How to create PHP tracking images that can tell me which website use them?

Question

I want to creates the tracking images in PHP that if someones use code like

img src="//MyDomain/MyImage.jpg"

then I can get the website or URL where they put my images on. Please tell me how to do it. I am newbee so please explain clearly each step you do. Thank you so much!!!

I expect that some experts will help me with the code to do it.

Do you _want_ them to use your images and you just want to count where they're used? Or are you trying to restrict the usage to only your own site (or certain specific sites)? Solutions could be different in each case. — ADyson, Oct 28 '22 at 11:35
you should create an API for using images and every time someone uses your images you can add the client to your database — soma, Oct 28 '22 at 11:36
If I understand you correctly you want to be able to track if another site refers to images on your site, like `` and then lookup their website... In that case it's not possible at all. Technically the images are retrieved by the client/visitors web browser, not by the website itself. — Gowire, Oct 28 '22 at 11:50
@ADyson: Thank you! I just want to know how many website use my images. — user20357582, Oct 28 '22 at 13:37
@AsmaMech Thank you but API is outside from my knowledge at the moment. — user20357582, Oct 28 '22 at 13:38
you should follow asma's suggestion then, I think. If you don't know about this, now will be the time to learn! You'd have to look at the REFERER header in each incoming request and log which domains are contained in it. (You _might_ be able to do this without a PHP script, if your webserver has, or can be connected to, a good analytics tool.) Note that there are also other, non-code ways to check this sort of thing too, e.g. https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-find-out-if-my-image-is-being-used-on-another-website — ADyson, Oct 28 '22 at 13:42
(Bear in mind too that the REFERER header can easily be spoofed, but for ordinary requests coming from a browser it should normally be there, unmodified, on any request resulting from an ` — ADyson, Oct 28 '22 at 13:42
@user20357582 : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8028184/mime-type-spoofing it is a complicated thing. — , Oct 28 '22 at 14:42
@MaxMuster I do understand that, but I'm unclear how you think it's related to what the OP is aiming to do? — ADyson, Oct 28 '22 at 14:50

How to create PHP tracking images that can tell me which website use them?

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