import os, tempfile, zipfile from django.http import HttpResponse from django.core.servers.basehttp import FileWrapper def send_file(request): """ Send a file through Django without loading the whole file into memory at once. The FileWrapper will turn the file object into an iterator for chunks of 8KB. """ filename = __file__ # Select your file here. wrapper = FileWrapper(file(filename)) response = HttpResponse(wrapper, content_type='text/plain') response['Content-Length'] = os.path.getsize(filename) return response def send_zipfile(request): """ Create a ZIP file on disk and transmit it in chunks of 8KB, without loading the whole file into memory. A similar approach can be used for large dynamic PDF files. """ temp = tempfile.TemporaryFile() archive = zipfile.ZipFile(temp, 'w', zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) for index in range(10): filename = __file__ # Select your files here. archive.write(filename, 'file%d.txt' % index) archive.close() wrapper = FileWrapper(temp) response = HttpResponse(wrapper, content_type='application/zip') response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename=test.zip' response['Content-Length'] = temp.tell() temp.seek(0) return response