What is TinEye?

TinEye is a reverse image search engine. You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or to find higher resolution versions. TinEye is the first image search engine on the web to use image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks. For some real TinEye search examples, check out our Cool Searches page.

TinEye FAQ

TinEye in general

Using TinEye

Crawler and search index

Account management

Plugin and bookmarklet

Future plans

TinEye in general

What is TinEye?
TinEye is a reverse image search engine. You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or to find higher resolution versions. TinEye is the first image search engine on the web to use image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks. For some real TinEye search examples, check out our Cool Searches page.
How does TinEye work?

When you submit an image to be searched, TinEye creates a unique and compact digital signature or 'fingerprint' for it, then compares this fingerprint to every other image in our index to retrieve matches. TinEye can even find a partial fingerprint match.

TinEye does not typically find similar images (i.e. a different image with the same subject matter); it finds exact matches including those that have been cropped, edited or resized.

Why use TinEye?

There are many uses for TinEye, but here are a few:

  • Find out where an image came from, or get more information about it
  • Research or track the appearance of an image online
  • Find higher resolution versions of an image
  • Locate web pages that make use of an image you have created
  • Discover modified or edited versions of an image

For some real examples of TinEye searches, check out our blog or Cool Searches page.

Who created TinEye?

TinEye was created by Idée Inc. Idée develops advanced image identification and visual search software for photo wire agencies, stock photography firms, entertainment media companies and some of the world's leading imaging firms including Adobe Systems Inc.

You can experiment and play with various implementations of Idée's visual search technologies by checking out the Idée Lab!

What happens to the images I upload to TinEye?

Images uploaded to TinEye are not added to the search index, nor are they made accessible by other users. Copyright for all images submitted to TinEye remains with the original owner/author.

Search images submitted by unregistered users are automatically discarded after 72 hours. Links to these searches will stop working after 72 hours, unless a registered user happens to save the same image.

Search images submitted by registered users are saved, if search history is enabled in their user Profile. Saved searches are available from the History page, and permanent URL links to any saved search can be bookmarked or shared with friends.

Can TinEye find similar images? Does TinEye do facial recognition?

TinEye finds exact and altered copies of the images that you submit, including those that have been cropped, colour adjusted, resized, heavily edited or slightly rotated. TinEye does not commonly return similar matches, and it cannot recognize the contents of any image. This means that TinEye cannot find different images with the same people or things in them.

Using TinEye

How do I submit an image to be searched?

From the search page, you can either upload an image using the 'Upload an image' button, or point to a web image or web page by pasting in a URL.

If you use Firefox or IE you can install the TinEye browser plugin, which lets you right-click on any web image to search it.

If you use Opera, Safari (including Safari on the iPhone) or any other javascript-enabled browser, you can install the TinEye bookmarklet. This lets you search for images from any web page that you are viewing.

What kind of images can I submit to TinEye?

File type: JPEG, PNG and GIF image are all acceptable.

Image dimensions: TinEye works best with image that are at least 300 pixels in either dimension, but can accept images as low as 100 pixels in either dimension.

File size: 1 megabyte is the maximum file size.

Watermarked images: For best results, visibly watermarked images should be avoided as TinEye may search for the watermark and not the image itself.

Subject matter: Submitted images must adhere to our Terms of Service.

Can I sort my results?

By default, your results are sorted by 'best match'. However you can also sort by 'worst match', 'biggest image' and 'smallest image'.

Just select your desired option from the 'Sort order' pull-down list above your results on the left side of the page. TinEye will remember your selection for the duration of your session.

Can I sort my results by date?
No. We have decided not to allow sorting by date because the file dates returned by webservers or gathered from IPTC data are generally not reliable. This means that the dates are not a viable way to determine the earliest use of an image on the web.
What does 'Compare Images' do?
This link lets you toggle between your submitted image and the result image, highlighting any differences between the two. It works best when an image has been heavily modified.
I searched for one of my images and found a website where it's being used without my permission. What should I do?
Although TinEye can help you locate websites where your images appear, those websites are not owned or controlled by TinEye or Idée. If you are concerned about how your images are being used on a particular website, try contacting the site owner.

Crawler and search index

How many images are in TinEye's search index?
To date, TinEye has indexed 1,092,453,321 images from the web. We are always crawling the web for new images, so this number does increase incrementally over time.
How do I prevent TinEye from crawling my site? Do you obey robots.txt?
The Tineye crawler does obey robots.txt. Adding a robots.txt file to your website with an entry to disallow "TinEye" will prevent TinEye from crawling it in the future.
Can TinEye crawl or find Flash content?
The TinEye crawler is unable to get Flash content at this time.
Can I suggest a website for TinEye to crawl?
Yes, if you would like to suggest a site for TinEye to crawl, please use our website submission form. We do not add all submitted URLs to our index, but we do review submissions on a regular basis and crawl as much as we can.
Why can't TinEye find my image? I know it is on the web.

There is a huge and growing amount of images on the web, and TinEye has only crawled a fraction of them so far. We probably missed your image because we have not crawled the website(s) where it appears, or we don't have the latest updates from the site(s). Additionally, some website content is protected by robots.txt or is otherwise uncrawlable.

However our search index does increase incrementally over time, so please be sure to search for your image again at a later date. To receive notification when we update our index or to get the latest news, please check out our What's New page, which also offers an RSS feed.

Account management

Why register with TinEye?

Registration is not required to use TinEye, but it's free and it offers a few benefits:

  • Be the first to try out new features and provide your feedback
  • Get permanent URL links to your searches that can be bookmarked, shared with friends, blogged, etc. (See 'What happens to the images I upload to TinEye' for more info)
  • Save your search history and easily perform the same searches again
  • Opt in to the TinEye newsletter to get the latest news or special offers

How do I create an account?
To create an account, visit our registration page and fill in the form. TinEye will need to verify your email address, so please be sure to check your email for instructions.
I didn't receive my verification email. What should I do?

The first thing you should do is check your junkmail and email filters to make sure it didn't get caught before it reached your inbox. The email is called: 'Welcome to TinEye!'

If this doesn't work, you can have your email resent. Visit the TinEye login page and enter your email and password. You will get a message with an option to have your verification email resent.

Finally, some email services simply seem to block messages from TinEye. If you did not receive your email and it was not filtered, please contact us via our Feedback form.

What is History and how do I enable/disable it?

Registered users of TinEye can visit their History page to see all of their past TinEye search images, including the date, time and number of results for each search. To search for an image again, just click on it.

History can be enabled or disabled by editing the preferences on your Profile page page. If history is disabled, all prior searches are cleared, and future search images will be discarded by TinEye after 72 hours. Links to these searches will also stop working after 72 hours. (See 'What happens to the images I upload to TinEye' for more info)

Use the 'Clear all' button on the History page to clear all of your current searches without disabling History in the future.

How do I change my password?

You can change your password by editing the personal info on your Profile page. Click on 'edit', then enter your old password in the Password field, followed by your new password in the New Password field. Save your changes.

How do I change my email address?

Not at this time. Your email address is used as your login, which currently cannot be changed. If you need to use a different email address you will need to create a new TinEye account.

How do I delete my account?

To delete your account, visit your Profile page and click the 'Delete your profile' link. You will be asked to confirm this change as it is permanent.

Plugin and bookmarklet

Does the plugin/bookmarklet work for Mac/Linux/PC?
The plugin and bookmarklet will work with any operating system; it depends on your browser (please see the next question).
Does the plugin/bookmarklet work with Opera/Safari/IE/Firefox?

The plugin works with the latest stable builds of Internet Explorer and Firefox (The plugins may not work properly if you are running certain unstable builds or beta versions of IE or Firefox).

Opera and Safari users can try out the TinEye bookmarklet, which works for IE and Firefox as well.

What is the TinEye bookmarklet?

The TinEye bookmarklet allows you to search for any images appearing on the web page you are viewing, without having to go to TinEye first. Unlike the TinEye plugin — which allows you to right-click an image to search for it — the bookmarklet is run from your browser's bookmark menu. When you click the bookmarklet, it submits the URL of the web page you are viewing to TinEye, fetches the images, and asks you to choose which image to search (just like when you paste a web page URL to the TinEye search page).

The TinEye bookmarklet is recommended for users of Opera, Safari and Safari for the iPhone (which do not support the TinEye plugin).

I tried to install the Firefox plugin but nothing happened. Why?

First off, make sure you are allowing Firefox to install software from tineye.com. (If you aren't, you will probably see a message at the top of your screen with an 'allow' button; click this and continue).

Also, Firefox 3 may have some trouble installing the plugin automtically once you click on the link. If this happens, just opt to save the file when prompted, then in Firefox go to File > Open File and select the file that you saved. Firefox will then install the plugin automatically.

I'm using Internet Explorer 8 and nothing happens when I try to use the plugin. Why?

IE8 users must enable the "Allow active content to run in files on My Computer" security option to run the TinEye plugin. In the IE8 browser, go to Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Security, then check "Allow active content to run in files on My Computer" and restart the browser.

If you do not wish to enable this setting in your browser, try using the TinEye bookmarklet instead.

Future plans

Will there be a TinEye API?
This is in our development plans.
Will I be able to use TinEye to search my local hard drive?
No. TinEye is made for searching the web only.
Will there be alerts or a way to search for more than one image at a time?
We hope to introduce a paid feature which will allow you to upload or point to a group of images, and have TinEye check for matches on a regular basis, sending you updates when a match is found.
How can I stay informed about TinEye?

There are a few ways:

  • Check out our What's New page, which includes all the latest release information as it happens. You can subscribe to this page via RSS.
  • Read the TinEye blog for fun examples of TinEye in action, and the latest news. You can also subscribe to the blog via RSS.
  • Register with TinEye and subscribe to the newsletter in your Profile to receive release info, news and special offers!
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