Resumable downloads when using PHP to send the file?

Question

The first thing you need to do is to send the Accept-Ranges: bytes header in all responses, to tell the client that you support partial content. Then, if request with a Range: bytes=x-y header is received (with x and y being numbers) you parse the range the client is requesting, open the file as usual, seek x bytes ahead and send the next y - x bytes. Also set the response to HTTP/1.0 206 Partial Content.

Without having tested anything, this could work, more or less:

$filesize = filesize($file);

$offset = 0;
$length = $filesize;

if ( isset($_SERVER['HTTP_RANGE']) ) {
    // if the HTTP_RANGE header is set we're dealing with partial content

    $partialContent = true;

    // find the requested range
    // this might be too simplistic, apparently the client can request
    // multiple ranges, which can become pretty complex, so ignore it for now
    preg_match('/bytes=(\d+)-(\d+)?/', $_SERVER['HTTP_RANGE'], $matches);

    $offset = intval($matches[1]);
    $length = intval($matches[2]) - $offset;
} else {
    $partialContent = false;
}

$file = fopen($file, 'r');

// seek to the requested offset, this is 0 if it's not a partial content request
fseek($file, $offset);

$data = fread($file, $length);

fclose($file);

if ( $partialContent ) {
    // output the right headers for partial content

    header('HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content');

    header('Content-Range: bytes ' . $offset . '-' . ($offset + $length) . '/' . $filesize);
}

// output the regular HTTP headers
header('Content-Type: ' . $ctype);
header('Content-Length: ' . $filesize);
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $fileName . '"');
header('Accept-Ranges: bytes');

// don't forget to send the data too
print($data);

I may have missed something obvious, and I have most definitely ignored some potential sources of errors, but it should be a start.

There's a description of partial content here and I found some info on partial content on the documentation page for fread.

EDIT 2017/01 - I wrote a library to do this in PHP >=7.0 https://github.com/DaveRandom/Resume

EDIT 2016/02 - Code completely rewritten to a set of modular tools an an example usage, rather than a monolithic function. Corrections mentioned in comments below have been incorporated.

---

A tested, working solution (based heavily on Theo's answer above) which deals with resumable downloads, in a set of a few standalone tools. This code requires PHP 5.4 or later.

This solution can still only cope with one range per request, but under any circumstance with a standard browser that I can think of, this should not cause a problem.

<?php

/**
 * Get the value of a header in the current request context
 *
 * @param string $name Name of the header
 * @return string|null Returns null when the header was not sent or cannot be retrieved
 */
function get_request_header($name)
{
    $name = strtoupper($name);

    // IIS/Some Apache versions and configurations
    if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_' . $name])) {
        return trim($_SERVER['HTTP_' . $name]);
    }

    // Various other SAPIs
    foreach (apache_request_headers() as $header_name => $value) {
        if (strtoupper($header_name) === $name) {
            return trim($value);
        }
    }

    return null;
}

class NonExistentFileException extends \RuntimeException {}
class UnreadableFileException extends \RuntimeException {}
class UnsatisfiableRangeException extends \RuntimeException {}
class InvalidRangeHeaderException extends \RuntimeException {}

class RangeHeader
{
    /**
     * The first byte in the file to send (0-indexed), a null value indicates the last
     * $end bytes
     *
     * @var int|null
     */
    private $firstByte;

    /**
     * The last byte in the file to send (0-indexed), a null value indicates $start to
     * EOF
     *
     * @var int|null
     */
    private $lastByte;

    /**
     * Create a new instance from a Range header string
     *
     * @param string $header
     * @return RangeHeader
     */
    public static function createFromHeaderString($header)
    {
        if ($header === null) {
            return null;
        }

        if (!preg_match('/^\s*(\S+)\s*(\d*)\s*-\s*(\d*)\s*(?:,|$)/', $header, $info)) {
            throw new InvalidRangeHeaderException('Invalid header format');
        } else if (strtolower($info[1]) !== 'bytes') {
            throw new InvalidRangeHeaderException('Unknown range unit: ' . $info[1]);
        }

        return new self(
            $info[2] === '' ? null : $info[2],
            $info[3] === '' ? null : $info[3]
        );
    }

    /**
     * @param int|null $firstByte
     * @param int|null $lastByte
     * @throws InvalidRangeHeaderException
     */
    public function __construct($firstByte, $lastByte)
    {
        $this->firstByte = $firstByte === null ? $firstByte : (int)$firstByte;
        $this->lastByte = $lastByte === null ? $lastByte : (int)$lastByte;

        if ($this->firstByte === null && $this->lastByte === null) {
            throw new InvalidRangeHeaderException(
                'Both start and end position specifiers empty'
            );
        } else if ($this->firstByte < 0 || $this->lastByte < 0) {
            throw new InvalidRangeHeaderException(
                'Position specifiers cannot be negative'
            );
        } else if ($this->lastByte !== null && $this->lastByte < $this->firstByte) {
            throw new InvalidRangeHeaderException(
                'Last byte cannot be less than first byte'
            );
        }
    }

    /**
     * Get the start position when this range is applied to a file of the specified size
     *
     * @param int $fileSize
     * @return int
     * @throws UnsatisfiableRangeException
     */
    public function getStartPosition($fileSize)
    {
        $size = (int)$fileSize;

        if ($this->firstByte === null) {
            return ($size - 1) - $this->lastByte;
        }

        if ($size <= $this->firstByte) {
            throw new UnsatisfiableRangeException(
                'Start position is after the end of the file'
            );
        }

        return $this->firstByte;
    }

    /**
     * Get the end position when this range is applied to a file of the specified size
     *
     * @param int $fileSize
     * @return int
     * @throws UnsatisfiableRangeException
     */
    public function getEndPosition($fileSize)
    {
        $size = (int)$fileSize;

        if ($this->lastByte === null) {
            return $size - 1;
        }

        if ($size <= $this->lastByte) {
            throw new UnsatisfiableRangeException(
                'End position is after the end of the file'
            );
        }

        return $this->lastByte;
    }

    /**
     * Get the length when this range is applied to a file of the specified size
     *
     * @param int $fileSize
     * @return int
     * @throws UnsatisfiableRangeException
     */
    public function getLength($fileSize)
    {
        $size = (int)$fileSize;

        return $this->getEndPosition($size) - $this->getStartPosition($size) + 1;
    }

    /**
     * Get a Content-Range header corresponding to this Range and the specified file
     * size
     *
     * @param int $fileSize
     * @return string
     */
    public function getContentRangeHeader($fileSize)
    {
        return 'bytes ' . $this->getStartPosition($fileSize) . '-'
             . $this->getEndPosition($fileSize) . '/' . $fileSize;
    }
}

class PartialFileServlet
{
    /**
     * The range header on which the data transmission will be based
     *
     * @var RangeHeader|null
     */
    private $range;

    /**
     * @param RangeHeader $range Range header on which the transmission will be based
     */
    public function __construct(RangeHeader $range = null)
    {
        $this->range = $range;
    }

    /**
     * Send part of the data in a seekable stream resource to the output buffer
     *
     * @param resource $fp Stream resource to read data from
     * @param int $start Position in the stream to start reading
     * @param int $length Number of bytes to read
     * @param int $chunkSize Maximum bytes to read from the file in a single operation
     */
    private function sendDataRange($fp, $start, $length, $chunkSize = 8192)
    {
        if ($start > 0) {
            fseek($fp, $start, SEEK_SET);
        }

        while ($length) {
            $read = ($length > $chunkSize) ? $chunkSize : $length;
            $length -= $read;
            echo fread($fp, $read);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Send the headers that are included regardless of whether a range was requested
     *
     * @param string $fileName
     * @param int $contentLength
     * @param string $contentType
     */
    private function sendDownloadHeaders($fileName, $contentLength, $contentType)
    {
        header('Content-Type: ' . $contentType);
        header('Content-Length: ' . $contentLength);
        header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $fileName . '"');
        header('Accept-Ranges: bytes');
    }

    /**
     * Send data from a file based on the current Range header
     *
     * @param string $path Local file system path to serve
     * @param string $contentType MIME type of the data stream
     */
    public function sendFile($path, $contentType = 'application/octet-stream')
    {
        // Make sure the file exists and is a file, otherwise we are wasting our time
        $localPath = realpath($path);
        if ($localPath === false || !is_file($localPath)) {
            throw new NonExistentFileException(
                $path . ' does not exist or is not a file'
            );
        }

        // Make sure we can open the file for reading
        if (!$fp = fopen($localPath, 'r')) {
            throw new UnreadableFileException(
                'Failed to open ' . $localPath . ' for reading'
            );
        }

        $fileSize = filesize($localPath);

        if ($this->range == null) {
            // No range requested, just send the whole file
            header('HTTP/1.1 200 OK');
            $this->sendDownloadHeaders(basename($localPath), $fileSize, $contentType);

            fpassthru($fp);
        } else {
            // Send the request range
            header('HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content');
            header('Content-Range: ' . $this->range->getContentRangeHeader($fileSize));
            $this->sendDownloadHeaders(
                basename($localPath),
                $this->range->getLength($fileSize),
                $contentType
            );

            $this->sendDataRange(
                $fp,
                $this->range->getStartPosition($fileSize),
                $this->range->getLength($fileSize)
            );
        }

        fclose($fp);
    }
}

Example usage:

<?php

$path = '/local/path/to/file.ext';
$contentType = 'application/octet-stream';

// Avoid sending unexpected errors to the client - we should be serving a file,
// we don't want to corrupt the data we send
ini_set('display_errors', '0');

try {
    $rangeHeader = RangeHeader::createFromHeaderString(get_request_header('Range'));
    (new PartialFileServlet($rangeHeader))->sendFile($path, $contentType);
} catch (InvalidRangeHeaderException $e) {
    header("HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request");
} catch (UnsatisfiableRangeException $e) {
    header("HTTP/1.1 416 Range Not Satisfiable");
} catch (NonExistentFileException $e) {
    header("HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found");
} catch (UnreadableFileException $e) {
    header("HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error");
}

// It's usually a good idea to explicitly exit after sending a file to avoid sending any
// extra data on the end that might corrupt the file
exit;

Yes. Support byteranges. See RFC 2616 section 14.35 .

It basically means that you should read the Range header, and start serving the file from the specified offset.

This means that you can't use readfile(), since that serves the whole file. Instead, use fopen() first, then fseek() to the correct position, and then use fpassthru() to serve the file.

This works 100% super check it I am using it and no problems any more.

        /* Function: download with resume/speed/stream options */


         /* List of File Types */
        function fileTypes($extension){
            $fileTypes['swf'] = 'application/x-shockwave-flash';
            $fileTypes['pdf'] = 'application/pdf';
            $fileTypes['exe'] = 'application/octet-stream';
            $fileTypes['zip'] = 'application/zip';
            $fileTypes['doc'] = 'application/msword';
            $fileTypes['xls'] = 'application/vnd.ms-excel';
            $fileTypes['ppt'] = 'application/vnd.ms-powerpoint';
            $fileTypes['gif'] = 'image/gif';
            $fileTypes['png'] = 'image/png';
            $fileTypes['jpeg'] = 'image/jpg';
            $fileTypes['jpg'] = 'image/jpg';
            $fileTypes['rar'] = 'application/rar';

            $fileTypes['ra'] = 'audio/x-pn-realaudio';
            $fileTypes['ram'] = 'audio/x-pn-realaudio';
            $fileTypes['ogg'] = 'audio/x-pn-realaudio';

            $fileTypes['wav'] = 'video/x-msvideo';
            $fileTypes['wmv'] = 'video/x-msvideo';
            $fileTypes['avi'] = 'video/x-msvideo';
            $fileTypes['asf'] = 'video/x-msvideo';
            $fileTypes['divx'] = 'video/x-msvideo';

            $fileTypes['mp3'] = 'audio/mpeg';
            $fileTypes['mp4'] = 'audio/mpeg';
            $fileTypes['mpeg'] = 'video/mpeg';
            $fileTypes['mpg'] = 'video/mpeg';
            $fileTypes['mpe'] = 'video/mpeg';
            $fileTypes['mov'] = 'video/quicktime';
            $fileTypes['swf'] = 'video/quicktime';
            $fileTypes['3gp'] = 'video/quicktime';
            $fileTypes['m4a'] = 'video/quicktime';
            $fileTypes['aac'] = 'video/quicktime';
            $fileTypes['m3u'] = 'video/quicktime';
            return $fileTypes[$extention];
        };

        /*
          Parameters: downloadFile(File Location, File Name,
          max speed, is streaming
          If streaming - videos will show as videos, images as images
          instead of download prompt
         */

        function downloadFile($fileLocation, $fileName, $maxSpeed = 100, $doStream = false) {
            if (connection_status() != 0)
                return(false);
        //    in some old versions this can be pereferable to get extention
        //    $extension = strtolower(end(explode('.', $fileName)));
            $extension = pathinfo($fileName, PATHINFO_EXTENSION);

            $contentType = fileTypes($extension);
            header("Cache-Control: public");
            header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary\n");
            header('Content-Type: $contentType');

            $contentDisposition = 'attachment';

            if ($doStream == true) {
                /* extensions to stream */
                $array_listen = array('mp3', 'm3u', 'm4a', 'mid', 'ogg', 'ra', 'ram', 'wm',
                    'wav', 'wma', 'aac', '3gp', 'avi', 'mov', 'mp4', 'mpeg', 'mpg', 'swf', 'wmv', 'divx', 'asf');
                if (in_array($extension, $array_listen)) {
                    $contentDisposition = 'inline';
                }
            }

            if (strstr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], "MSIE")) {
                $fileName = preg_replace('/\./', '%2e', $fileName, substr_count($fileName, '.') - 1);
                header("Content-Disposition: $contentDisposition;
                    filename=\"$fileName\"");
            } else {
                header("Content-Disposition: $contentDisposition;
                    filename=\"$fileName\"");
            }

            header("Accept-Ranges: bytes");
            $range = 0;
            $size = filesize($fileLocation);

            if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_RANGE'])) {
                list($a, $range) = explode("=", $_SERVER['HTTP_RANGE']);
                str_replace($range, "-", $range);
                $size2 = $size - 1;
                $new_length = $size - $range;
                header("HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content");
                header("Content-Length: $new_length");
                header("Content-Range: bytes $range$size2/$size");
            } else {
                $size2 = $size - 1;
                header("Content-Range: bytes 0-$size2/$size");
                header("Content-Length: " . $size);
            }

            if ($size == 0) {
                die('Zero byte file! Aborting download');
            }
            set_magic_quotes_runtime(0);
            $fp = fopen("$fileLocation", "rb");

            fseek($fp, $range);

            while (!feof($fp) and ( connection_status() == 0)) {
                set_time_limit(0);
                print(fread($fp, 1024 * $maxSpeed));
                flush();
                ob_flush();
                sleep(1);
            }
            fclose($fp);

            return((connection_status() == 0) and ! connection_aborted());
        }

        /* Implementation */
        // downloadFile('path_to_file/1.mp3', '1.mp3', 1024, false);

A really nice way to solve this without having to "roll your own" PHP code is to use the mod_xsendfile Apache module. Then in PHP, you just set the appropriate headers. Apache gets to do its thing.

header("X-Sendfile: /path/to/file");
header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; file=\"filename\"");

If you're willing to install a new PECL module, the easiest way to support resumeable downloads with PHP is through http_send_file(), like this

<?php
http_send_content_disposition("document.pdf", true);
http_send_content_type("application/pdf");
http_throttle(0.1, 2048);
http_send_file("../report.pdf");
?>

source : http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.http-send-file.php

We use it to serve database-stored content and it works like a charm !