In what situations would it be more appropriate to offer a PDF file for download rather than displaying it directly in the browser using PHP?

When dealing with large files, such as PDFs, it may be more appropriate to offer them for download rather than displaying them directly in the browser using PHP. This can help prevent performance issues, especially when multiple users are accessing the file simultaneously. To offer a PDF file for download, you can use the PHP header function to set the appropriate content type and disposition. 

// Set the content type and disposition headers
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="example.pdf"');

// Output the PDF file
readfile('path/to/example.pdf');

Keywords

PDF download browser header content-Disposition

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