Space contained in any URL will give you nil value if you try to user URL(string: "") When you try to convert below string into URL it will throw you nil value because URL(string: " ") will not able to handle white spaces and this is why it return you nil value let imageURL = "https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.goodtime.city/Profile/4e1d7331-78df-11e7-ba2f-9e34d39fd224-10/5/2018 12:19:09 PM.png" let url = URL (string: escapedURL!) to fix this issue you need to use : let escapedURL = imageURL . addingPercentEncoding ( withAllowedCharacters: CharacterSet . urlQueryAllowed ) To fix this issue you need to use below code : let imageURL = "https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.goodtime.city/Profile/4e1d7331-78df-11e7-ba2f-9e34d39fd224-10/5/2018 12:19:09 PM.png" let escapedURL = imageURL. addingPercentEncoding ( withAllowedCharacters: CharacterSet . urlQueryAllowed ) let url = URL (stri