How do I force the download of image files?

[pelachrum]

when you click a link that leads to an image file
(http://www.........../image.jpg)
it opens in a new window/tab

is there a way to force the image to download as if it was a file, the download box would open up I mean?

does it have to reside in ftp or something...?

[Stefan]

Browsers recognize jpg URL's and hand them over just like a .htm, so I don't think you can force it on the user-end (not positive on that, though). Maybe you could do it with a server-side script somehow?

[encyclo]

I'm a little confused by your post, do you want a download prompt to appear and the image to be downloaded to a location on the user's hard drive, or you you want the image to open or be displayed in a pop-up window?

If the former, you can attempt to force the download of files if the server is running Apache: see this recent thread in the Apache server forum:

[webmasterworld.com...]

If it is the latter you want, you will need to use Javascript to open a new window from a link in an HTML page.

[rocknbil]

The problem is that browsers will "sniff out" the file, even if you change the extension, and try to manage it accordingly. To effectively force the download of a known MIME type, you need to deliver it via server side programming and "munge" the content-type header. This makes the browser force the download dialogue.

See my post in this thread [webmasterworld.com], this works.