Info: You have a different bandwidth limit on each subscription plan. The more your images and videos are displayed via CDN, the more bandwidth you will consume. This includes videos embedded in HTML5 banners using the "CDN-hosted video" option, every time the banner is viewed, the video is streamed from our CDN and counts against your bandwidth quota.
Understanding the Two Types of hosted URLs
Abyssale provides two distinct URLs for every generated visuals. Choosing the right one is key to managing your bandwidth and getting the best performance.
| CDN URL | S3 URL |
Best for | Displaying visuals on websites, ads, emails,... | Downloading visuals to your computer or storage |
Speed | ⚡ Fast, globally distributed, low latency | Standard download speed |
Consumes bandwidth? | ✅ Yes, every view counts | ❌ No, does not consume your bandwidth quota |
Use case | Embedding in web pages, campaigns, social posts | Saving locally, uploading to your own servers |
CDN URL : For Displaying & Streaming Images
The CDN (Content Delivery Network) URL is the hosting link designed for public, online use. When you embed this URL on a website, in an email, or in an ad, the image is served through Abyssale's globally distributed CDN infrastructure, ensuring low latency and fast loading for your visitors.
⚠️ Important: Every time a visitor loads a page where a CDN-hosted image appears, it consumes bandwidth from your monthly quota. The heavier the image, the more bandwidth each view uses.
Use the CDN URL when you want to:
Display images on your website or landing pages
Embed visuals in email campaigns
Use images in online ads or social media posts
Video Bandwidth in HTML5 Banners
If you export an HTML5 banner with the "CDN-hosted video" option enabled, the video file is not included in the ZIP. Instead, it is loaded live from cdn.abyssale.com every time the banner is displayed to a viewer.
⚠️ Important: Each ad impression triggers a full video fetch from our CDN. Since video files are typically much larger than images (often several hundred KB to a few MB), enabling this option can consume bandwidth significantly faster than static image banners.
If "CDN-hosted video" is disabled, the video is embedded directly inside the HTML5 ZIP file instead. This does not consume CDN bandwidth, but it increases the file size of the banner itself, which may cause it to exceed ad network file size limits (e.g. Google Ad Manager's 1MB HTML5 limit).
Use CDN-hosted video when:
You need to keep the HTML5 ZIP file size small to meet an ad network's limit
You have enough bandwidth allocated to support expected impression volume
Use embedded video (CDN-hosted video disabled) when:
You want to avoid consuming bandwidth entirely
Your video is small enough that embedding it doesn't breach file size limits
S3 URL : For Downloading Images
The S3 URL points directly to the raw file stored in Abyssale's cloud storage (Amazon S3). This URL is intended for downloading the file — saving it to your machine or transferring it to your own hosting.
✅ Key advantage: Using the S3 URL to download an image does not count against your bandwidth quota. It is the recommended way to retrieve your files if you plan to host them yourself.
Use the S3 URL when you want to:
Download images to your local machine
Upload visuals to your own CDN, hosting, or storage
Migrate your assets before cancelling your subscription
💡 Tip: If you're running high-traffic campaigns and are concerned about bandwidth limits, download your images via the S3 URL and host them on your own
infrastructure. This way, your Abyssale bandwidth quota is preserved for other uses.
How to Get a Hosting Link (CDN URL) for Your Generated Visuals
Head to your design from a project
On the left menu of your design page, click on Generated visuals
Hover the visual in the list and click on the
...three smalls dots in the top right cornerClick on Copy hosting link from the dropdown menu
How bandwidth works
Each image displayed on a website consumes bandwidth because, in order for the image to appear on a visitor's screen, their browser sends a request to the server hosting the image and downloads its data.
For HTML5 banners with CDN-hosted video enabled, the same principle applies but at a larger scale: each time the banner is served to a viewer, the banner's code makes a request to fetch the full video file from our CDN. Unlike images, video files are streamed, but the entire file size is counted once per impression, regardless of whether the viewer watches the full video or only a few seconds of it.
The data transferred between Abyssale's servers and your visitors is what we call bandwidth, and it is counted each time a CDN-hosted image is loaded.
How to Calculate Your Bandwidth Usage
Understanding your bandwidth consumption is essential for managing your Abyssale subscription effectively. Here's how you can estimate the bandwidth that will be used when displaying your images.
Bandwidth Usage Formula
The formula for calculating bandwidth usage is:
Total Bandwidth = Image File Size × Number of Views
For example:
A 500 KB image viewed 1,000 times → ~500 MB of bandwidth
A 2 MB image viewed 1,000 times → ~2 GB of bandwidth
For HTML5 banners with CDN-hosted video, the same formula applies to the video file:
Total Bandwidth = Video File Size × Number of Ad Impressions
For example:
A 300 KB video viewed 10,000 times → ~3 GB of bandwidth
A 1 MB video viewed 10,000 times → ~10 GB of bandwidth
A 3 MB video viewed 10,000 times → ~30 GB of bandwidth
Because video files are much larger than typical images, bandwidth can be consumed far more quickly on video-enabled HTML5 campaigns. We recommend estimating your expected impression volume before launching a video HTML5 campaign to ensure your plan's bandwidth allowance is sufficient.
Estimating Your Monthly Bandwidth Needs
To estimate your monthly bandwidth requirements:
Determine average image size: Check the typical file size of your generated visuals (visible in the Generated Visuals section)
Estimate monthly views: Calculate how many times each image will be loaded across all platforms where it's used
Multiply: Image size × Estimated views = Estimated bandwidth usage
Bandwidth Usage Examples (Images & Video)
Image Type | Average Size | Monthly Views | Monthly Bandwith |
Social Media Banner | 200KB | 10,000 | 2GB |
Product Image | 500KB | 5,000 | 2.5GB |
High-Res Banner | 2MB | 1,000 | 2GB |
HTML5 Banner (CDN-hosted video) | 500KB-3MB | 10,000-50,000 | 5GB-150GB |
Tips to Optimize Bandwidth Usage
Use appropriate image sizes : don't use larger images than necessary
Enable image compression : optimize for web when generating visuals
Implement lazy loading : only load images when they're visible to users
Download & self-host high-traffic images : use the S3 URL to download, then host on your own CDN
Disable "CDN-hosted video" for low-traffic or small video assets: if your video file is small and doesn't breach the ad network's file size limit, embedding it directly in the HTML5 ZIP avoids CDN bandwidth consumption entirely.
How to Monitor Your Bandwidth Consumption
Head to the Monitor page, you will find your bandwith consumption for the current billing month.
What Happens When You Run Out of Bandwidth?
Your CDN-hosted images will no longer be visible wherever you've embedded them. Visitors will see a broken image icon instead.
For HTML5 banners using CDN-hosted video, this means the video will fail to load and typically display as blank or show only a placeholder icon, even though the banner's HTML5 structure itself still loads correctly.
Tips : Don't waste time and upgrade your subscription to increase your monthly bandwith limit to fix this problem.
What Happens to Your Hosted visuals (pdf, html5, mp4, png, etc..) When You Cancel Your Subscription?
All visuals hosted through Abyssale including CDN URLs, S3 URLs, and Dynamic image URLs will become inaccessible once your subscription ends. There is no grace period.
Important considerations:
All hosted visuals will no longer be available after subscription cancellation
Any websites, campaigns, or marketing materials using these visuals links will display nothing or broken image placeholders
There is no grace period for visuals accessibility after cancellation
Recommended actions before cancellation:
We strongly advise customers to download all their visuals and host them on their own servers before canceling their Abyssale subscription. This ensures continuity for any marketing materials, websites, or campaigns where these images are being used.
By taking this proactive step, you can avoid disruption to your digital assets and maintain a seamless experience for your audience even after your Abyssale subscription has ended.