How do I force a jpeg image to download instead of open in a browser window?

Question

I have a gallery page that lists medium and high resolution images of plants that users can download. However, the default behavior of a jpeg image inside an href is to open in the browser window. For these specific links I would like users to be able to download the image when clicking on the link instead of having to open the image in the browser and then save it.

Here is the code I have:

<div class="topic-links">
 <div class="topic col-sm-4 col-md-4">
  <img src="{gallery_thumb}" alt="temp_square-tn" width="220" height="200">
  <h6>{exp:char_limit total="30" exact="no"}{title}{/exp:char_limit}</h6>
  <p>
    {if medium_res != ""}<a href="{medium_res}">Medium</a><br />{/if}
    {if high_res != ""}<a href="{high_res}">Large</a>{/if}
  </p>
  </a>
 </div><!-- /.topic -->
</div><!-- /.topic-links -->

What is the best way to force a download?

Answer 1

If using HTML5, you just need to add the download attribute

Answer 2

This is possible and the solution is quite simple:

1. add the reference to the image in an anchor tag: Medium
2. Add the following code to the .htaccess file:

Header set Content-Disposition attachment

Example: http://southernlivingplants.com/resources/image-gallery

Answer 3

This is not possible. The browser chooses how to handle these files, and that is client side. That's why

Right click to download

Is a thing. A user would have to configure their browser or use a third party browser addon to do this. Sorry, chief.

Edit

If you force the mime type, it's possible. But to do it selectively will require (if possible) some serious hacks, I'm betting.

https://www.timewasters-place.com/how-to-force-file-downloading-with-htaccess/

Edit on my way to a party on a train, so I'm bored, lol.

You could make a custom module that you link to, like this:

Link to address: domain.com/?ACT=123&imagepath=images/myimage.jpg

And in your module, use this answer:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1851849/output-an-image-in-php

And throw an exit() after. I don't know, killing time on the train! Hopefully leads you in a successful direction.

Last Edit

http://php.net/manual/en/function.imagejpeg.php

Set your header for the octet/stream header, then try that function! I don't get paid enough :p