HTML Guide
To fix the issue of having a bad value for the src
attribute on an img
element due to having a tab, new line, or carriage return, you need to ensure that the src
attribute does not contain any additional whitespace characters like tab, new line, or carriage return.
Incorrect code:
<img src="images/example.jpg
" alt="Example Image">
Corrected code:
<img src="images/example.jpg" alt="Example Image">
By removing the extra whitespace characters (new line in this case) and ensuring that the src
attribute value is properly enclosed within quotes, the issue should be resolved.
Learn more:
Related W3C validator issues
Square brackets in an img src query string must be percent-encoded to be valid.
The src attribute on img must be a valid URL. In URL query strings, characters like [ and ] are not allowed unescaped per URL syntax. When present (often from frameworks adding array-like params), they must be percent-encoded as [ -> %5B and ] -> %5D. Alternatively, remove brackets from the query or use a server-side/route format that avoids them.
HTML examples
Example causing the validator error
<img src="/images/photo.jpg?size[width]=300&size[height]=200" alt="Sample">
Fixed example using percent-encoding
<img src="/images/photo.jpg?size%5Bwidth%5D=300&size%5Bheight%5D=200" alt="Sample">
Fixed example by avoiding brackets in params
<img src="/images/photo.jpg?size_width=300&size_height=200" alt="Sample">
The src attribute on an <img> element contains an invalid character, that should be properly encoded as a URI percent-encoded character.
The src attribute for <img> tags is required, to define the source of the image, like in this example:
<img src="photo.jpg" alt="wombat" />
This error message indicates that there is a backslash (\) used in a URL, which is not a valid character for URL paths.
You’ll need to replace the backslashes with forward slashes (/) in the URL path segments.
Here’s an example of a correct img tag using a valid URL path:
<img src="https://example.com/img/small/photo.png" alt="example image">
Also, make sure that the URL is correct and that the image file actually exists in the specified location.
The src attribute on an element <img> contains a character which is not allowed unless properly encoded.
Special characters needing encoding are: :, /, ?, #, [, ], @, !, $, &, ', (, ), *, +, ,, ;, =, as well as % itself.
For example, this image tag is incorrect because the src attribute contains an the unallowed characters [ and ]:
<img src="image[00].svg" alt="logo">
Instead, this is the properly percent-encoded src attribute, where [ has been replaced with %5B and ] with %5D.
<img src="image%5B00%5D.svg" alt="logo">
Space characters are not allowed in src attributes. Instead, they should be converted to %20. In this example, the first line is invalid and the second is valid:
<img src="https://example.com/?s=some term" alt="description" />
<img src="https://example.com/?s=some%20term" alt="description" />
The src attribute on an element <img> contains a character that is not allowed, and should be encoded.
Some typical examples include the pipe character | that should be replaced by its encoded alternative %7C , and the left square bracket [ that needs to be encoded as %5B.
The src attribute on an <img> tag is not allowed to contain space characters. You should replace them with “%20“.
<img> tags used to display images require the attribute src to indicate the source of the image, for example <img src="/img/photo.jpg" />.
According to the HTML specification, text must not contain control characters other than space characters.
In particular, the control character 
escapes the Unicode control character “CARRIAGE RETURN” are not allowed.
An alternative is using the character reference which escapes the Unicode control character “LINE FEED” that is defined to be a space character, so it’s allowed in HTML text.