django - What is the difference between {% load staticfiles %} and {% load static %}

Question

The most important part of the question is in the topic.

I am wondering what tag is best for which case. Moreover... I found code, that also use settings.STATIC_URL included by {{STATIC_URL}} in the templates.

I am a little confused.

Answer 1

The built-in static template tag "link[s] to static files that are saved in STATIC_ROOT".

The staticfiles contrib app's static template tag "uses the configured STATICFILES_STORAGE storage to create the full URL for the given relative path", which is "especially useful when using a non-local storage backend to deploy files".

The built-in static template tag's documentation (linked to above) has a note that says to use the staticfiles contrib app's static template tag "if you have an advanced use case such as using a cloud service to serve static files", and it gives this example of doing so:

{% load static from staticfiles %}
<img src="{% static "images/hi.jpg" %}" alt="Hi!" />

You could use {% load staticfiles %} rather than {% load static from staticfiles %} if you want, but the latter is more explicit.