How to redirect all images in the files folder to a default file?

Question

Because we work with DTAP environments, our developers work on their own laptops. To get a good view of the live environment, we copy the PROD database and the files to our own laptop. However, this takes up a lot of space because of all the files directories.

What I'd love to have is a simple .htaccess or Apache redirect rule that points all files in the files directory to one default image, so that we don't have to copy the files directory contents (which can be gigabytes sometimes).

There is one exception though for JS/CSS files and files in the files/styles directory. Those callbacks must keep working.

Any thoughts on if and how this would be achievable?

Answer 1

You could use the stage_file_proxy module or cdn module

Answer 2

I don't know if this suits your problem, but the module "Media placeholder" replaces the missing images with a default image. Thus, you would not have to always update the pictures folder.

This module will replace missing(404) images with a placeholder image.