What Is a Placeholder Image?
A placeholder image is a temporary graphic used during development to represent final content that hasn't been created yet. Developers and designers use placeholders in wireframes, prototypes, CMS templates, and staging environments to visualize layout spacing and image crops before real assets are ready.
Common Placeholder Image Sizes
Different platforms and use cases call for different dimensions. Social media posts typically use square formats like 1080×1080, while banner ads often require wide ratios such as 728×90 or 970×250. Browse our preset placeholder library for platform-specific sizes covering social media, web ads, and screen mockups.
How to Embed Placeholder Images
Every placeholder you generate is available as a permanent URL you can embed directly in your HTML. The format is https://usefulpix.com/ph/WIDTHxHEIGHT/COLOR — for example, https://usefulpix.com/ph/800x600/3B82F6 produces an 800×600 blue placeholder. These URLs are cached for a year and served from a global CDN, making them fast and reliable for development and testing.
Choosing the Right Placeholder Color
Color helps distinguish different image slots in your layout. Use your brand's primary color to simulate final designs, or pick high-contrast colors to make placeholders clearly stand out during development. Need inspiration? Explore our curated color palettes for harmonious color combinations you can use across your project.