File to byte[] in Java

Question

How do I convert a java.io.File to a byte[]?

Answer 1

You can use the NIO api as well to do it. I could do this with this code as long as the total file size (in bytes) would fit in an int.

File f = new File("c:\\wscp.script");
FileInputStream fin = null;
FileChannel ch = null;
try {
    fin = new FileInputStream(f);
    ch = fin.getChannel();
    int size = (int) ch.size();
    MappedByteBuffer buf = ch.map(MapMode.READ_ONLY, 0, size);
    byte[] bytes = new byte[size];
    buf.get(bytes);

} catch (IOException e) {
    // TODO Auto-generated catch block
    e.printStackTrace();
} finally {
    try {
        if (fin != null) {
            fin.close();
        }
        if (ch != null) {
            ch.close();
        }
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

I think its very fast since its using MappedByteBuffer.

Answer 2

Simple way to do it:

File fff = new File("/path/to/file");
FileInputStream fileInputStream = new FileInputStream(fff);

// int byteLength = fff.length(); 

// In android the result of file.length() is long
long byteLength = fff.length(); // byte count of the file-content

byte[] filecontent = new byte[(int) byteLength];
fileInputStream.read(filecontent, 0, (int) byteLength);

Answer 3

ReadFully Reads b.length bytes from this file into the byte array, starting at the current file pointer. This method reads repeatedly from the file until the requested number of bytes are read. This method blocks until the requested number of bytes are read, the end of the stream is detected, or an exception is thrown.

RandomAccessFile f = new RandomAccessFile(fileName, "r");
byte[] b = new byte[(int)f.length()];
f.readFully(b);