What are the common reasons for files to be corrupted or damaged when downloaded through a PHP script?

Files can be corrupted or damaged when downloaded through a PHP script due to issues like incomplete downloads, server errors, or incorrect file handling. To prevent this, you can use PHP's built-in functions like `readfile()` or `file_get_contents()` to ensure the file is downloaded correctly and completely.

$file = 'path/to/file.ext';

header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . basename($file) . '"');
header('Expires: 0');
header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate');
header('Pragma: public');
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file));
readfile($file);
exit;