How to embed images in email

Here is how to get the code for an embedded image without worrying about any files or base64 statements or mimes (it's still base64, but you don't have to do anything to get it). I originally posted this same answer in this thread, but it may be valuable to repeat it in this one, too.

To do this, you need Mozilla Thunderbird, you can fetch the html code for an image like this:

  1. Copy a bitmap to clipboard.
  2. Start a new email message.
  3. Paste the image. (don't save it as a draft!!!)
  4. Double-click on it to get to the image settings dialogue.
  5. Look for the "image location" property.
  6. Fetch the code and wrap it in an image tag, like this:

You should end up with a string of text something like this:

<img src="data:image/png;base64,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" alt="" height="211" width="213">

You can wrap this up into a string variable and place this absolutely anywhere that you would present an html email message - even in your email signatures. The advantage is that there are no attachments, and there are no links. (this code will display a lizard)

A picture is worth a thousand words: enter image description here

Incidentally, I did write a program to do all of this for you. It's called BaseImage, and it will create the image code as well as the html for you. Please don't consider this self-promotion; I'm just sharing a solution.


As you are aware, everything passed as email message has to be textualized.

  • You must create an email with a multipart/mime message.
  • If you're adding a physical image, the image must be base 64 encoded and assigned a Content-ID (cid). If it's an URL, then the <img /> tag is sufficient (the url of the image must be linked to a Source ID).

A Typical email example will look like this:

From: foo1atbar.net
To: foo2atbar.net
Subject: A simple example
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="boundary-example"; type="text/html"

--boundary-example
Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"

... text of the HTML document, which might contain a URI
referencing a resource in another body part, for example
through a statement such as:
<IMG SRC="cid:foo4atfoo1atbar.net" ALT="IETF logo">

--boundary-example
Content-Location: CID:somethingatelse ; this header is disregarded
Content-ID: <foo4atfoo1atbar.net>
Content-Type: IMAGE/GIF
Content-Transfer-Encoding: BASE64

R0lGODlhGAGgAPEAAP/////ZRaCgoAAAACH+PUNv
cHlyaWdodCAoQykgMTk5LiBVbmF1dGhvcml6ZWQgZHV
wbGljYXRpb24gcHJvaGliaXRlZC4A etc...

--boundary-example--

As you can see, the Content-ID: <foo4atfoo1atbar.net> ID is matched to the <IMG> at SRC="cid:foo4atfoo1atbar.net". That way, the client browser will render your image as a content and not as an attachement.

Hope this helps.


the third way is to base64 encode the image and place it in a data: url

example:

<img src="data:image/png;base64,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" width="32" height="32">