C# - Download PDF from URL and convert it into base64 without saving it on a server

Question

So basically what I want to do is to download a PDF file inside of a Web API from a URL I get as a parameter from the frontend and directly convert said file into a base64 string without saving the file on a file system.

I have already found WebClient.Download(URL, File) but that means, that I have to save the file.

So does anyone know any other solution that could work for me?

WebClient.DownloadData https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144188(v=vs.110).aspx — Samvel Petrosov, Jun 15 '17 at 06:41

score 12 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 15 '17 at 07:17

12

You can use below code to download PDF from url into base64 string format.

string pdfUrl = "URL_TO_PDF";
using(WebClient client = new WebClient())
{
     var bytes = client.DownloadData(pdfUrl);
     string base64String = Convert.ToBase64String(bytes);
}

edited Jun 15 '17 at 07:17

Samvel Petrosov

7,580
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answered Jun 15 '17 at 06:59

Vijay Raheja

290
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10

best answer but maybe you can add a using: using (WebClient webClient = new WebClient()){ – Xavave Jun 15 '17 at 07:07

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 15 '17 at 07:00

as said in first answer of Downloading pdf file using WebRequests

var fileName = "output/" + date.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd") + ".pdf";
using (var stream = File.Create(fileName))
 resp.GetResponseStream().CopyTo(stream);

(resp is

 HttpWebResponse resp = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

)

then convert to base64

 String file = Convert.ToBase64String(stream);

C# - Download PDF from URL and convert it into base64 without saving it on a server

2 Answers2