Media API
Overview
A media object represents a single photo, video or animated GIF. Media objects are used by many endpoints within the Twitter API, and may be included in Tweets, direct messages, user profiles, advertising creatives and elsewhere. Each media object has multiple display or playback variants, with different resolutions or formats.
Creation
Objects such as Tweets, direct messages, user profile pictures, hosted Ads cards, etc. can contain one or more media objects. These top-level objects are collectively known internally as product entities. The relevant product entity creation API (e.g. POST statuses/update
) can be passed one or more media objects using a unique media_id
.
A product entity which contains media object(s) can be created by following these steps:
1) Upload the media file(s) using either the simple (image only) or the chunked (recommended) media upload API to receive a media_id
. This step may be repeated multiple times with different media if the product entity allows multiple media_id
parameters to be passed in.
2) Create the product entity by calling the appropriate endpoint, including the media_id
and other required parameters. For example, attach a media_id
to a Tweet using the POST statuses/update
endpoint.
Troubleshooting
For issues with the Media APIs:
- Check out the upload guide which contains useful tips and common pitfalls
- Browse the Media API category in the developer forums.