---
description: Next.js allows you to serve static files, like images, in the public directory. You can learn how it works here.
---

# Static File Serving

Next.js can serve static files, like images, under a folder called `public` in the root directory. Files inside `public` can then be referenced by your code starting from the base URL (`/`).

For example, if you add an image to `public/me.png`, the following code will access the image:

```jsx
import Image from 'next/image'

function Avatar() {
  return <Image src="/me.png" alt="me" width="64" height="64" />
}

export default Avatar
```

> Note: `next/image` requires Next.js 10 or later.

This folder is also useful for `robots.txt`, `favicon.ico`, Google Site Verification, and any other static files (including `.html`)!

> **Note**: Don't name the `public` directory anything else. The name cannot be changed and is the only directory used to serve static assets.

> **Note**: Be sure to not have a static file with the same name as a file in the `pages/` directory, as this will result in an error.
>
> Read more: <https://nextjs.org/docs/messages/conflicting-public-file-page>

> **Note**: Only assets that are in the `public` directory at [build time](/docs/api-reference/cli.md#build) will be served by Next.js. Files added at runtime won't be available. We recommend using a third party service like [AWS S3](https://aws.amazon.com/s3/) for persistent file storage.