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cpp-httplib/docs-src/pages/en/cookbook/c08-post-file-body.md
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yhirose 9bfd2ddf1c Fix README and docs pages that no longer match the code
Bring the READMEs and the docs pages (en and ja) in line with the
current header:

- Fix the client sample that does not compile, the Transfer-Encoding
  statement for default headers, the verifier callback comment, the
  thread pool spawn rule, the sanitize_filename description, and the
  inverted Accept-Encoding sentence.
- Describe recent behaviour: TLS errors behind Read/Write failures,
  Host validation, Connection: close for a body without length,
  content_reader rules, refused CONNECT, WebSocketClient proxies,
  CPPHTTPLIB_INTERIM_RESPONSE_MAX_COUNT, the SSE event size limit, and
  the payload limit of the Stream API.
- Complete the API references of WebSocket, WebSocketClient and the
  stream:: helpers, and the SSE reconnect rules.
- Fix cookbook pages: keychain loading on every backend, received Close
  status, a multipart sample that trusted the client's file name, an
  echo sample that sent binary as text, SNI, pre-request handler scope,
  stop() with WebSocket handlers, and the thread pool notes.
- Restore the mutex in the LLM app's Chapter 5 code.
2026-10-18 10:13:57 -04:00

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Markdown

---
title: "C08. POST a File as Raw Binary"
order: 8
status: "draft"
---
Sometimes you want to send a file's contents as the request body directly — no multipart wrapping. This is common for S3-compatible APIs or endpoints that take raw image data. For this, use `make_file_body()`.
## Basic usage
```cpp
httplib::Client cli("https://storage.example.com");
auto [size, provider] = httplib::make_file_body("backup.tar.gz");
if (!provider) {
std::cerr << "Failed to open file" << std::endl;
return 1;
}
auto res = cli.Put("/bucket/backup.tar.gz", size,
provider, "application/gzip");
```
`make_file_body()` returns a pair of file size and a `ContentProvider`. Pass them to `Post()` or `Put()` and the file contents flow straight into the request body.
The `ContentProvider` reads the file in chunks, so even huge files never sit fully in memory.
## When the file can't be opened
If the file can't be opened, `make_file_body()` returns `size` as `0` and `provider` as an empty function object. Sending that would upload an empty body — always check `provider` first. Checking `size` won't do: an empty file also gives `0`, with a working `provider`.
> **Warning:** `make_file_body()` needs to fix the Content-Length up front, so it reads the file size ahead of time. If the file size might change mid-upload, this API isn't the right fit.
> To send the file as multipart form data instead, see [C07. Upload a file as multipart form data](../c07-multipart-upload).