Deploy thumbor on Your Own Server

Thumbor is a smart imaging service that enables on-demand cropping, resizing, applying filters and optimizing images.

🎬 Media

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What is thumbor?

thumbor is a smart imaging service. It enables on-demand crop, resizing and flipping of images. It also features a VERY smart detection of important points in the image for better cropping and resizing, using state-of-the-art face and feature detection algorithms (more on that in Detection Algorithms). Using thumbor is very easy (after it is running). All you have to do is access it using an URL for an image, like this: http://<thumbor-server>/300x200/smart/s.glbimg.com/et/bb/f/original/2011/03/24/VN0JiwzmOw0b0lg.jpg See http://thumbor.org for more details. Enter your thumbor Configuration parameters and click on next. It will take about a minute for the process to finish.

Self-Host thumbor

Follow these steps to deploy on your own server.

Install Docker

Skip this step if Docker is already installed on your server.

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh

Configure

Customize the settings below. Defaults work for most cases.

Service Name*

General

Thumbor Version*

Deploy

Copy the configuration and run it on your server.

services:
  thumbor:
    image: minimalcompact/thumbor:6.7.0
    environment:
      THUMBOR_PORT: "80"
    volumes:
      - thumbor-data:/data
volumes:
  thumbor-data: {}

Then run:

docker compose up -d

Access

Once started, access your app at http://localhost:80

Why Self-Host thumbor?

Full Data Ownership

Your data stays on your servers. No third-party access.

No Monthly Fees

Pay only for your server. No per-seat or usage charges.

Complete Control

Customize, backup, and scale on your own terms.

Privacy & Compliance

Meet GDPR, HIPAA, or internal security requirements.

Technical Details

Docker Image

minimalcompact/thumbor:${thumbor_version}

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