Accessing Files ​

Every file managed by the platform is uploaded to the configured storage adapter, and its associated metadata is tracked within the directus_files system collection. Any requested file transformations are handled on the fly, and are only saved to storage.

File Security ​

Data and permissions around files are associated to the directus_files collection.

It is recommended that you only provide public permissions to specific files or file folders (for example, a 'Public' folder), rather than making the whole collection public. Read more on custom access permissions.

Accessing a File ​

The location of your actual file originals is based on the project's configuration, but you can consistently access them via the API using the following URL.

example.com/assets/<file-id>
example.com/assets/1ac73658-8b62-4dea-b6da-529fbc9d01a4

example.com/assets/<file-id>
example.com/assets/1ac73658-8b62-4dea-b6da-529fbc9d01a4

example.com/assets/<file-id>/<filename>
example.com/assets/1ac73658-8b62-4dea-b6da-529fbc9d01a4/directus-logo.png

example.com/assets/<file-id>/<filename>
example.com/assets/1ac73658-8b62-4dea-b6da-529fbc9d01a4/directus-logo.png

Original File Used — 602KB and 1800x1200

Downloading a File ​

To download an asset with the correct filename, you need to add the ?download query parameter to the request and the download attribute to your anchor tag. This will ensure the appropriate Content-Disposition headers are added. Without this, the download will work on the same domain, however it will have the file's "id" as the filename for cross-origin requests.

Example ​

<a href="https://your-directus.com/assets/<file-id>?download" target="_blank" download="Your File.pdf">Download</a>

<a href="https://your-directus.com/assets/<file-id>?download" target="_blank" download="Your File.pdf">Download</a>

Requesting a Thumbnail ​

Fetching thumbnails is as easy as adding a key query parameter to the original file's URL. In the Admin App, you can configure different asset presets that control the output of any given image. If a requested thumbnail doesn't yet exist, it is dynamically generated and immediately returned.

Preset Transformations ​

• key — This key of the Storage Asset Preset, a shortcut for the below parameters

Custom Transformations ​

Alternatively, if you have "Storage Asset Transform" set to all, you can use the following parameters for more fine grained control:

• fit — The fit of the thumbnail while always preserving the aspect ratio, can be any of the following options:
  • cover — Covers both width/height by cropping/clipping to fit
  • contain — Contain within both width/height using "letterboxing" as needed
  • inside — Resize to be as large as possible, ensuring dimensions are less than or equal to the requested width and height
  • outside — Resize to be as small as possible, ensuring dimensions are greater than or equal to the requested width and height
• width — The width of the thumbnail in pixels
• height — The height of the thumbnail in pixels
• quality — The optional quality of the thumbnail (1 to 100)
• withoutEnlargement — Disable image up-scaling
• format — What file format to return the thumbnail in. One of auto, jpg, png, webp, tiff
  • auto — Will try to format it in webp or avif if the browser supports it, otherwise it will fallback to jpg.

Advanced Transformations ​

For even more advanced control over the file generation, Directus exposes the full sharp API through the transforms query parameter. This parameter accepts a two-dimensional array with the format [Operation, ...arguments].

Quality vs File Size ​

The quality parameter can be any integer from 0-100. Qualities closer to 0 have lower file sizes, but also poor image quality due to compression artifacts. Values closer to 100 have larger file sizes, but better image quality. Below are four possible qualities (200x200 cover) to visually compare the balance between compression and file size.

25%	50%	75%	100%
4KB	6KB	8KB	38KB

Preset ​

Custom ​

Advanced ​

Focal Points ​

Directus will crop assets when requested with a width or height query parameter. By default, images are cropped around the center of the image. If focal_point_x and focal_point_y values are stored in the file object, cropping will center around these coordinates.

The File Object ​

id uuid
Primary key of the file

storage string
Storage adapter used for the file.

filename_disk string
Name of the file as saved on the storage adapter.

filename_download string
Preferred filename when file is downloaded.

title string
Title for the file.

type string
Mimetype of the file.

folder many-to-one
What (virtual) folder the file is in. Many-to-one to folders.

uploaded_by many-to-one
Who uploaded the file. Many-to-one to users.

uploaded_on datetime
When the file was uploaded.

modified_by many-to-one
Who updated the file last. Many-to-one to users.

filesize number
Size of the file in bytes.

width number
If the file is a(n) image/video, it's the width in px.
This property is only auto-extracted for images.

height number
If the file is a(n) image/video, it's the height in px.
This property is only auto-extracted for images.

focal_point_x number
If the file is an image, cropping will center around this point.

focal_point_y number
If the file is an image, cropping will center around this point.

duration number
If the file contains audio/video, it's the duration in milliseconds.
This property is not auto-extracted.

description string
Description of the file.

location string
Location of the file.

tags array
Tags for the file.

metadata object
Any additional metadata Directus was able to scrape from the file. For images, this includes Exif, IPTC, and ICC information.

{
	"id": "4f4b14fa-a43a-46d0-b7ad-90af5919bebb",
	"storage": "local",
	"filename_disk": "4f4b14fa-a43a-46d0-b7ad-90af5919bebb.jpeg",
	"filename_download": "paulo-silva-vSRgXtQuns8-unsplash.jpg",
	"title": "Paulo Silva (via Unsplash)",
	"type": "image/jpeg",
	"folder": null,
	"uploaded_by": "0bc7b36a-9ba9-4ce0-83f0-0a526f354e07",
	"uploaded_on": "2021-02-04T11:37:41-05:00",
	"modified_by": null,
	"modified_on": "2021-02-04T11:37:42-05:00",
	"filesize": 3442252,
	"width": 3456,
	"height": 5184,
	"focal_point_x": null,
	"focal_point_y": null,
	"duration": null,
	"description": null,
	"location": null,
	"tags": ["photo", "pretty"],
	"metadata": {
		"icc": {
			"version": "2.1",
			"intent": "Perceptual",
			"cmm": "lcms",
			"deviceClass": "Monitor",
			"colorSpace": "RGB",
			"connectionSpace": "XYZ",
			"platform": "Apple",
			"creator": "lcms",
			"description": "c2",
			"copyright": ""
		}
	}
}

{
	"id": "4f4b14fa-a43a-46d0-b7ad-90af5919bebb",
	"storage": "local",
	"filename_disk": "4f4b14fa-a43a-46d0-b7ad-90af5919bebb.jpeg",
	"filename_download": "paulo-silva-vSRgXtQuns8-unsplash.jpg",
	"title": "Paulo Silva (via Unsplash)",
	"type": "image/jpeg",
	"folder": null,
	"uploaded_by": "0bc7b36a-9ba9-4ce0-83f0-0a526f354e07",
	"uploaded_on": "2021-02-04T11:37:41-05:00",
	"modified_by": null,
	"modified_on": "2021-02-04T11:37:42-05:00",
	"filesize": 3442252,
	"width": 3456,
	"height": 5184,
	"focal_point_x": null,
	"focal_point_y": null,
	"duration": null,
	"description": null,
	"location": null,
	"tags": ["photo", "pretty"],
	"metadata": {
		"icc": {
			"version": "2.1",
			"intent": "Perceptual",
			"cmm": "lcms",
			"deviceClass": "Monitor",
			"colorSpace": "RGB",
			"connectionSpace": "XYZ",
			"platform": "Apple",
			"creator": "lcms",
			"description": "c2",
			"copyright": ""
		}
	}
}

List Files ​

List all files that exist in Directus.

Request ​

Query Parameters ​

Supports all global query parameters.

Response ​

An array of up to limit file objects. If no items are available, data will be an empty array.

Example ​

Retrieve a File ​

Retrieve a single file by primary key.

Request ​

Query Parameters ​

Supports all global query parameters.

Response ​

Returns a file object if a valid primary key was provided.

Example ​

Upload a File ​

Upload a new file.

Request ​

The file contents has to be provided in a property called file. All other properties of the file object can be provided as well, except filename_disk and filename_download.

Query Parameters ​

Supports all global query parameters.

Response ​

Returns the file object for the uploaded file, or an array of file objects if multiple files were uploaded at once.

Example ​

Import a File ​

Import a file from the web

Request ​

Query Parameters ​

Supports all global query parameters.

Request Body ​

url Required
The URL to download the file from.

data
Any of the file object's properties.

Response ​

Returns the file object for the imported file.

Example ​

Update a File ​

Update an existing file, and/or replace it's file contents.

Request ​

Query Parameters ​

Supports all global query parameters.

Request Body ​

You can either submit a JSON object consisting of a partial file object to update the file meta, or send a multipart/form-data request to replace the file contents on disk. See Upload a File for more information on the structure of this multipart/form-data request.

Response ​

Returns the file object for the updated file.

Example ​

Update Multiple Files ​

Update multiple files at the same time.

Request ​

Query Parameters ​

Supports all global query parameters.

Request Body ​

keys Required
Array of primary keys of the files you'd like to update.

data Required
Any of the file object's properties.

Response ​

Returns the file objects for the updated files.

Example ​

Delete a File ​

Delete an existing file.

Request ​

Query Parameters ​

Supports all global query parameters.

Response ​

Empty response.

Example ​

Delete Multiple Files ​

Delete multiple files at once.

Request ​

Query Parameters ​

Supports all global query parameters.

Request Body ​

Array of file primary keys

Returns ​

Empty response.

Example ​