Lorem Picsum

Placeholder images in a layout

Placeholder images let you build a layout before the real photography exists. The value is in getting the dimensions right early — a grid that looks balanced with square placeholders often falls apart with the 3:2 photos it will actually receive.

How it works

• Builds a URL for the picsum.photos service at the width and height you choose.
• Offers a fixed seed so the same placeholder returns on every reload, which keeps screenshots and visual tests stable.
• Supports grayscale and blur variants, useful for checking that overlaid text stays readable.

https://picsum.photos/{width}/{height}
https://picsum.photos/seed/{seed}/{width}/{height}   ← stable image
https://picsum.photos/{width}/{height}?grayscale&blur=2

Worked example

Mocking a card grid before the photographs arrive.

1. cards are 400 × 267 in the design — a 3:2 ratio
2. https://picsum.photos/400/267 gives a different photo each load
3. https://picsum.photos/seed/card-1/400/267 gives the same one every time
4. add ?grayscale to check the design does not depend on colourful photography

Seeded URLs are what make the mock reviewable: without them, every reload reshuffles the images and reviewers argue about photographs that will never ship.

Reading the result

• This is the one tool on the site that makes an external request. Your browser fetches the image directly from picsum.photos, which sees your IP address as any image host would.
• Never ship placeholders to production. They depend on a third-party service with no uptime guarantee, and a broken placeholder on a live page is worse than an empty state.
• Match the aspect ratio of the real images, not just a convenient square. Ratio mismatches are the single most common reason a layout breaks when real content lands.
• For offline work or a test suite, generate a local solid-colour or SVG placeholder instead — no network, no flakiness.

Common questions

Why does the image change on every reload?

Without a seed, the service returns a random photo each time. Use the /seed/ form to pin one, which you almost always want for design reviews and visual regression tests.

Can I use these images in a real project?

Only for mockups. The service is for prototyping, not licensed stock photography — for anything you publish, use images you have the rights to.

Sources

• Lorem Picsum