A hotlink refers to a direct link or URL that leads to a specific digital file, resource, or content hosted on one website but is embedded or used/displayed on another website. When a user accesses the content through this direct link, it loads the resource from the original source server where it’s hosted.
Hotlinking involves directly linking to a resource (such as an image, video, audio file, or document) hosted on a different website or server. Instead of hosting the file on their own server, a website uses the URL from another site to display or reference the content.
It can, however, sometimes result in bandwidth theft or “leeching” when a website embeds images, videos, or other content hosted on another server without permission. This means the hosting website incurs data transfer or bandwidth usage for content displayed on the referring site.
To combat this, website owners can implement measures to prevent hotlinking by configuring their server settings or using security measures such as adding code to restrict access to content from unauthorised referring domains or displaying alternate content when hotlinking is detected.