What are some common best practices for handling large file downloads in PHP to prevent interruptions?

When handling large file downloads in PHP, it is important to prevent interruptions that may occur due to timeouts or memory limits. One common best practice is to use output buffering to send the file in chunks rather than loading the entire file into memory at once. Additionally, setting appropriate headers such as Content-Length and Content-Disposition can help ensure a smooth download experience for users. 

// Set headers
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="large_file.zip"');
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file_path));

// Open the file for reading
$fp = fopen($file_path, 'rb');

// Output file in chunks
while (!feof($fp)) {
    echo fread($fp, 8192);
    ob_flush();
    flush();
}

// Close the file
fclose($fp);

Keywords

file downloads PHP interruptions memory management chunking

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