai) to recognize /asset/ just as it currently does for /m/ and /transform/.

  • Audit Internal Logic: Ensure no internal code, logic, or regex expects the legacy /m/ format or a specific hash length. Your systems must be able to process the new 36-character UUID format used in /asset/ links.

  • Singular vs. Plural: Always use /asset/ (singular). Using /assets/ (plural) will result in a 404 error from the Bynder origin.

Understanding Customized Public URLs

You can customize your public URLs for SEO optimization or to meet your brand's naming conventions. You can replace any text behind the /original/ or derivative-prefix element with your own text. Based on the random IDhash, the system can still redirect users to the correct public original file or public derivative.

Example

The two public URLs below link to the original file and to the 'socialmedia' derivative. This is the default non-customized version of both URLs

https://YourPortalURL.com/m/2dca1fb32bd065d1/original/Bynder-Logo-Blue.png

https://YourPortalURL.com/m/2dca1fb32bd065d1/socialmedia-Bynder-Logo-Blue.jpg

Optionally, the text, or "slug", behind the original and social media- elements can be fully removed or customized. You can make the changes in your preferred text editor. You cannot make customizations in the portal itself.

Note: Renaming an asset will not alter the ID hash.

Example of a customized public URL:

https://YourPortalURL.com/m/2dca1fb32bd065d1/original/Bynder-Logo.png

https://YourPortalURL.com/m/2dca1fb32bd065d1/socialmedia-Logo.jpg

 FAQs

Can I uncheck making an asset public?

If you decide to make an asset public, you will not be able to clear the checkbox and make it private again. You can only delete or archive it.

When the CloudFront CDN is used how long does a link take to update?

If your public assets are served through our CloudFront CDN, their link can refresh in real-time. 

Are thumbnails automatically public?

Thumbnails are public by default.

Will my existing integrations (e.g., Storyblok) be affected? 

All Bynder connectors and third-party integrations consume Bynder APIs. Once the switch is made, these integrations will begin returning /asset/ links. If your integrations consume URLs as-is, no action is required. If they rely on custom parsing logic, they must be updated to support the new structure.

Are DAT (Dynamic Asset Transformation) URLs changing? 

No. URLs using the /transform/ path delivered via our DAT service are not affected by this rollout and will continue to function as they do today.

Can I programmatically convert an old /m/ link to a new /asset/ link?

No. The legacy /m/ format uses a randomized hash, while the new /asset/ format uses the Asset UUID. There is no direct conversion formula; you must query the API to retrieve the new link for a specific asset.

Why don't my Thumbnail Public Links have file extensions? 

Thumbnails fetched via API are delivered through our DAT service and do not include a format extension by default. You can force an extension (e.g., .png) by appending the ?format=png parameter to the end of the URL.

Will the Bynder UI still show the old links? After March 30th, both the Bynder UI and the API will display the modernized /asset/ link for all assets, regardless of when they were uploaded.

Related Articles

How To Create And Manage Custom Links 

How To Create A Public Collection

How To Make Landing Pages and Guides Public 

How To Enable And Use Token Based Public Link Access

Level: Beginner

Beginner-level articles are for everyone, these articles do not assume any prior Bynder knowledge. These articles are a great place to start your Bynder Journey.

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