Download Binary File With Axios

When working on web applications or software projects, there may come a time when you need to download binary files programmatically. This is where Axios, a popular JavaScript library for making HTTP requests, comes in handy. In this guide, we will walk you through the process of downloading a binary file using Axios in a simple and efficient manner.

To get started, make sure you have Axios installed in your project. If you haven't already installed Axios, you can easily do so using npm or yarn:

Bash

npm install axios
# or
yarn add axios

Once you have Axios installed, you can begin writing the code to download a binary file. Here's a basic example to demonstrate how this can be achieved:

Javascript

const axios = require('axios');
const fs = require('fs');

const fileUrl = 'https://example.com/file.zip';
const outputFilePath = 'downloadedFile.zip';

axios({
  url: fileUrl,
  method: 'GET',
  responseType: 'stream',
})
  .then(response =&gt; {
    response.data.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(outputFilePath));
  })
  .catch(error =&gt; {
    console.error('Error downloading file: ', error);
  });

In this code snippet, we start by importing the required modules – Axios and the Node.js File System module (fs). We then specify the URL of the binary file we want to download and the path where we want to save the downloaded file locally.

Next, we make a GET request using Axios and set the `responseType` to `'stream'`. By setting the response type to stream, we ensure that Axios treats the response as a stream of data, which is ideal for handling binary files.

Once the request is successful, we pipe the data stream from the response to a writable stream created using the `fs.createWriteStream` method, saving the binary file to the specified output file path.

It's important to handle potential errors that may occur during the download process. In the event of an error, such as an invalid URL or network issue, the `.catch()` block will log the error to the console for troubleshooting.

By following these steps, you can easily download binary files using Axios in your projects. Whether you need to download images, videos, or other binary data, Axios provides a simple and effective solution for fetching and saving files from the web.

Related posts:

Contact Info