Download data URL file

Question

If you also want to give a suggested name to the file (instead of the default 'download') you can use the following in Chrome, Firefox and some IE versions:

function downloadURI(uri, name) {
  var link = document.createElement("a");
  link.download = name;
  link.href = uri;
  document.body.appendChild(link);
  link.click();
  document.body.removeChild(link);
  delete link;
}

And the following example shows it's use:

downloadURI("data:text/html,HelloWorld!", "helloWorld.txt");

function download(dataurl, filename) {
  const link = document.createElement("a");
  link.href = dataurl;
  link.download = filename;
  link.click();
}

download("data:text/html,HelloWorld!", "helloWorld.txt");

or:

function download(url, filename) {
  fetch(url)
    .then(response => response.blob())
    .then(blob => {
      const link = document.createElement("a");
      link.href = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
      link.download = filename;
      link.click();
  })
  .catch(console.error);
}

download("https://get.geojs.io/v1/ip/geo.json","geoip.json")
download("data:text/html,HelloWorld!", "helloWorld.txt");

Ideas:

• Try a <a href="data:...." target="_blank"> (Untested)

• Use downloadify instead of data URLs (would work for IE as well)

Want to share my experience and help someone stuck on the downloads not working in Firefox and updated answer to 2014. The below snippet will work in both firefox and chrome and it will accept a filename:

  // Construct the <a> element
  var link = document.createElement("a");
  link.download = thefilename;
  // Construct the uri
  var uri = 'data:text/csv;charset=utf-8;base64,' + someb64data
  link.href = uri;
  document.body.appendChild(link);
  link.click();
  // Cleanup the DOM
  document.body.removeChild(link);

Here is a pure JavaScript solution I tested working in Firefox and Chrome but not in Internet Explorer:

function downloadDataUrlFromJavascript(filename, dataUrl) {

    // Construct the 'a' element
    var link = document.createElement("a");
    link.download = filename;
    link.target = "_blank";

    // Construct the URI
    link.href = dataUrl;
    document.body.appendChild(link);
    link.click();

    // Cleanup the DOM
    document.body.removeChild(link);
    delete link;
}

Cross-browser solutions found up until now:

downloadify -> Requires Flash

databounce -> Tested in IE 10 and 11, and doesn't work for me. Requires a servlet and some customization. (Incorrectly detects navigator. I had to set IE in compatibility mode to test, default charset in servlet, JavaScript options object with correct servlet path for absolute paths...) For non-IE browsers, it opens the file in the same window.

download.js -> http://danml.com/download.html Another library similar but not tested. Claims to be pure JavaScript, not requiring servlet nor Flash, but doesn't work on IE <= 9.

There are several solutions but they depend on HTML5 and haven't been implemented completely in some browsers yet. Examples below were tested in Chrome and Firefox (partly works).

1. Canvas example with save to file support. Just set your document.location.href to the data URI.
2. Anchor download example. It uses <a href="your-data-uri" download="filename.txt"> to specify file name.

Combining answers from @owencm and @Chazt3n, this function will allow download of text from IE11, Firefox, and Chrome. (Sorry, I don't have access to Safari or Opera, but please add a comment if you try and it works.)

initiate_user_download = function(file_name, mime_type, text) {
    // Anything but IE works here
    if (undefined === window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob) {
        var e = document.createElement('a');
        var href = 'data:' + mime_type + ';charset=utf-8,' + encodeURIComponent(text);
        e.setAttribute('href', href);
        e.setAttribute('download', file_name);
        document.body.appendChild(e);
        e.click();
        document.body.removeChild(e);
    }
    // IE-specific code
    else {
        var charCodeArr = new Array(text.length);
        for (var i = 0; i < text.length; ++i) {
            var charCode = text.charCodeAt(i);
            charCodeArr[i] = charCode;
        }
        var blob = new Blob([new Uint8Array(charCodeArr)], {type: mime_type});
        window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob(blob, file_name);
    }
}

// Example:
initiate_user_download('data.csv', 'text/csv', 'Sample,Data,Here\n1,2,3\n');