libravatar

From IndieWeb


Libravatar is a protocol specification for fetching avatar images for E-Mail addresses and OpenIDs in a decentralized way.

It is also an open source service to host a profile photo (avatar) for e-mail addresses and personal sites used for identification (e.g. OpenID, IndieAuth). The photos can then automatically be displayed on your posts and comments on any website that supports it.

Alternatively, you can get a profile photo from the representative h-card and icon from a personal site.

In contrast to Gravatar, which is a centralized service, libravatar is decentralized - each person can host their own avatar server. Multiple server implementations are available.

How to use

To display avatars on your site, use an Open Source library or plugin (e.g. Wordpress plugin)

To host your own avatars on your domain, there are a few options. I personally just use a quick-n-dirty shell script.

IndieWeb Examples

IndieWeb community members that have setup their sites with libravatar support:

Christian Weiske

Image Christian Weiske runs his own avatar server, surrogator - see the announcement blog post.

François Marier

François Marier on Fmarier.org since 2013:

Stephen Paul Weber

singpolyma supports libravatar on his site for his main email address:

gRegor Morrill

2025-08-10: Image gRegor Morrill switched local comment avatars to use the libravatar CDN instead of Gravatar

Matt Lee

  • Switched Libre.fm to libravatar in 2024.

Add yourself

Add yourself here… (see this for more details)

Issues

No test suite

There doesn't appear to be a test suite for libravatar. Web searching for "libravatar test suite" doesn't find anything and no mention of "test" on their wiki home page

See Also