Media Entity Download

Media entity download solves a content management issue when dealing with files and media. Media entity download will prevent links from breaking when updating or uploading new files.

• Content editors create media with a file
• They want users to be able to download pdfs as links from content or blocks or paragraph items with WYSIWYGs, etc
• They use the file path on the system, because thats what they're used to doing (/sites/default/files/foo/bar/document.pdf)
• Later, they upload an updated file or a new file altogether
• The file path / url changes
• Now all existing links they created are broken in menus, WYSIWYGs, etc.
• Someone now has to go back through and update dozens or potentially hundreds of broken links

By linking to the media/{media_id}/download route, none of the above really matters. Linking content to media/{media_id}/download will always fetch and return the right file without worrying that its the incorrect one, or outdated, or a unique url (document_0.pdf).

A field formatter is included ("Download Link") for Views based usage, or for when the media item itself is viewed (i.e. /media/{id}).

LinkIt is supported.

Creating a url in code is easy, you just need a media entity id. You can also optionally specify a delta value if the file field contains multiple values:

$url = Url::fromRoute(
  'media_entity_download.download',
  [
    'media' => $media_id,
  ],
  [
    'query' => [
      'delta' => $delta,
    ],
  ]
);

Versions

1. 8.x-2.x - Compatible with Drupal 8.4.x to 10.3, requires Media module from Core
2. 8.x-1.x - Compatible with Drupal 8.3.x and below, requires Media Entity module from Contrib

Contrib Support (8.x-1.x)

• Media Entity 8.x-1.x
• Media Entity Document 8.x-1.x
• LinkIt 8.x-5.x