Hotlink protection stops other websites from linking to files, such as images, videos and other files, that are on your website. Other sites will still be able to link to any file type that you don’t block. If another site links to your images, videos and other files they’ll be using your bandwidth to display those files rather than their own.

To access Hotlink Protection within cPanel just click on the icon above the words Hotlink Protection on the home page of your cPanel interface.

Enter the names of sites that you wish to access your files in the first field which already contains the names of your sites.

Enter the file types that you wish to let those sites to access by entering their extensions (example .jpg, .mp3) in the blank field next to Extensions to allow. Separate each entry by a comma.

Enter the URL you wish to redirect links to that are not allowed in the blank field next to the URL to Redirect to:

If you wish to allow the sites you have entered to directly request files click on the box next to Allow direct requests

Click on Activate to enable Hotlink Protection

To disable Hotlink Protection go back into the Hotlink Protection from the main screen of your cPanel, scroll to the bottom of the menu and click on Disable

Troubleshooting
Make sure that you include all sites that need to access your protected files in the first blank field or they will not be able to view the files. If you still can’t view a file, try disabling Hotlink Protection to see if that is the cause of the problem. After disabling the Hotlink Protection, if you decided to do this, and you’re still unable to view certain image files, make sure that their extensions are included in your hotlink protection setup.

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