Questions and Answers

For how long will my files be stored?

Files will be removed if they have not been accessed for 120 days. When a file is downloaded the expiry time is reset to 120 days from the current day. This only happens when someone downloads more than 1% of the whole file in a single request. So if you have a 5 GB file the timer is only extended when you download at least 50 MB. The expiry timer is not updated when it was already updated within the last 24 hours.

File expiry is often seen as a downside of pixeldrain. But keep in mind that 120 days is a very long time. Roughly four months. This means that you can keep a file active for an entire year by only downloading it three times. Files which are only very sporadically downloaded can stay online indefinitely. All this time the file is using storage space and processing power on our servers, which costs real money.

If you would like to use pixeldrain for backups or long term storage, then the free plan is not the way to go. It is only meant for publicly sharing files. For real storage you should use the pixeldrain filesystem.

If you are (ab)using pixeldrain for free storage, you should not be surprised when the rules change at some point and all your stuff suddenly disappears. That would never happen when using pixeldrain’s filesystem.

What cookies does pixeldrain use?

When logging in to a pixeldrain account a cookie named ‘pd_auth_key’ will be installed. This cookie keeps your login session active. When you delete it you will be logged out of your account.

When you use the style selector on the Appearance page a cookie called ‘style’ will be set. This cookie controls the appearance of the website for you.

Pixeldrain does not use tracking cookies. We also don’t use fingerprinting to track our users. The only information that is saved is the information that you manually enter or upload.

How does the transfer limit work?

Pixeldrain has two kinds of transfer limit, the free limit for users without a subscription and the premium limit for users with a subscription.

Free

The free limit tracks how much you have downloaded from pixeldrain in the last 24 hours from now. The limit is not per day, instead it just keeps track of when you downloaded something and if it was less than 24 hours ago it counts towards your limit. In technical terms this is called a ‘Sliding window algorithm’.

The free download limit is only tracked per IP address. This means that if you are sharing an IP address with other people, like through a VPN, company network or a CGNAT network then the download limit is also shared. For free downloads it makes no difference if you’re logged in to an account or not.

When the limit is exceeded you can still download, but file previews are disabled and download speed is reduced.

Premium

The premium transfer limit works similarly to the free download limit. The differences are that the limit is bound to an account instead of an IP address, and the limit is per 30 days instead of 24 hours. The same sliding window system still applies. Any data that was transferred to/from your account between now and 30 days ago counts towards your limit.

Whenever someone downloads a file from your account it counts toward your transfer limit. If you want to limit how much of your transfer cap others can use then you can configure a limit on the sharing settings page.

If the person who downloads the file also has a premium account then their own data cap will be used first.

How does hotlinking work?

Hotlinking happens when someone downloads a file from pixeldrain without visiting the pixeldrain website. This can be through embedding media files on third party websites, or using download managers to download files directly.

Pixeldrain has a “hotlink protection mode”. This activates when we detect that a file is being hotlinked while neither the downloader nor the uploader of the file has a premium subscription. When this happens a CAPTCHA test will appear on the file’s download page, and the file can only be downloaded once the CAPTCHA is solved. When enough people complete the test the hotlink protection will be removed and the file can be downloaded normally again.

There are two reasons why we implemented hotlink protection:

File hosting services are often used to spread malware and other nefarious data, hotlink protection makes it significantly harder for people to abuse the service in this way. This was the original motivation for implementing hotlink protection, it has been very effective at preventing digital attacks.

Hotlinking also uses pixeldrain’s bandwidth and processing power without letting the user know that they are using pixeldrain. People who don’t know that they are using pixeldrain are less likely to purchase a premium plan. The download page is our primary source of new customers, we need to make sure it is seen.

Will premium improve my download speed?

No, the download speed is limited by the stability of the connection between your computer and pixeldrain’s servers. If free downloads are slow (and you have not exceeded your download limit), then premium will not improve your download speed. Premium only increases how much you can download, not how fast.

If you want to know your maximum download speed from pixeldrain’s servers you can use our speedtest. The speedtest will always download at the fastest speed possible, even if your download limit has been exceeded.

In order to keep pixeldrain affordable we use the cheapest hosting available. That means that the quality of our network is not always the best. It’s possible that your ISP has a bad connection to our ISP which can cause bottlenecks. We are always working on improving our connectivity.

Is pixeldrain available in every country?

I strive to make pixeldrain as accessible as possible to everyone. Pixeldrain does not block access from any country or network. Some countries have very restricted internet connectivity though. Pixeldrain has been blocked in some locations in the past and remains blocked in other locations.

The reasons for blocking pixeldrain are usually not clear. The countries that block access to pixeldrain rarely specify a reason. When a new block happens I always reach out to the ISP or government doing the blocking, but these entities are very hard to reach and they rarely reply. If your ISP blocks pixeldrain please call them and ask them why pixeldrain is blocked. ISPs always listen better to their own customers than website operators.

I have a survey that you can use to notify me when an ISP blocks access to pixeldrain. If you are having trouble accessing pixeldrain please fill out the survey.

Usually a website block can be circumvented by using a different DNS provider. The DNS provider is a service that translates website addresses (like pixeldrain.com) into IP addresses that can be used to connect to a website. These servers are usually operated by your ISP and can be used to censor or monitor your browsing.

Pixeldrain also has alternative domain names which might not be blocked. These are pixeldrain.net and pixeldra.in. Note that your session cookie is only valid for one domain name. If you use these alternative domains you will have to log in to them as well.

DNS Providers which don’t block pixeldrain

You can find a guide for how to change your DNS server on Google. Just search for ‘change dns server windows 11’, or whichever operating system you use.

Countries where pixeldrain is blocked

From the availability survey I have gathered that pixeldrain is currently blocked in the following locations:

• The Philippines (since 2022-03). I have reached out to PLDT about a dozen times but they never answer.
• Egypt (since 2023-03). I have tried reaching out to WE Telecom, but their website is not available outside egypt and their support address is bouncing my mails.
• Italy (since 2024-01). Tried reaching out to their communications office and police multiple times, never an answer.
• India (since 2024-04). Was unable to find a contact address anywhere.

If you live in any of these locations and are having trouble accessing pixeldrain please contact your ISP. I am ready to comply with whatever demands they have, I just want my website to be accessible again.

Why can’t I find pixeldrain links on Google?

Files on pixeldrain used to be searchable with search engines if they were indexed. People often accidentally got files indexed which were not supposed to be public. For that reason I disabled search indexing on all pixeldrain files. This protects the privacy of pixeldrain users and helps with preventing information leaks.

Is there a clean pixeldrain logo I can use?

Yes, here’s a high resolution pixeldrain logo with text. The font is called Orbitron, it was designed by Matt McInerney and uses the Open Font License.

And here’s a vector version of just the icon:

Can I advertise on pixeldrain?

No.

Support

If you have more questions please try asking them in our support forum on Discord. Pixeldrain is a one-man operation, I can’t answer all the e-mails I get. By asking your questions on Discord there’s a chance that someone else can help you. I am also active on Discord myself.