php file force download

Question

When I use this code to download this image (only used for testing purposes), I open the downloaded image, and all it gives me is an error. i tried it in chrome. opening it with windows photo viewer, it says that it can't display the picture because it is empty??? here is the code:

<?PHP
 // Define the path to file
 $file = 'http://www.media.lonelyplanet.com/lpi/12553/12553-11/469x264.jpg';

 if(!file)
 {
     // File doesn't exist, output error
     die('file not found');
 }
 else
 {
     header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
        header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
        header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='.basename($file));
        header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
        header('Expires: 0');
        header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0');
        header('Pragma: public');
        header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file));
        ob_clean();
        flush();
        readfile($file);
        exit;
 }
 ?>

when i try downloading an image from my site, i get the same error. and let me try removing the header. — droidus, Mar 30 '12 at 18:11
so i removed the headers, and got a lot of random ascii characters — droidus, Mar 30 '12 at 18:13
just notice that the above script has another obvious problem: `if(!file)` does not check whether the file exists or not, but checking the string exists instead. — Raptor, Nov 09 '16 at 03:25

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 31 '12 at 04:30

4

I've had a chance to work it out. Your problem is two-fold.

First, remove the www. from the url.

Second, remove the call to filesize($file) which is throwing an error because PHP doesn't know the size of the file before it downloads the file. (really, just remove the whole line)

Removing these two things, I was successful.

answered Mar 31 '12 at 04:30

Umbrella

4,733
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Yes, `filesize` should be used only when providing download option of local files (files at server). – Manu Manjunath Aug 20 '13 at 09:23

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 30 '12 at 18:11

2

Replace ob_clean() with ob_end_clean()

You're still buffering, so none of the image contents get to the browser.

answered Mar 30 '12 at 18:11

Umbrella

4,733
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wait, I don't see you starting a buffer... Why is that ob_clean there anyway? – Umbrella Mar 30 '12 at 18:12
have you tried setting the mimetype correctly to `image/jpeg`? – Umbrella Mar 30 '12 at 18:14

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 20 '13 at 08:18

If your intention is just the download the file from a third party on click of a link, you could use the new property download in the anchor tag.

The code will look something like

<a download href="path/to/the/download/file"> Clicking on this link will force download the file</a>

It works on firefox and chrome latest version. Should I mention that I didn't check it in IE? :P

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 20 '21 at 17:48

1

Replace:

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

With:

echo file_get_contents($file);

edited May 20 '21 at 17:48

Anoop Naik

335
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15

answered Mar 30 '12 at 18:14

iambriansreed

21,935
6
63
79

The url http://www.media.lonelyplanet.com/lpi/12553/12553-11/469x264.jpg doesn't seem valid to me. – iambriansreed Mar 30 '12 at 18:18
it was valid when i was using it. image: http://media.lonelyplanet.com/lpi/12553/12553-11/469x264.jpg – droidus Mar 30 '12 at 18:20
still didn't work, by the way, using header('Content-Type: image/jpeg'); – droidus Mar 30 '12 at 18:21
Ha. Get rid of the `www.` in your url string – iambriansreed Mar 30 '12 at 18:22
so it should be like: http://media.lonelyplanet.com/lpi/12553/12553-11/469x264.jpg? still doesn't work :p – droidus Mar 30 '12 at 18:25
did that fix work for you? i have a feeling i am missing something, or overlooking something simple haha – droidus Mar 30 '12 at 18:26
Wrong version is still in the cache? – GolezTrol Mar 30 '12 at 18:35
It is called `file_get_contents()` not `get_file_contents` – B001ᛦ May 20 '21 at 17:48

php file force download

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