Download large file from the web via php

curl-file-download.php

<?php
  /**
   * Download a large distant file to a local destination.
   *
   * This method is very memory efficient :-)
   * The file can be huge, PHP doesn't load it in memory.
   *
   * /!\ Warning, the return value is always true, you must use === to test the response type too.
   *
   * @author dalexandre
   * @param string $url
   *    The file to download
   * @param ressource $dest
   *    The local file path or ressource (file handler)
   * @return boolean true or the error message
   */

function downloadDistantFile( $url, $dest ) {
	$options = array(
		CURLOPT_FILE => is_resource($dest) ? $dest : fopen($dest, 'w'),
		CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
		CURLOPT_URL => $url,
		CURLOPT_FAILONERROR => true, // HTTP code > 400 will throw curl error
	);

	$ch = curl_init();
	curl_setopt_array($ch, $options);
	$return = curl_exec($ch);

	if( $return === false ) {
		return curl_error($ch);
	} else {
		return true;
	}
}