[javascript] Force browser to download image files on click

I need the browser to download the image files just as it does while clicking on an Excel sheet.

Is there a way to do this using client-side programming only?

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <head>
        <title></title>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="Scripts/jquery-1.10.2.js">
        $(document).ready(function () {
            $("*").click(function () {
                $("p").hide();
            });
        });
        </script>
    </head>

    <script type="text/javascript">
        document.onclick = function (e) {
            e = e || window.event;
            var element = e.target || e.srcElement;
            if (element.innerHTML == "Image") {
                //someFunction(element.href);
                var name = element.nameProp;
                var address = element.href;
                saveImageAs1(element.nameProp, element.href);
                return false; // Prevent default action and stop event propagation
            }
            else
                return true;
        };

        function saveImageAs1(name, adress) {
            if (confirm('you wanna save this image?')) {
                window.win = open(adress);
                //response.redirect("~/testpage.html");
                setTimeout('win.document.execCommand("SaveAs")', 100);
                setTimeout('win.close()', 500);
            }
        }
    </script>

    <body>
        <form id="form1" runat="server">
            <div>
                <p>
                    <a href="http://localhost:55298/SaveImage/demo/Sample2.xlsx" target="_blank">Excel</a><br />
                    <a href="http://localhost:55298/SaveImage/demo/abc.jpg" id="abc">Image</a>
                </p>
            </div>
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

How should it work in case of downloading an Excel sheet (what browsers do)?

This question is related to javascript jquery html

The answer is


I managed to get this working in Chrome and Firefox too by appending a link to the to document.

var link = document.createElement('a');
link.href = 'images.jpg';
link.download = 'Download.jpg';
document.body.appendChild(link);
link.click();
document.body.removeChild(link);

Try this:

<a class="button" href="http://www.glamquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/smile.jpg" download="smile.jpg">Download image</a>

I found that

<a href="link/to/My_Image_File.jpeg" download>Download Image File</a>

did not work for me. I'm not sure why.

I have found that you can include a ?download=true parameter at the end of your link to force a download. I think I noticed this technique being used by Google Drive.

In your link, include ?download=true at the end of your href.

You can also use this technique to set the filename at the same time.

In your link, include ?download=true&filename=My_Image_File.jpeg at the end of your href.


In 2020 I use Blob to make local copy of image, which browser will download as a file. You can test it on this site.

enter image description here

(function(global) {
  const next = () => document.querySelector('.search-pagination__button-text').click();
  const uuid = () => Math.random().toString(36).substring(7);
  const toBlob = (src) => new Promise((res) => {
    const img = document.createElement('img');
    const c = document.createElement("canvas");
    const ctx = c.getContext("2d");
    img.onload = ({target}) => {
      c.width = target.naturalWidth;
      c.height = target.naturalHeight;
      ctx.drawImage(target, 0, 0);
      c.toBlob((b) => res(b), "image/jpeg", 0.75);
    };
    img.crossOrigin = "";
    img.src = src;
  });
  const save = (blob, name = 'image.png') => {
    const a = document.createElement("a");
    a.href = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
    a.target = '_blank';
    a.download = name;
    a.click();
  };
  global.download = () => document.querySelectorAll('.search-content__gallery-results figure > img[src]').forEach(async ({src}) => save(await toBlob(src), `${uuid()}.png`));
  global.next = () => next();
})(window);

A more modern approach using Promise and async/await :

toDataURL(url) {
    return fetch(url).then((response) => {
            return response.blob();
        }).then(blob => {
            return URL.createObjectURL(blob);
        });
}

then

async download() {
        const a = document.createElement("a");
        a.href = await toDataURL("https://cdn1.iconfinder.com/data/icons/ninja-things-1/1772/ninja-simple-512.png");
        a.download = "myImage.png";
        document.body.appendChild(a);
        a.click();
        document.body.removeChild(a);
}

Find documentation here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API/Using_Fetch


This is a general solution to your problem. But there is one very important part that the file extension should match your encoding. And of course, that content parameter of downlowadImage function should be base64 encoded string of your image.

_x000D_
_x000D_
const clearUrl = url => url.replace(/^data:image\/\w+;base64,/, '');_x000D_
_x000D_
const downloadImage = (name, content, type) => {_x000D_
  var link = document.createElement('a');_x000D_
  link.style = 'position: fixed; left -10000px;';_x000D_
  link.href = `data:application/octet-stream;base64,${encodeURIComponent(content)}`;_x000D_
  link.download = /\.\w+/.test(name) ? name : `${name}.${type}`;_x000D_
_x000D_
  document.body.appendChild(link);_x000D_
  link.click();_x000D_
  document.body.removeChild(link);_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
['png', 'jpg', 'gif'].forEach(type => {_x000D_
  var download = document.querySelector(`#${type}`);_x000D_
  download.addEventListener('click', function() {_x000D_
    var img = document.querySelector('#img');_x000D_
_x000D_
    downloadImage('myImage', clearUrl(img.src), type);_x000D_
  });_x000D_
});
_x000D_
a gif image: <image id="img" src="data:image/gif;base64,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" />_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_
<button id="png">Download PNG</button>_x000D_
<button id="jpg">Download JPG</button>_x000D_
<button id="gif">Download GIF</button>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_


<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript">
function prepHref(linkElement) {
    var myDiv = document.getElementById('Div_contain_image');
    var myImage = myDiv.children[0];
    linkElement.href = myImage.src;
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="Div_contain_image"><img src="YourImage.jpg" alt='MyImage'></div>
<a href="#" onclick="prepHref(this)" download>Click here to download image</a>
</body>
</html>

You don't need to write js to do that, simply use:

<a href="path_to/image.jpg" alt="something">Download image</a>

And the browser itself will automatically download the image.

If for some reason it doesn't work add the download attribute. With this attribute you can set a name for the downloadable file:

<a href="path_to/image.jpg" download="myImage">Download image</a>

Using HTML5 you can add the attribute 'download' to your links.

<a href="/path/to/image.png" download>

Compliant browsers will then prompt to download the image with the same file name (in this example image.png).

If you specify a value for this attribute, then that will become the new filename:

<a href="/path/to/image.png" download="AwesomeImage.png">

UPDATE: As of spring 2018 this is no longer possible for cross-origin hrefs. So if you want to create <a href="https://i.imgur.com/IskAzqA.jpg" download> on a domain other than imgur.com it will not work as intended. Chrome deprecations and removals announcement


You can directly download this file using anchor tag without much code.
Copy the snippet and paste in your text-editor and try it...!

_x000D_
_x000D_
<html>_x000D_
<head>_x000D_
</head>_x000D_
<body>_x000D_
   <div>_x000D_
     <img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/SMirC-thumbsup.svg" width="200" height="200">_x000D_
      <a href="#" download="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/SMirC-thumbsup.svg"> Download Image </a>_x000D_
   </div>_x000D_
</body>_x000D_
</html>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_


Update Spring 2018

<a href="/path/to/image.jpg" download="FileName.jpg">

While this is still supported, as of February 2018 chrome disabled this feature for cross-origin downloading meaning this will only work if the file is located on the same domain name.

I figured out a workaround for downloading cross domain images after Chrome's new update which disabled cross domain downloading. You could modify this into a function to suit your needs. You might be able to get the image mime-type (jpeg,png,gif,etc) with some more research if you needed to. There may be a way to do something similar to this with videos as well. Hope this helps someone!

Leeroy & Richard Parnaby-King:

UPDATE: As of spring 2018 this is no longer possible for cross-origin hrefs. So if you want to create on a domain other than imgur.com it will not work as intended. Chrome deprecations and removals announcement

_x000D_
_x000D_
var image = new Image();_x000D_
image.crossOrigin = "anonymous";_x000D_
image.src = "https://is3-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music62/v4/4b/f6/a2/4bf6a267-5a59-be4f-6947-d803849c6a7d/source/200x200bb.jpg";_x000D_
// get file name - you might need to modify this if your image url doesn't contain a file extension otherwise you can set the file name manually_x000D_
var fileName = image.src.split(/(\\|\/)/g).pop();_x000D_
image.onload = function () {_x000D_
    var canvas = document.createElement('canvas');_x000D_
    canvas.width = this.naturalWidth; // or 'width' if you want a special/scaled size_x000D_
    canvas.height = this.naturalHeight; // or 'height' if you want a special/scaled size_x000D_
    canvas.getContext('2d').drawImage(this, 0, 0);_x000D_
    var blob;_x000D_
    // ... get as Data URI_x000D_
    if (image.src.indexOf(".jpg") > -1) {_x000D_
    blob = canvas.toDataURL("image/jpeg");_x000D_
    } else if (image.src.indexOf(".png") > -1) {_x000D_
    blob = canvas.toDataURL("image/png");_x000D_
    } else if (image.src.indexOf(".gif") > -1) {_x000D_
    blob = canvas.toDataURL("image/gif");_x000D_
    } else {_x000D_
    blob = canvas.toDataURL("image/png");_x000D_
    }_x000D_
    $("body").html("<b>Click image to download.</b><br><a download='" + fileName + "' href='" + blob + "'><img src='" + blob + "'/></a>");_x000D_
};
_x000D_
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_


What about using the .click() function and the tag?

(Compressed version)

_x000D_
_x000D_
<a id="downloadtag" href="examplefolder/testfile.txt" hidden download></a>_x000D_
_x000D_
<button onclick="document.getElementById('downloadtag').click()">Download</button>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_

Now you can trigger it with js. It also doesn't open, as other examples, image and text files!

(js-function version)

_x000D_
_x000D_
function download(){_x000D_
document.getElementById('downloadtag').click();_x000D_
}
_x000D_
<!-- HTML -->_x000D_
<button onclick="download()">Download</button>_x000D_
<a id="downloadtag" href="coolimages/awsome.png" hidden download></a>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_


Leeroy & Richard Parnaby-King:

UPDATE: As of spring 2018 this is no longer possible for cross-origin hrefs. So if you want to create on a domain other than imgur.com it will not work as intended. Chrome deprecations and removals announcement

function forceDownload(url, fileName){
    var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
    xhr.open("GET", url, true);
    xhr.responseType = "blob";
    xhr.onload = function(){
        var urlCreator = window.URL || window.webkitURL;
        var imageUrl = urlCreator.createObjectURL(this.response);
        var tag = document.createElement('a');
        tag.href = imageUrl;
        tag.download = fileName;
        document.body.appendChild(tag);
        tag.click();
        document.body.removeChild(tag);
    }
    xhr.send();
}

var pom = document.createElement('a');
pom.setAttribute('href', 'data:application/octet-stream,' + encodeURIComponent(text));
pom.setAttribute('download', filename);
pom.style.display = 'none';
document.body.appendChild(pom);
pom.click();
document.body.removeChild(pom);     

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