What is hotlinking? Inline linking (also known as hotlinking, leeching, piggy-backing, direct linking, offsite image grabs and bandwidth theft) is the use of a linked object, often an image, from one site into a web page belonging to a second site. The second site is said to have an inline link to the site where the object is located.

By enabling hot linking protection, you can prevent other websites from stealing your bandwidth and force users to visit your site in order to download files or view images.