Convert binary byte array to image in PHP

Question

I have a web service in Java which returns the requested file contents in byte[] (byte array) form. Sometimes these files are HTML files and sometimes they're images. There is no restriction of which file type it is. I'm looking for a way to convert this array to a valid image/string. My working for text files is below:

    $bytes = getArray();
    $string = implode(array_map("chr", $bytes));
    echo $string;

This is the output of the echo $string;

‰PNG  IHDR‘h6   pHYsÄÄ•+ OiCCPPhotoshop ICC profilexÚSgTSé=÷ÞôBKˆ€”KoR RB‹€‘&*! Jˆ!¡ÙQÁEEÈ ˆŽŽ€ŒQ,Š Øä!¢Žƒ£ˆŠÊûá{£kÖ¼÷æÍþµ×>ç¬ó³ÏÀ–H3Q5€©BàƒÇÄÆáä.@ $p³d!sý#ø~<<+"À¾xÓÀM›À0‡ÿêB™\€„Àt‘8K€@zŽB¦@F€˜&S `ËcbãP-`'æÓ€ø™{[”! ‘ eˆDh;¬ÏVŠEX0fKÄ9Ø-0IWfH°·Àβ0Qˆ…){`È##x„™FòW<ñ+®ç*x™²<¹$9E[-qWW.(ÎI+6aaš@.Ây™24àóÌ ‘àƒóýxήÎÎ6Ž¶_-ê¿ÿ"bbãþåÏ«p@át~Ñþ,/³€;€mþ¢%îh^ u÷‹f²@µ éÚWópø~<ß5°j>{‘-¨]cöK'XtÀâ÷ò»oÁÔ(€hƒáÏwÿï?ýG %€fI’q^D$.Tʳ?ÇD *°AôÁ,ÀÁÜÁü`6„B$ÄÂBB d€r`)¬‚B(†Í°*`/Ô@4ÀQh†“p.ÂU¸=púažÁ(¼ AÈa!ÚˆbŠX#Ž™…ø!ÁH‹$ ɈQ"K‘5H1RŠT UHò=r9‡\Fº‘;È2‚ü†¼G1”²Q=ÔµC¹¨7„F¢Ðdt1š ›Ðr´=Œ6¡çЫhÚ>CÇ0Àè3Äl0.ÆÃB±8,  “c˱"¬«Æ°V¬»‰õcϱwEÀ    6wB aAHXLXNØH¨ $4Ú  7   „QÂ'"“¨K´&ºùÄb21‡XH,#Ö/{ˆCÄ7$‰C2'¹I±¤TÒÒFÒnR#é,©›4H#“ÉÚdk²9”, +È…ääÃä3ää!ò[ b@q¤øSâ(RÊjJåå4åe˜2AU£šRݨ¡T5ZB­¡¶R¯Q‡¨4uš9̓IK¥­¢•Óhh÷i¯ètºÝ•N—ÐWÒËéGè—èôw †ƒÇˆg(›gw¯˜L¦Ó‹ÇT071ë˜ç™™oUX*¶*|‘Ê •J•&•*/T©ª¦ªÞªUóUËT©^S}®FU3Sã©   Ô–«UªPëSSg©;¨‡ªg¨oT?¤~Yý‰YÃLÃOC¤Q ±_ã¼Æ c³x,!k «†u5Ä&±ÍÙ|v*»˜ý»‹=ª©¡9C3J3W³Ró”f?ã˜qøœtN ç(§—ó~ŠÞï)â)¦4L¹1e\kª–—–X«H«Q«Gë½6®í§¦½E»YûAÇJ'\'GgÎçSÙSݧ §M=:õ®.ªk¥¡»Dw¿n§î˜ž¾^€žLo§Þy½çú}/ýTýmú§õGX³$ÛÎ<Å5qo</ÇÛñQC]Ã@C¥a•a—á„‘¹Ñ<£ÕFFŒiÆ\ã$ãmÆmÆ£&&!&KMêMîšRM¹¦)¦;L;LÇÍÌÍ¢ÍÖ™5›=1×2ç›ç›×›ß·`ZxZ,¶¨¶¸eI²äZ¦Yn…Z9Y¥XUZ]³F­­%Ö»­»§§¹N“N«žÖgðñ¶É¶©·°åØÛ®¶m¶}agbg·Å®Ã“}º}ý= ‡Ù«Z~s´r:V:ޚΜî?}Åô–é/gXÏÏØ3ã¶Ë)ÄiS›ÓGgg¹sƒóˆ‹‰K‚Ë.—>.›ÆÝȽäJtõq]ázÒõ›³›Âí¨Û¯î6îiî‡ÜŸÌ4Ÿ)žY3sÐÃÈCàQåÑ?Ÿ•0k߬~OCOgµç#/c/‘W­×°·¥wª÷aï>ö>rŸã>ã<7Þ2ÞY_Ì7À·È·ËOÃož_…ßC#ÿdÿzÿѧ€%g‰A[ûøz|!¿Ž?:Ûeö²ÙíAŒ ¹AA‚­‚åÁ­!hÈì­!÷ç˜Î‘Îi…P~èÖÐaæa‹Ã~'…‡…W†?ŽpˆXÑ1—5wÑÜCsßDúD–DÞ›g1O9¯-J5*>ª.j<Ú7º4º?Æ.fYÌÕXXIlK9.*®6nl¾ßüíó‡ââã{˜/È]py¡ÎÂô…§©.,:–@LˆN8”ðA*¨Œ%òw%Ž yÂÂg"/Ñ6шØC\*NòH*Mz’쑼5y$Å3¥,幄'©¼L LÝ›:žšv m2=:½1ƒ’‘qBª!M“¶gêgæfvˬe…²þÅn‹·/•Ék³¬Y- ¶B¦èTZ(×*²geWf¿Í‰Ê9–«ž+Íí̳ÊÛ7œïŸÿíÂá’¶¥†KW-X潬j9²‰Š®Û—Ø(Üxå‡oÊ¿™Ü”´©«Ä¹dÏfÒféæÞ-ž[–ª—æ—n ÙÚ´ ßV´íõöEÛ/—Í(Û»ƒ¶C¹£¿<¸¼e§ÉÎÍ;?T¤TôTúT6îÒݵa×ønÑî{¼ö4ìÕÛ[¼÷ý>ɾÛUUMÕfÕeûIû³÷?®‰ªéø–ûm]­NmqíÇÒý#¶×¹ÔÕÒ=TRÖ+ëGǾþïw- 6 UœÆâ#pDyäé÷  ß÷ :ÚvŒ{¬áÓvg/jBšòšF›Sšû[b[ºOÌ>ÑÖêÞzüGÛœ499â?rýéü§CÏdÏ&žþ¢þË®/~øÕë×Îјѡ—ò—“¿m|¥ýêÀë¯ÛÆÂƾÉx31^ôVûíÁwÜwï£ßOä| (ÿhù±õSЧû“““ÿ˜óüc3-Û cHRMz%€ƒùÿ€éu0ê`:˜o’_ÅFìIDATxÚÁIoUàyËŒ§3žÅN°/Ávš BÛiQ¥J=ô€¢^*nHpAøHÜøœzABÀ$$$TRDQ$$C’62‰—8Nâ‰ñÄÛxÞìoæñ} qðûÁ^Ã%¤T]ÆXl5O¿ÿqǸüo:J²ª)ÊÖÃ{Ÿ}úØš9öÌ~çÞ›èñö»\ˆ)atð²ùõ“Ÿ..NgF£B(§•ÆÑIä;•bŽã\Ô¥J)¿V)®ä–êõÃѳm‹±øÕB‡ÜÀ8ŸL®ž=¯Ó(,&–…çvE>ÇM’ÎIÏuü‚þÉ£íoßùcw÷×?ŸwÍQ»Ý1Œa±£1ÃÖtц>ä(cqÓ·>úà=”’²²tÿöíF·óÍoÏ\׉CŸ"Œ9  0f²`2ªZ-¬ü°³;š«ù…ÀΦ¶šÉ6»ƒ¬¦jXÂæpŒH‰Â5m]¿þBVÿíµùî[FKMK«Çýé|k£¦¨RL#<™â0E{£VãÓZVOï7FSëã÷·oÞ¸ùùW_Ôª¥‡÷ïò¼à{!øùÉ—–íÙsWH+¼ÏOϪÅ%âÞÜ*è‹Š¾Ð1z⢬æ5Ïá¤xàêºf†Oÿn•u­Z)ëZ˜Ñ:³ÑÑÑêu>;íÞÜñÜñXÂù>Ùk­îåúÝŒ9¾šM“±9JÙ Äñt"h®X­”Pry5kœÛ;- T+}bõGãõJe.ºÔóFn¸ ‹›¯—=xwÉ^s6&6Ç(@xAí•l»×{ZßgIÐ䯓þÍ·6’„

But I have no idea how to do this for image files. I could somehow write this array to a file and load the image but my project doesn't allow me to do that. I have to do this on the fly.

Answer 1

Using below code we can create image from byte array code.

$userId             = $userid;
    $encoded_image      = $imgurl;
    $upload_path        = $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"]."/projectName/uploads/";
    $LoginUserDetails   = $this->getUserDetails($userId);
    if ($LoginUserDetails->profile_image != "") {
        $dbimgname      = $LoginUserDetails->profile_image;
        unlink($upload_path .$dbimgname);
        unlink($upload_path . 'thumb_img/' . $dbimgname);
    }
    $decoded_image = base64_decode($encoded_image);
    $imgname       = md5(uniqid()) . ".png";
    file_put_contents($upload_path . $imgname, $decoded_image);

    $thumbnail      = $upload_path . "thumb_img/" . $imgname; // Set the thumbnail name
    $actual         = $upload_path . $imgname; // Set the actual image name
    // Get new sizes

    $upload_image = $upload_path.$imgname;
    //  print_r($actual); print_r($thumbnail); print_r($upload_image); die;
    list($width, $height) = getimagesize($upload_image);
    $newwidth  = 196; // This can be a set value or a percentage of original size ($width)
    $newheight = 196; // This can be a set value or a percentage of original size ($height)
    // Load the images
    $thumb     = imagecreatetruecolor($newwidth, $newheight);
    $source    = imagecreatefrompng($upload_image);
    //print_r($upload_image); print_r($source); die;
    imagecopyresized($thumb, $source, 0, 0, 0, 0, $newwidth, $newheight, $width, $height); // Resize the $thumb image.
    imagepng($thumb, $thumbnail, 100); // Save the new file to the location specified by $thumbnail

    return $imgname;

Answer 2

If all you want to do is show the image to the user, you simply need to serve the right content header with the response:

if      (substr($string, 0, 4) == "\x89PNG")  header('Content-Type: image/png');
else if (substr($string, 0, 2) == "\xFF\xD8") header('Content-Type: image/jpeg');
else if (substr($string, 0, 4) == "GIF8")     header('Content-Type: image/gif');

echo $string;

An image is really just a blob of data (like the 'string' you have) plus an indication that it's an image (in HTTP, that would be the MIME header). Since you already have the blob, all you need is the header to make the browser interpret it as an image.

Answer 3

You mean like in the examples shown here: http://us.php.net/manual/en/function.imagecreatefromstring.php

$data = 'iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABwAAAASCAMAAAB/2U7WAAAABl'
       . 'BMVEUAAAD///+l2Z/dAAAASUlEQVR4XqWQUQoAIAxC2/0vXZDr'
       . 'EX4IJTRkb7lobNUStXsB0jIXIAMSsQnWlsV+wULF4Avk9fLq2r'
       . '8a5HSE35Q3eO2XP1A1wQkZSgETvDtKdQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==';
$data = base64_decode($data);

$im = imagecreatefromstring($data);
if ($im !== false) {
    header('Content-Type: image/png');
    imagepng($im);
    imagedestroy($im);
}
else {
    echo 'An error occurred.';
}

Answer 4

Try

$body = file_get_contents('php://input');

and also refer PHP - get image from byte array