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I am attempting to upload the following image "from the web" into a post:

URL: http://res2.windows.microsoft.com/resbox/en/windows%207/main/4f6cbd09-148c-4dd8-b1f2-48f232a2fd33_818.jpg

When I do this, the dialog states "Failed to upload image; the format is not supported".

enter image description here

I have been able to narrow it down, thanks to Mhmd's comment below, to URLs that contain (at least) spaces (I tested on my own server with a file named "astro%20naut.jpg", after URL encoding, although I cannot share the URL).

If I upload direct to imgur from such a URL, there is no problem. It appears to be some issue on the SE side of things.

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  • You could try upoading it to imgur directly, maybe that gives a more detailed error message
    – Mad Scientist
    Aug 6, 2014 at 17:08
  • 3
    If I save this on my computer and upload it from there, it works fine, while it doesn't when adding it from the web.
    – ProgramFOX
    Aug 6, 2014 at 17:11
  • @MadScientist It uploads just fine direct to imgur.
    – Jason C
    Aug 6, 2014 at 19:24
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    It is not about the extension, it is about the url itself since it contains letters that are not supported.
    – Mohammad
    Aug 6, 2014 at 19:32
  • @Mhmd Good call; I tested and was able to consistently reproduce with URLs with a space in the URL. I've updated the post to reflect this.
    – Jason C
    Aug 6, 2014 at 19:55
  • I guess the URL is being decoded somewhere when using the API (probably on SE side) so when it reach imgur, it's not pointing on the correct place anymore.
    – Shadow Wizard Is Sad And Angry
    Aug 6, 2014 at 22:13
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    I've tried to replace the %20 by a space, same error. Then I tried to use TinyURL to change the URL, same error again.
    – A.L
    Aug 7, 2014 at 4:08
  • @A.L Replacing with a space is no surprise (I also observed the same thing), but the TinyURL thing is a surprise. I wonder why that could be? Must mean the problem is somehow after any redirects are handled.
    – Jason C
    Aug 7, 2014 at 4:09
  • @Jason C TinyURL is just a redirection to the file, it seems that this doesn't prevent the problem.
    – A.L
    Aug 7, 2014 at 4:10
  • The format is not supported can concern the URL or the image itself, for example if the Microsoft website doesn't return the right MIME type.
    – A.L
    Aug 7, 2014 at 4:12
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    @A.L That's a good point. In this case, I did test with my own publicly visible web server, and a few different images, all JPEG, all with correctly reported MIME type of image/jpeg, with the same results. The error here in this case is dependent entirely on %20 or a space in the URL, not on any other factors.
    – Jason C
    Aug 7, 2014 at 4:22

1 Answer 1

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I encountered this problem too and made some tests to see what may be causing it. My guess is that it's probably a bug with the function doing the URL validation: If there is even a single character after %20, the URL would be rejected.

Trying to mask the invalid URL using a URL shortener that does 301 redirect (e.g. http://goo.gl/Yvkhd5 and http://bit.ly/1pTlrMs) does not work too.

Urls tested to work:

Urls tested to not work:

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