PHP downloading question

Question

On my site, users can input links to files and I can stream the download process to them through my server. I use a system like this:

header('Cache-control: private');
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream'); 
header('Content-Length: ' . $r[2]);
header('Content-Disposition: filename=' . $theName);

flush();

$file = fopen($fileName, "r");
while(!feof($file))
{
    print fread($file, 10240);  
    flush();
    sleep(1);
}
fclose($fileName);

The think is, my users downloads go pretty slowly (600kb/s). The server this is hosted on is on a 1Gbit port so they should be maxxing out their internet connection tenfold.

I'm wondering if there is a better way to do this sort of thing, maybe cURL perhaps? I don't have much experience with cURL but I'd appreciate any feedback.

Thanks.

try to print some static strings (in a loop or something) instead of reading from a file. this will help you determine if the disk access is the cause of the problem. — Aziz
– Aziz, Commented Dec 6, 2009 at 20:31
I think he is fetching the data live from a remote server specified by the user. — Pekka
– Pekka, Commented Dec 6, 2009 at 20:36

chronos · Accepted Answer · 2009-12-06 20:41:08Z

2

Use readfile.

If you were to insist on your approach, then it would be much more efficient this way, without flush and sleep:

while(!feof($file)) {
   print fread($file, 10240);  
}

Here's why:

using flush() you prevent normal buffers functioning, and
using sleep(1) you effectively decrease transfer speeds by pausing for 1 second every 10 KiBs.

edited Dec 6, 2009 at 20:41

answered Dec 6, 2009 at 20:30

chronos

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Sabeen Malik · Accepted Answer · 2009-12-06 20:31:34Z

1

i am not really sure what your trying to do here .. dont see why you need that loop and specially dont see why you need the sleep() .. you should just use readfile or something like that instead of that loop , it would be much effective

Also how do you think curl will help you?

answered Dec 6, 2009 at 20:31

Sabeen Malik

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Pekka · Accepted Answer · 2009-12-06 20:32:41Z

1

If it's not the one-second sleep() that @Sabeen Malik pointed out, it is most likely due to a server-side restriction imposed by your web provider (e.g. using mod_throttle or mod_bandwidth) or the web provider you are fetching data from.

answered Dec 6, 2009 at 20:32

Pekka

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