Embed assets with Smart CDN

With Brandfolder's Smart CDN, you can embed assets across the web and format them on the fly to meet your specific needs. CDN links ensure your content always reflects the most up-to-date changes made to your Brandfolder Asset.

CDN links are specific to the Brandfolder. You can move your assets around your Brandfolder and the CDN link is maintained. However, if you move your asset to a different Brandfolder, the URL changes and you must get a new CDN link. 

Enabling CDN

Owners and admins can enable CDN on their account.

1. Select Settings > General Settings
2. Select the Advanced tab
3. Ensure CDN Embed Links are Enabled.

The CDN link functionality is disabled for any assets that are pending, expired, draft, or view only. The Embed tab and Cropped CDN Link only appears when assets are approved.

How do I embed a single asset?

Embedding a single asset in your website or landing pages can make updating the assets across multiple pages easy and accessible for all users.

1. Open one of your asset modals.
2. Select the Embed tab. 
3. Copy and paste the URL. 

CDN URL embed options:

• CDN Link - Attachment: This allows users to embed the attachment without having to worry about position. It is a direct link to the attachment and is the most optimized version of the asset. A custom set of parameters can also be added by default on all attachment URLs.

Other options available under additional CDN Links:

• CDN Link - Asset: Embed an attachment that will update based on the position in relation to the other attachments.
• CDN Link - Attachment (original file): This URL references the original attachment CDN URL without any predefined conversions or optimizations (params).
• CDN Link - Frame: Automatically resize based on the container the asset is inside.

You can place this link in an image tag like <img src="link_here"> and when you update the asset, it will update the link wherever it lives. If an asset has multiple attachments, whatever attachment is in the top position will be displayed using this link.

Custom preset CDN links

Smart CDN presets automatically create renditions but in an autofocused, auto-cropped CDN link format. You can also enable custom cropping presets that will show up in the embed tab.  Once a preset is enabled, expand the Custom Preset CDN Links Menu. Select the copy link button next to your preset of choice and paste where you desire. 

Advanced smart CDN features

Cropping assets 

You can crop an image to the desired dimensions, then copy the CDN link of the cropped image. 

Transformation and conversion:

You can also have CDN links of cropped images by adjusting the parameters on the URL. 

For example, let's say you have a Smart CDN URL such as https://cdn.brandfolder.io/YUHW9ZNT/as/6skcfbkq/brandfolder_icon_aqua.png.

If you want the same image with specific dimensions, simply specify that in the URL like so: https://cdn.brandfolder.io/YUHW9ZNT/as/6skcfbkq/brandfolder_icon_aqua.png?width=150.

Want a JPG instead of a PNG? Just change the extension at the end of the URL: https://cdn.brandfolder.io/YUHW9ZNT/as/6skcfbkq/brandfolder_icon_aqua.jpg

Need a larger version of your file? Bump up the height or width params in the URL and add &pad=true  to add whitespace padding to the original image.

For assets with transparency, some default browser viewers will auto-fill in a background (usually white). 

Auto extension:

Brandfolder CDN will allow you to use the extension of .auto on v1 or auto=webp on v2.  We will automatically choose the best format for the browser that is loading the image.  This includes sending images back using the WEBP format, which lowers the size of an image, without loss, and speeds the loading of the image on your site.

• v1: https://cdn.brandfolder.io/YUHW9ZNT/as/6skcfbkq/brandfolder_icon_aqua.auto
• v2: https://cdn.brandfolder.io/YUHW9ZNT/as/6skcfbkq/brandfolder_icon_aqua?auto=webp

Smart CDN allows you to link to any attachment inside your asset, not just the first one. Say your asset has multiple attachments, and you want the fourth attachment in your asset, just specify that by adding, ?position=4 to the end of your CDN URL: https://cdn.brandfolder.io/C0KGG2P6/as/pd20zo-6xxwds-g0sj9j/CDN%20Example.png?position=3.

Use any combination of the above to modify your CDN link to get your Brandfolder Attachments exactly how you need them for your use case.

Live updating:

Any time you update an Asset in Brandfolder, associated Smart CDN links embedded will also update to reflect those changes.

Automatic expiration:

If you expire, un-approve, or delete the asset in Brandfolder, the Smart CDN link will automatically expire as well (it may stay cached for up to 24 hours).

Embedding video assets

Embedding video assets are slightly different from image assets.  Brandfolder provides a basic iframe with our video player embedded into it.  Users can control the size of the iframe as well as a number of optional parameters for videos.

Example embedded code

<iframe src='https://brandfolder.com/brandfolder/attachments/embed/pur0xw-6a3614-6f8ex5?resource_type=Brandfolder&loop=false&muted=false&autoplay=false' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe>

Loop

Allows video to loop after it has finished playing.

• loop
• default: false
• options: boolean - true or false

Muted

Determines whether the sound is muted when the player loads.  This is useful for when using autoplay setting due to browser autoplay restrictions.

• muted
• default: false
• options: boolean - true or false

Autoplay

 Automatically play the video upon load.

• autoplay
• default: false
• options: boolean - true or false

Using Brandfolder to autoplay a video when a page loads is not a simple issue. This stems from browser vendors responding to user wishes to NOT have videos autoplay. The most reliable way is to set autoplay=true&muted=true since many browsers (including Chrome) will not autoplay videos with audio.

Be careful not to delete the asset when using this feature!