Primary operator announcement checked October 14, 2026. Image-policy and availability claims are attributed to Scryfall; no image-quality comparison, API migration, catalogue operation or rights grant was independently tested.
WHY IT MATTERS
Preserve card identity, identify which Scryfall image version a catalogue uses, and verify a supported replacement before the announced January boundary. Image-update dates and card-release dates answer different questions.
Event date: . This article’s publication date is shown separately above.
Check the image reference beside the card record
Scryfall’s October 14 announcement introduces WebP image exports on its website and API and says most older JPEG versions are being deprecated. For collectors maintaining a Magic catalogue, the practical risk is a picture reference becoming unavailable while the underlying collection record remains valid.
Keep the exact card identity and printing details separately from the image URL. An image migration does not establish a new variant, a fresh release or a change in the condition of your own copy. This report concerns Scryfall’s announced image service, not a test of every catalogue application.
Four JPEG versions are scheduled to go
After January 1, 2027, Scryfall says its small, large, border_crop and art_crop JPEG versions will no longer be available. It asks users to migrate before then. Their WebP counterparts are named thumb, display, crop and art respectively. The new keys are different so applications can distinguish migrated references.
The normal JPEG option has a different outcome: it will be renamed jpeg in the API and remain available for legacy software. Its WebP counterpart is grid. Do not describe this announcement as eliminating every JPEG or assume an unchanged key is a completed migration.
Scryfall says png remains available for an application’s own image processing, but PNG hotlinking will not be allowed after January 1, 2027. Retaining a processing option and retaining permission to embed that remote image are separate things.
A refreshed image is not a newly issued card
The announcement adds image_updated_at to API Card objects and records in the new /cards/manifest endpoint, which Scryfall describes as supporting daily image syncs. That timestamp detects a change in the service’s image. Keep it distinct from a card’s release date or the date you acquired it.
Before replacing an old reference, compare the returned card identity and the image with your intended printing. Save your own condition photographs separately: a reference scan shows the issue, while a photograph of your offered or owned copy supports that copy’s condition. Scryfall says its WebP files are generated from original scans and images; its quality assurance is an operator statement, not an independent image-quality test here.
Catalogue applications have additional request rules
Scryfall says it will strictly enforce a uniquely identifying User-Agent for API and scripted image requests; generic library identifiers are not permitted. This is relevant to automated catalogue tools and backend downloads, rather than an instruction for a collector merely viewing a page.
The operator also plans to ask large applications to download and serve their own image copies. Its announcement expressly says doing so is not currently a hard requirement. Do not turn that proposed distribution practice into an immediate universal self-hosting rule, or infer that technical access grants additional image rights.
If someone maintains your catalogue software, send them the exact announcement and ask which image versions it stores or embeds. Verify the replacement references in that application before the announced deadline. No software migration, download library or account was tested for this report.
