Android: Getting a file URI from a content URI?

Question

Just use getContentResolver().openInputStream(uri) to get an InputStream from a URI.

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/ContentResolver.html#openInputStream(android.net.Uri)

This is an old answer with deprecated and hacky way of overcoming some specific content resolver pain points. Take it with some huge grains of salt and use the proper openInputStream API if at all possible.

You can use the Content Resolver to get a file:// path from the content:// URI:

String filePath = null;
Uri _uri = data.getData();
Log.d("","URI = "+ _uri);                                       
if (_uri != null && "content".equals(_uri.getScheme())) {
    Cursor cursor = this.getContentResolver().query(_uri, new String[] { android.provider.MediaStore.Images.ImageColumns.DATA }, null, null, null);
    cursor.moveToFirst();   
    filePath = cursor.getString(0);
    cursor.close();
} else {
    filePath = _uri.getPath();
}
Log.d("","Chosen path = "+ filePath);

If you have a content Uri with content://com.externalstorage... you can use this method to get absolute path of a folder or file on Android 19 or above.

public static String getPath(final Context context, final Uri uri) {
    final boolean isKitKat = Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.KITKAT;

    // DocumentProvider
    if (isKitKat && DocumentsContract.isDocumentUri(context, uri)) {
        System.out.println("getPath() uri: " + uri.toString());
        System.out.println("getPath() uri authority: " + uri.getAuthority());
        System.out.println("getPath() uri path: " + uri.getPath());

        // ExternalStorageProvider
        if ("com.android.externalstorage.documents".equals(uri.getAuthority())) {
            final String docId = DocumentsContract.getDocumentId(uri);
            final String[] split = docId.split(":");
            final String type = split[0];
            System.out.println("getPath() docId: " + docId + ", split: " + split.length + ", type: " + type);

            // This is for checking Main Memory
            if ("primary".equalsIgnoreCase(type)) {
                if (split.length > 1) {
                    return Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/" + split[1] + "/";
                } else {
                    return Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/";
                }
                // This is for checking SD Card
            } else {
                return "storage" + "/" + docId.replace(":", "/");
            }

        }
    }
    return null;
}

You can check each part of Uri using println. Returned values for my SD card and device main memory are listed below. You can access and delete if file is on memory, but I wasn't able to delete file from SD card using this method, only read or opened image using this absolute path. If you find a solution to delete using this method, please share.

SD CARD

getPath() uri: content://com.android.externalstorage.documents/tree/612E-B7BF%3A/document/612E-B7BF%3A
getPath() uri authority: com.android.externalstorage.documents
getPath() uri path: /tree/612E-B7BF:/document/612E-B7BF:
getPath() docId: 612E-B7BF:, split: 1, type: 612E-B7BF

MAIN MEMORY

getPath() uri: content://com.android.externalstorage.documents/tree/primary%3A/document/primary%3A
getPath() uri authority: com.android.externalstorage.documents
getPath() uri path: /tree/primary:/document/primary:
getPath() docId: primary:, split: 1, type: primary

If you wish to get Uri with file:/// after getting path use

DocumentFile documentFile = DocumentFile.fromFile(new File(path));
documentFile.getUri() // will return a Uri with file Uri

Inspired answers are Jason LaBrun & Darth Raven. Trying already answered approaches led me to below solution which may mostly cover cursor null cases & conversion from content:// to file://

To convert file, read&write the file from gained uri

public static Uri getFilePathFromUri(Uri uri) throws IOException {
    String fileName = getFileName(uri);
    File file = new File(myContext.getExternalCacheDir(), fileName);
    file.createNewFile();
    try (OutputStream outputStream = new FileOutputStream(file);
         InputStream inputStream = myContext.getContentResolver().openInputStream(uri)) {
        FileUtil.copyStream(inputStream, outputStream); //Simply reads input to output stream
        outputStream.flush();
    }
    return Uri.fromFile(file);
}

To get filename use, it will cover cursor null case

public static String getFileName(Uri uri) {
    String fileName = getFileNameFromCursor(uri);
    if (fileName == null) {
        String fileExtension = getFileExtension(uri);
        fileName = "temp_file" + (fileExtension != null ? "." + fileExtension : "");
    } else if (!fileName.contains(".")) {
        String fileExtension = getFileExtension(uri);
        fileName = fileName + "." + fileExtension;
    }
    return fileName;
}

There is good option to converting from mime type to file extention

 public static String getFileExtension(Uri uri) {
    String fileType = myContext.getContentResolver().getType(uri);
    return MimeTypeMap.getSingleton().getExtensionFromMimeType(fileType);
}

Cursor to obtain name of file

public static String getFileNameFromCursor(Uri uri) {
    Cursor fileCursor = myContext.getContentResolver().query(uri, new String[]{OpenableColumns.DISPLAY_NAME}, null, null, null);
    String fileName = null;
    if (fileCursor != null && fileCursor.moveToFirst()) {
        int cIndex = fileCursor.getColumnIndex(OpenableColumns.DISPLAY_NAME);
        if (cIndex != -1) {
            fileName = fileCursor.getString(cIndex);
        }
    }
    return fileName;
}