Download an image using Axios and convert it to base64

Question

I need to download a .jpg image from a remote server and convert it into a base64 format. I'm using axios as my HTTP client. I've tried issuing a git request to the server and checking the response.data however it doesn't seem to work like that.

Link to axios: https://github.com/mzabriskie/axios

Link to base64 implementation: https://www.npmjs.com/package/base-64

I'm using NodeJS / React so atob/btoa doesn't work, hense the library.

axios.get('http://placehold.it/32').then(response => {
    console.log(response.data); // Blank
    console.log(response.data == null); // False 
    console.log(base64.encode(response.data); // Blank
}).catch(err => console.log(err));

Answer 1

This worked great for me:

function getBase64(url) {
  return axios
    .get(url, {
      responseType: 'arraybuffer'
    })
    .then(response => new Buffer(response.data, 'binary').toString('base64'))
}

Answer 2

There might be a better way to do this, but I have done it like this (minus the extra bits like catch(), etc.):

axios.get(imageUrl, { responseType:"blob" })
    .then(function (response) {

        var reader = new window.FileReader();
        reader.readAsDataURL(response.data); 
        reader.onload = function() {

            var imageDataUrl = reader.result;
            imageElement.setAttribute("src", imageDataUrl);

        }
    });

I have a suspicion that at least part of your problem might be server-side. Even without setting { responseType: "blob" } you should have had something in your response.data output.

Answer 3

This is what works for me (with Buffer.from) -

axios
  .get(externalUrl, {
    responseType: 'arraybuffer'
  })
  .then(response => {
    const buffer = Buffer.from(response.data, 'base64');
  })
  .catch(ex => {
    console.error(ex);
  });