How can I force a file download in all browsers?

Question

I am working on script which allows user to download pptx and zip files using php, but this script behaves different on different browsers. I tried many scripts available on the internet, but nothing worked properly so I made this one collecting chunks from different scripts.

firefox => works perfect
Opera => Downloads file as a HTM file
Safari => 0kb File
IE => Catching old file

My Code:-

// content type for pptx file 
$ctype = "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation";
$file = "http://www.abc.com/presentation.pptx";
header("Pragma: public"); 
header("Expires: 0"); 
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0"); 
header("Cache-Control: private",false); // required for certain browsers 
header("Content-Type: ".$ctype); 
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"".basename($file)."\";" ); 
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary"); 
header("Content-Length: ".filesize($file)); 

ob_clean(); 
flush(); 
readfile( $file);

How can I get all browsers to reliably download the file instead of displaying the seemingly random behaviour above?

Edit: Below is the code that worked for me, I am not sure what was the problem, unwanted headers or file path ? I made both the changes and it worked.

$ctype = "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation";
$file = "Presentation3.pptx";
header("Pragma: public"); 
header('Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT');
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0"); 
header("Content-Type: ".$ctype); 
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"".basename($file)."\";" ); 
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary"); 
header("Content-Length: ".filesize($file)); 
readfile( $file);

see my answer i think it helpful for you http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15893738/zip-file-downloading-as-php/15893990#15893990 — mohammad mohsenipur, Apr 16 '13 at 19:41
@vascowhite : question is : file download works different on different browsers — www.amitpatil.me, Apr 16 '13 at 19:42
That isn't a question, it's a statement. Are you looking for an explanation of why this is, or are you looking for code to solve some problem you are having? — vascowhite, Apr 16 '13 at 19:44
@vascowhite- :) ok, i want to know what i am missing in the code. — www.amitpatil.me, Apr 16 '13 at 19:45
why are you fetching from a full-blown http url? If that file's on your server, why do ANOTHER http request to load it int your script, just to fire it out the door? — Marc B, Apr 16 '13 at 19:56
I was trying different variation, so its there, no special reason — www.amitpatil.me, Apr 16 '13 at 20:03

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 16 '13 at 19:55

in my test of your code work perfectly if use local file instead url with url give me 0kb too

i test in firefox,IE,Chrome all result is same

  // content type for pptx file 
    $ctype = "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation";

    $file = "presentation.pptx";//attention  

    header("Pragma: public"); 
    header("Expires: 0"); 
    header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0"); 
    header("Cache-Control: private",false); // required for certain browsers 
    header("Content-Type: ".$ctype); 
    header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"".basename($file)."\";" ); 
    header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary"); 
    header("Content-Length: ".filesize($file)); 

    ob_clean(); 
    flush(); 
    readfile( $file);

I followed your suggestion and Marcelo's suggestion, and its working fine in all browsers. Thanks — www.amitpatil.me, Apr 16 '13 at 20:27

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 16 '13 at 20:07

1

If file is in your server, don't use URL. If it is an external file, I would write it first to your server, and then print it to user.

I would also delete the header("Cache-Control: private",false); line; and use header('Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT'); instead of header("Expires: 0");. It always worked for me this way :)

Also try deleting ob_clean(); flush(); (as there is nothing to flush or clean before sending the file).

answered Apr 16 '13 at 20:07

Marcelo Pascual

810
8
20

I followed your suggestion and Mohammads suggestion, and its working fine in all browsers. Thanks – www.amitpatil.me Apr 16 '13 at 20:27

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 16 '13 at 20:35

1

Please note that there are some issue in IOS browsers for download.

answered Apr 16 '13 at 20:35

Biswajit Maji

869
13
23

I tested it on windows 7, Safari 5.1.7, By the ways, what problem did you face in ios browser ?? Thanks – www.amitpatil.me Apr 16 '13 at 20:42
I tried in safari in ipod,ipad etc. In mac windows etc it works fine. I tried to add audio download functionality. But instead of download it started streaming. – Biswajit Maji Apr 16 '13 at 21:13
Can you pleased do me a favor ? Please try to download pptx and zip ? – www.amitpatil.me Apr 17 '13 at 03:34

How can I force a file download in all browsers?

3 Answers3