Load images and fonts with Webpack file loader like a pro (2024)

Webpack file-loader is a loader used mainly for supporting images such as SVG and PNG, and fonts in your webpack project. If your images are not loading in your webpack app then you probably miss the configuration of file-loader.

There are different configurations for webpack 4 and webpack 5. We start with webpack 4, if you are using webpack 5 then scroll down to webpack 5 section

How to configure support for SVG images using webpack 4 file-loader

You can add support for SVG images with webpack file-loader.

The first thing we are going to do is to install the webpack file-loader dependency:

npm install --save-dev file-loader

Next, we are going to add the file loader to our webpack config:

module: { rules: [ { test: /\.svg$/, use: 'file-loader' } ] }

(See the complete webpack.config.js for SVG on createapp.dev)

This config has a test section that tells which files should be processed by the webpack file loader. In this case, it’s all files ending with .svg. Webpack goes through all the imported and required files in your project, and for all those files which have a .svg extension, it uses as an input to the webpack file loader. For each of these files, the file loader emits the file in the output directory and resolves the correct URL to be referenced.

With this webpack config in place, we now can access SVG images in the app. Let’s look into how we can do that.

First, we’ll add some SVG image files to our project. If you want an example you can use this:

Load images and fonts with Webpack file loader like a pro (1)

Put this file in the src folder of your project.

Now first import this image at the top of your javascript file where you want to use this image.

import winampImg from "./winamp.svg"

If you have a React app, you can now view this file from your JSX:

<img src={winampImg} />

If you use other frameworks, the same principle applies. Use winampImg to get the path of the image.

PNG-image support for webpack 4 file-loader

You can add support for PNG images in your webpack app with file-loader.

The configuration for PNG support is very similar to SVG support. You just need to change the webpack.config.js to run the webpack file-loader for all files ending with .png. Like this:

module: { rules: [ { test: /\.png$/, use: 'file-loader' } ] }

The rest of the setup is identical to SVG. Here is a sample PNG image if you need it for testing:

Use this image just like in the example with PNG above.

webpack file-loader for fonts

You can also use webpack file loader to get support for fonts such as woff, woff2, tff, eot. It’s very similar to how we configure file loader for loading images.

module: { rules: [ { test: /\.(woff|woff2|ttf|eot)$/, use: 'file-loader' } ] }

The principle for how webpack file loader works for fonts is very similar to how it works for images. This configuration looks for any font file ending in .woff, .woff2, ttf or eot and copies it to the output directory. It also makes sure the correct URL path is referenced.

So let’s look at how we can use the fonts.

The most common way to access the fonts is from your CSS file. You can check out my article on how to configure webpack CSS , or see a complete webpack app with CSS and React on createapp.dev

First, download a font. I used Gemunu Libre for testing because I thought it looked pretty cool. Download it, unzip it, and put the ttf file in your src folder.

Now you can reference your font from the CSS, like this:

@font-face { font-family: "MyWebFont"; src: url("GemunuLibre-VariableFont_wght.ttf") format("woff2");}body { font-family: "MyWebFont", Fallback, sans-serif;}

To learn more about how to configure fonts with CSS, check out this article about font-face.

Note that this config only works for webpack 4, if you are using webpack 5, then continue reading.

Configuration for webpack 5 file loader

Webpack 5 has deprecated the file-loader. If you are using webpack 5 you should do some adjustments to your configuration. You should change use: 'file-loader', to type: 'asset/resource'. That means your webpack config for PNG would look like this:

module: { rules: [ { test: /\.png$/, type: 'asset/resource' } ] }

Also, you no longer need to add the file-loader dependency in package.json.

When you have made the config to your webpack config, you can access PNG files (or whatever files extensions you have configured) just as described earlier.

Configure file name and output path of webpack file-loader

So far we have used the most basic configuration of file-loader you can possibly make. This is fine for most cases. However, there are some configurations you can make. I’ll show you the most interesting ones here.

By default, file-loader renames each file it process to a filename with random characters. Then it puts the file in the root of the output folder. For example, in the example with the PNG file above, it creates a file dist/9df27b25b845b6677bf4cf3f78b88578.png even though the input filename was winamp.png.

We can change both the file name of the processed files and the output folder. We do that in an options section. Here is an example:

module: { rules: [ { test: /\.png$/, loader: 'file-loader', options: { name: '[name].[ext]', outputPath: 'images' } } ] }

I have extended our example with the PNG file. There are two important things to note here. First I added the options section that I will come back to, and I’ve renamed use to loader. Webpack doesn’t accept having an options and a use at the same time. If you do, you get an error. I’m not completely sure why. I’ve digged into the docs but have not yet found a good reason. use and loader is more or less the same, so let’s just accept we have to do it this way when we use options.

Ok, back to the configuration. This new extended config now outputs all processed files in a subfolder called images. Also, it keeps the original file names. So in the case of the Winamp image, it’ll keep the file name winamp.png.

In this example, we used the two placeholders [name] and [ext]. There are more to choose from. Another useful placeholder is [contenthash] which gives you a hash of the file, for example 9df27b25b845b6677bf4cf3f78b88578. You can even get an emoji representation of the content by using the [emoji] placeholder which gives you something like 🇦🇩. I don’t think that one is very commonly used but funny that it exists.

There is a complete list of file-loader placeholders webpack in the webpack 4 docs

Are you using webpack 5? Then the configure is a little bit different, read more in asset-modules section of webpack 5 docs

webpack file-loader vs url-loader

Webpack 4 also has the concept url-loader. What is the difference between file-loader ? url-loader first base64 encodes the file and then inlines it. It will become part of the bundle. That means it will not output a separate file like file-loader does. To use url-loader you first have to install the dependency:

npm install --save-dev url-loader

Then you change your webpack.config.js to use the url-loader:

module: { rules: [ { test: /\.png$/, use: 'url-loader' } ] }

Now if you run your app and inspect the elemnt of the img tag it will look something like this:

<img src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAGQAAABkCAYAAABw4pVUAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC..."/>

(I’ve shortened the string a bit, it’s longer in the browser)

It’s now inlined in the outputted HTML!

If you are using webpack 5, then url-loader is deprecated and instead, you should use asset/inline, like this:

module: { rules: [ { test: /\.png$/, type: 'asset/resource' } ] }

Thank you for reading. Hope this helped some of your webpack file loader needs! Do you want to learn more about webpack? Join the webpack email course.

Load images and fonts with Webpack file loader like a pro (2024)

FAQs

Which loader enables support for images and fonts in webpack? ›

File-loader will allow us to import file-based assets into our webpack managed JS and CSS files. Some examples of files we may want to import include images (. jpg, . png, etc.)

How do I add an image to a webpack? ›

For instance, in React you can include an image the following way by using an img HTML element and its src attribute:
  1. import React from 'react';
  2. import MyImage from './assets/images/myimage.jpg';
  3. const App = ({ title }) => (
  4. <div>
  5. <span>{title}</span>
  6. <img src={MyImage} alt="torchlight in the sky" />
  7. </div>
  8. );
Oct 30, 2020

What does file-loader do in webpack? ›

Webpack file-loader is a loader used mainly for supporting images such as SVG and PNG, and fonts in your webpack project. If your images are not loading in your webpack app then you probably miss the configuration of file-loader.

Why do we need to use a loader when using a webpack? ›

Webpack enables use of loaders to preprocess files. This allows you to bundle any static resource way beyond JavaScript. You can easily write your own loaders using Node. js.

What is a font loader? ›

The Web Font Loader is a JavaScript library that gives you more control over font loading than the Google Fonts API provides. The Web Font Loader also lets you use multiple web font providers. It was co-developed by Google and Typekit.

How does webpack css-loader work? ›

css-loader is the npm module that would help webpack to collect CSS from all the css files referenced in your application and put it into a string. And then style-loader would take the output string generated by the above css-loader and put it inside the <style> tags in the index. html file.

Does webpack optimize images? ›

Sometimes Static Html Is Best

With a little work, Webpack can process HTML files just like it does JavaScript files. We can even optimize images referenced in the HTML!

How do I add an image bundle? ›

Creating image bundles is a key image management task.
...
Complete these steps to add EOS extensions to an image bundle:
  1. Go to the Create Image Bundle page.
  2. Click the upload from local icon. ...
  3. Navigate to the desired . ...
  4. Select Reboot Required check-boxes for all extensions that require a reboot.
  5. Click Save.

What is webpack and how it works? ›

Webpack: Webpack is a static module bundler used for JavaScript applications. Since webpack understands only JavaScript and JSON files, It transforms front-end assets such as HTML, CSS, and images into valid modules if the corresponding loaders are included.

How do I use a webpack file? ›

🔧 Get started
  1. Install Webpack. We use npm: $ npm init command to create a package. ...
  2. Create entry point file. Webpack starts its job from a single JavaScript file, which is called the entry point. ...
  3. Create webpack. config. ...
  4. Add npm script in package.json to run Webpack. ...
  5. Run Webpack.
Feb 13, 2021

What is the purpose of loader? ›

In computer systems a loader is the part of an operating system that is responsible for loading programs and libraries. It is one of the essential stages in the process of starting a program, as it places programs into memory and prepares them for execution.

Is it necessary to use webpack? ›

Should I Use Webpack? If you're building a complex Front Endâ„¢ application with many non-code static assets such as CSS, images, fonts, etc, then yes, Webpack will give you great benefits.

Why do we need webpack in React? ›

Understanding Webpack (in my opinion) is going to make your web apps a lot easier to optimize for web performance. This is especially true if you have joined the React train (many top React developers have contributed to Webpack), and if you want to be able to control your bundling (as opposed to create-react-app).

What's the difference between webpack loaders and plugins? ›

Loaders work at the individual file level during or before the bundle is generated. Plugins: Plugins work at bundle or chunk level and usually work at the end of the bundle generation process.

How do I know if my font is loaded? ›

check() The check() method of the FontFaceSet returns whether all fonts in the given font list have been loaded and are available.

How do I optimize font loading? ›

Tips for Optimizing Fonts
  1. Audit and Monitor Font Use. With browser support for the CSS @font-face rule now widespread, the use of custom webfonts has exploded. ...
  2. Subset Font Resources. ...
  3. Deliver optimized font formats to each browser. ...
  4. Give Precedence to local() in src List. ...
  5. Put the Font Request Early. ...
  6. Proper Caching is a Must.
Sep 20, 2022

What strategies of loading fonts do you know? ›

Best practices for fonts
  • Font loading. Understanding @font-face. Inline font declarations. Preconnect to critical third-party origins. ...
  • Font delivery. Using self-hosted fonts. Use WOFF2. ...
  • Font rendering. Choose an appropriate font-display strategy. Reduce the shift between your fallback font and your webfont.
  • Conclusion.
Jun 3, 2021

How to bundle CSS files using webpack? ›

First, we need to install two new project dependencies with npm at their pinned versions. In the terminal, navigate to the root of the Shape Tracker project and enter the following command. This will add two more dev dependencies to our package.

What are four core concepts of webpack? ›

There are four basic concepts in webpack: entry , output , modules and plug-ins . These configurations are added in webpack.

Does webpack work in browser? ›

Webpack is a command line tool to create bundles of assets (code and files). Webpack doesn't run on the server or the browser.

How do you optimize images for the best performance and quality? ›

Here are six key strategies you can use to optimize image files, reduce page load time and improve the user experience.
  1. Choose the Right File Format.
  2. Use Progressive JPEG and Next-Gen File Formats.
  3. Caching.
  4. Compression.
  5. Resizing.
  6. Optimize Image Delivery.
May 26, 2021

How do I increase my webpack speed? ›

Build Performance
  1. Loaders. Apply loaders to the minimal number of modules necessary. ...
  2. Minimal Entry Chunk. Webpack only emits updated chunks to the filesystem. ...
  3. Avoid Extra Optimization Steps. Webpack does extra algorithmic work to optimize the output for size and load performance. ...
  4. Output Without Path Info. ...
  5. TypeScript Loader.

What is an image bundle? ›

An image bundle is a construct used to improve application performance by reducing the number of round trip HTTP requests to the server to fetch images. GWT can package many image files into a single large file to be downloaded from the server and managed as a Java object.

How do you make an image linkable? ›

How To Create A Clickable Image In HTML? The <img> and the <a> tags together is the most common way of adding a clickable image link in HTML. In a webpage, after adding an image using the <img> tag, make it clickable by adding a <a> tag along with it.

How do I show an image dynamically in HTML? ›

To include a dynamic image in an HTML campaign document, use a $fieldName$ text replacement field in the img tag, where the fieldName column in the distribution list or a supplemental data source contains image URLs), the value in the specified field must not include the protocol ( http:// ).

Should I use dynamic image extensions? ›

Dynamic Image Extensions pull images from the chosen landing page of the ad and require only a flip of a switch. They are a good solution for most advertisers, especially those looking for the quickest implementation. However, you won't be able to directly control the content of their image ad extensions.

How do I make an image more dynamic? ›

To create a more dynamic image, you need to change the angle from which you shoot. Most commonly, this means you either need to get down on the ground and shoot upward, or find a way to elevate yourself (or at least your camera) to aim downward and capture the image using an elevated approach.

What is webpack for beginners? ›

Webpack is a tool that lets you compile JavaScript modules. It's also known as a module bundler. Given a large number of files, it generates a single file (or a few files) that run your app. It can perform many operations: helps you bundle your resources.

Do people still use webpack? ›

Loved by many, hated by some, known to all. And still the most popular bundler in 2021. With more than 15 million weekly downloads (at the time of writing this post), there's no doubt that Webpack is still the bundler par excellence in 2021.

What is better than webpack? ›

gulp, Babel, Parcel, Browserify, and Grunt are the most popular alternatives and competitors to Webpack.

How to use webpack in HTML? ›

Basic Usage

If you have multiple webpack entry points, they will all be included with <script> tags in the generated HTML. If you have any CSS assets in webpack's output (for example, CSS extracted with the MiniCssExtractPlugin) then these will be included with <link> tags in the <head> element of generated HTML.

What is webpack file? ›

Webpack is a free and open-source module bundler for JavaScript. It is made primarily for JavaScript, but it can transform front-end assets such as HTML, CSS, and images if the corresponding loaders are included. Webpack takes modules with dependencies and generates static assets representing those modules. Webpack.

Where are webpack files? ›

To answer your specific question, the webpack configuration is stored wherever your global node_modules are installed; on Windows this is typically %AppData%\Roaming\npm\node_modules\powerbi-visuals-tools\lib\webpack. config. js.

What are the four function of loader? ›

Allocation: It allocates memory for the program in the main memory. Linking: It combines two or more separate object programs or modules and supplies necessary information. Relocation: It modifies the object program so that it can be loaded at an address different from the location.

What are the advantages of loader? ›

Key Takeaway. Wheel loader benefits include high carrying capacity, versatility in different applications, ease of operation, reduced operating costs, options for different sizes, and low maintenance. It is high-performing equipment capable of faster completion of tasks in a job site due to its capacity and versatility ...

Why is webpack so popular? ›

Webpack is a module bundler that is getting more popular day by day. Although this is mostly because of the React community, it gained a lot traction in other communities, e.g. the Angular 2 CLI also switched to Webpack recently. The reason why it's so popular is that it's very fast and extendable.

What is the advantage of using webpack? ›

It speeds the development journey: If we are using webpack then your page does not need to reload fully on having a small change in javascript. This same benefit can be accessed for CSS if we will use loaders. It also reduced the load time of the website during debugging and because of this, our time can be saved.

What problems does webpack solve? ›

Webpack applies automatic transformations on your working files to make them into production files that are more useful for your end user. Those transformed files are copies, and they go to a different folder, so the original files are never modified on this process and stuff keeps tidy.

Does webpack improve performance? ›

Webpack provides support for caching the build files generated to improve the build speed. We can achieve this by providing a cache option set to true in the webpack. config. js file.

Is webpack needed for backend? ›

Webpack dev server is in fact a simple 'server' that is pre-configured to serve your bundle during development. This is nice, because it allows you to develop an app quickly using stuff like Hot Module Reloading (HMR). However, it is 'not' meant to be a tool for developing an API or any Backend App.

What is the difference between webpack and React app? ›

Configuring webpack provides complete control over the development environment, while initializing with Create React App prevents any custom configuration by default.

What is the difference between npm and webpack? ›

npm is the command-line interface to the npm ecosystem. It is battle-tested, surprisingly flexible, and used by hundreds of thousands of JavaScript developers every day. On the other hand, Webpack is detailed as "A bundler for javascript and friends". A bundler for javascript and friends.

Is webpack the same as npm? ›

npm and Webpack are two completely different tools that do completely different things. npm is the default package manager for JavaScript. It is a huge registry of packages for all kind of JS development. It is highly unlikely that you will not need it.

What is VUE loader in webpack? ›

vue-loader is a loader for webpack that allows you to author Vue components in a format called Single-File Components (SFCs): <template> <div class="example">{{ msg }}</div> </template> <script> export default { data() { return { msg: 'Hello world!', } }, } </script> <style> .example { color: red; } </style>

What is the use of Eslint loader? ›

Eslint-loader:

By using eslint-loader in webpack, we can check for the linting errors everytime Babel transpiles. We can simply add eslint-loader inside the webpack config file to enable real time monitoring of the linting errors.

What is raw loader in webpack? ›

A loader for webpack that allows importing files as a String.

What is Django webpack loader? ›

Django-webpack-loader is there to make it easy to link to bundles (with their changing names) from inside of your Django templates. If you're not sure why there's a plugin for this, you might be missing out on an important thing Webpack can provide you - unique hashes in filenames. Read on to find out more.

Why webpack is used in Vue? ›

To be a good Vue developer, you need to understand how webpack works. The pride of webpack is its ability to reduce the size of bundles in your code. For your site to load faster, there has to be a smaller bundle to be downloaded by the client.

What is webpack URL loader? ›

Webpack's url-loader lets you import arbitrary files, like images. If you import a . png file, url-loader will ensure that import resolves to a Base64 string representing the contents of the file.

Why do I need ESLint? ›

ESLint is a tool for identifying and reporting on patterns found in ECMAScript/JavaScript code, with the goal of making code more consistent and avoiding bugs. In many ways, it is similar to JSLint and JSHint with a few exceptions: ESLint uses Espree for JavaScript parsing.

Should I use ESLint or TSLint? ›

TSLint can only be used for TypeScript, while ESLint supports both JavaScript and TypeScript. It is likely, within a large project that you may use both JavaScript and TypeScript.

How to run ESLint with webpack? ›

Still, once your JavaScript project is set up, you need to run eslint --init in the root directory of your project on the command line which will install a local copy of ESLint for your project again. Also you will see a command line prompt that you can step through to set up your ESLint configuration dynamically.

What is webpack and do I need it? ›

This is why webpack exists. It's a tool that lets you bundle your JavaScript applications (supporting both ESM and CommonJS), and it can be extended to support many different assets such as images, fonts and stylesheets.

What is loader with example? ›

In computer systems a loader is the part of an operating system that is responsible for loading programs and libraries. It is one of the essential stages in the process of starting a program, as it places programs into memory and prepares them for execution.

What is the purpose of webpack? ›

Webpack is a free and open-source module bundler for JavaScript. It is made primarily for JavaScript, but it can transform front-end assets such as HTML, CSS, and images if the corresponding loaders are included. Webpack takes modules with dependencies and generates static assets representing those modules.

What does {% %} do in Django? ›

{% %} and {{ }} are part of Django templating language. They are used to pass the variables from views to template. {% %} is basically used when you have an expression and are called tags while {{ }} is used to simply access the variable.

What is {% load static %} in Django? ›

{% load static %} tells django to load a set of template tags/filters defined in the file static.py (in a folder templatetags in any of the apps of your project). The same way you can define your own tags, put them in a file util_tags.py and load them with {% load util_tags %} .

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Rob Wisoky

Last Updated:

Views: 6300

Rating: 4.8 / 5 (68 voted)

Reviews: 91% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Rob Wisoky

Birthday: 1994-09-30

Address: 5789 Michel Vista, West Domenic, OR 80464-9452

Phone: +97313824072371

Job: Education Orchestrator

Hobby: Lockpicking, Crocheting, Baton twirling, Video gaming, Jogging, Whittling, Model building

Introduction: My name is Rob Wisoky, I am a smiling, helpful, encouraging, zealous, energetic, faithful, fantastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.