How do you initiate/force a download for files that reside externally in PHP or other language?

Question

If you have images or other files that reside externally, how do force the browser to download the link when a user click on it?

The use of \"Content-disposition: attac

Answer 1

I don't think it is possible to force a file download if you are not controlling the HTTP headers. Content-disposition: attachment is the only way I know of to accomplish this.

Though this is probably not going to work, my only guess would be trying to combine Content-disposition with a Location header:

Content-disposition: attachment; filename=myfile.jpg
Location: http://www.somesite.com/myfile.jpg

(it's a long shot, probably invalid and/or just bad practice)