Storing images in the database

Administrators and users with the image_admin or content_admin role can upload and store images in the database.

These images are saved in the Images [db_image] table. Uploading an image to the database allows it to be referenced from HTML fields and by appending the name of the image to the URL of the instance.
Note: The db_image table is a public table that does not have any security restrictions. Unauthenticated users have full access to images uploaded to the db_image table.

Images vs attachments

If you want to access an image from a record, or if you want to prevent users from appending the image name to the URL of the instance, upload it as an attachment instead. When you upload an image as an attachment, the image is saved in the Attachments [sys_attachment] table. See Administer attachments and Add an attachment for more information.

Uploading Images

Navigate to System UI > Images to see the list of images stored in the database. Click New to add a new image.

The following fields are available:
  • Name: Enter the file name by which to reference the image in HTML.
  • Active: Select the check box to allow the image to be referenced in HTML.
  • Category: Select a category in which to organize the image file.
  • Image: Select Click to add... to upload an image. If an image is already uploaded, click [Update] to upload a new version of the image or [Delete] to remove the image.
  • Format, Size bytes, Height, and Width: View current image metadata. This information is automatically populated when the image is uploaded.
Figure 1. Upload image

Acceptable image file types

Upload image files with the following extensions:
  • .gif
  • .jpg
  • .png
  • .bmp
Note: The system does not support uploading zip files that contain .bmp images.
If you upload an image that may not be supported in Internet Explorer browsers, a warning message appears. For example, Internet Explorer does not support JPEG images that are encoded in CMYK format.
Figure 2. Image warning

The system does not support uploading images in the .ico format through this interface. Microsoft Internet Explorer requires the .ico format for favorite icons. To upload an .ico image, attach the .ico image to a record instead of using the standard image upload interface.

To understand how to insert an image into a form record, see the Insert an image into your article, incident, or other form record blog post in the ServiceNow Community.