How to Download File Using Python: Simple Guide

To download a file using Python, you can use the requests library to send an HTTP GET request and save the content to a file. Use requests.get(url) to fetch the file and write the response content to a local file with open in binary mode.

Syntax

Use the requests library to download files by sending a GET request to the file URL and saving the response content.

• requests.get(url): Sends a request to the URL to get the file.
• response.content: Contains the binary content of the file.
• open(filename, 'wb'): Opens a file in write-binary mode to save the content.

python

import requests

response = requests.get('file_url')
with open('local_filename', 'wb') as file:
    file.write(response.content)

Example

This example downloads a sample text file from the internet and saves it locally as example.txt. It shows how to use requests.get and write the file content.

python

import requests

url = 'https://www.w3.org/TR/PNG/iso_8859-1.txt'
response = requests.get(url)

with open('example.txt', 'wb') as file:
    file.write(response.content)

print('File downloaded and saved as example.txt')

Output

File downloaded and saved as example.txt

Common Pitfalls

Common mistakes when downloading files include:

• Not opening the file in binary mode ('wb') which can corrupt binary files.
• Not checking if the request was successful before saving the file.
• Downloading large files without streaming, which can use too much memory.

Always check response.status_code to ensure the file was fetched successfully.

python

import requests

url = 'https://example.com/file.zip'
response = requests.get(url)

# Wrong: Not checking status and opening file in text mode
# with open('file.zip', 'w') as file:
#     file.write(response.text)

# Right: Check status and write in binary mode
if response.status_code == 200:
    with open('file.zip', 'wb') as file:
        file.write(response.content)
else:
    print('Failed to download file, status code:', response.status_code)

Quick Reference

Tips for downloading files with Python:

• Use requests.get(url) to fetch files.
• Always open files in binary mode 'wb' for writing.
• Check response.status_code before saving.
• For large files, use stream=True and write in chunks.

Key Takeaways

Use the requests library to download files with simple HTTP GET requests.

Always open the file in binary mode ('wb') to avoid corrupting the file.

Check the response status code before saving the file to ensure success.

For large files, use streaming to save memory by writing in chunks.

Handle errors gracefully to avoid crashes during download.