How to Upload Large Files in Laravel Web Application?

Uploading files is a necessary part of almost every web application and it is important to handle file uploading efficiently, especially large files.

In one of my recent Laravel projects, I was struggling to upload large files let’s say 4GB. I tried increasing the below variables in php.ini, but it didn’t work well.

upload_max_filesize = 5000M
post_max_size = 5000M
max_input_time = 3000
max_execution_time = 3000

Then I found an efficient solution (Upload large files in chunks) in which I used resumable.js and laravel-chunk-upload and now I can upload larage files even 10GB or more without any issue. Don’t want to read more? Watch the video below.

How To Upload Large Files in Laravel

1# Frontend setup

First of all, we will set up our frontend to send large files in chunks to backend

• Install the resuumable plugin by using CDN

https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/resumablejs@1.1.0/resumable.min.js

• Write HTML code to pick and display file (video file in my case)

<div class="container pt-4">
    <div class="row justify-content-center">
        <div class="col-md-8">
            <div class="card">
                <div class="card-header text-center">
                    <h5>Upload File</h5>
                </div>

                <div class="card-body">
                    <div id="upload-container" class="text-center">
                        <button id="browseFile" class="btn btn-primary">Brows File</button>
                    </div>
                    <div  style="display: none" class="progress mt-3" style="height: 25px">
                        <div class="progress-bar progress-bar-striped progress-bar-animated" role="progressbar" aria-valuenow="75" aria-valuemin="0" aria-valuemax="100" style="width: 75%; height: 100%">75%</div>
                    </div>
                </div>

                <div class="card-footer p-4" style="display: none">
                    <video id="videoPreview" src="" controls style="width: 100%; height: auto"></video>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

• Write JavaScript to upload large files via resumable in chunks

<script type="text/javascript">
    let browseFile = $('#browseFile');
    let resumable = new Resumable({
        target: '{{ route('files.upload.large') }}',
        query:{_token:'{{ csrf_token() }}'} ,// CSRF token
        fileType: ['mp4'],
        chunkSize: 10*1024*1024, // default is 1*1024*1024, this should be less than your maximum limit in php.ini
        headers: {
            'Accept' : 'application/json'
        },
        testChunks: false,
        throttleProgressCallbacks: 1,
    });

    resumable.assignBrowse(browseFile[0]);

    resumable.on('fileAdded', function (file) { // trigger when file picked
        showProgress();
        resumable.upload() // to actually start uploading.
    });

    resumable.on('fileProgress', function (file) { // trigger when file progress update
        updateProgress(Math.floor(file.progress() * 100));
    });

    resumable.on('fileSuccess', function (file, response) { // trigger when file upload complete
        response = JSON.parse(response)
        $('#videoPreview').attr('src', response.path);
        $('.card-footer').show();
    });

    resumable.on('fileError', function (file, response) { // trigger when there is any error
        alert('file uploading error.')
    });


    let progress = $('.progress');
    function showProgress() {
        progress.find('.progress-bar').css('width', '0%');
        progress.find('.progress-bar').html('0%');
        progress.find('.progress-bar').removeClass('bg-success');
        progress.show();
    }

    function updateProgress(value) {
        progress.find('.progress-bar').css('width', `${value}%`)
        progress.find('.progress-bar').html(`${value}%`)
    }

    function hideProgress() {
        progress.hide();
    }
</script>

2# The backend setup

Now we will set up our backend (Laravel) to accept chunks and merge them at the end using laravel-chunk-upload

• Install laravel-chunk-upload in your Laravel project

composer require pion/laravel-chunk-upload

• Write controller function to accept and save file chunks and merge them when all chunks are received.

public function uploadLargeFiles(Request $request) {
    $receiver = new FileReceiver('file', $request, HandlerFactory::classFromRequest($request));

    if (!$receiver->isUploaded()) {
        // file not uploaded
    }

    $fileReceived = $receiver->receive(); // receive file
    if ($fileReceived->isFinished()) { // file uploading is complete / all chunks are uploaded
        $file = $fileReceived->getFile(); // get file
        $extension = $file->getClientOriginalExtension();
        $fileName = str_replace('.'.$extension, '', $file->getClientOriginalName()); //file name without extenstion
        $fileName .= '_' . md5(time()) . '.' . $extension; // a unique file name

        $disk = Storage::disk(config('filesystems.default'));
        $path = $disk->putFileAs('videos', $file, $fileName);

        // delete chunked file
        unlink($file->getPathname());
        return [
            'path' => asset('storage/' . $path),
            'filename' => $fileName
        ];
    }

    // otherwise return percentage information
    $handler = $fileReceived->handler();
    return [
        'done' => $handler->getPercentageDone(),
        'status' => true
    ];
}

I hope this article will help you upload large files in Laravel as it helps me 😊.
Good Luck & Happy Coding
Hassan Raza