How to Obtain Image Size Lightning Fast in PHP Using file_get_contents

Getting image dimensions for numerous remote images can be a time-consuming task, especially using getimagesize. Here's an alternative approach that leverages file_get_contents to swiftly retrieve image sizes:

Using a Custom PHP Function

The following ranger() function reads a specific byte range from a remote image, enabling quick size extraction:

function ranger($url){
    $headers = array(
    "Range: bytes=0-32768"
    );

    $curl = curl_init($url);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
    $data = curl_exec($curl);
    curl_close($curl);
    return $data;
}

Extracting Image Size

Once the image data is obtained, you can determine its dimensions using imagecreatefromstring() and built-in image analysis functions:

$im = imagecreatefromstring($raw);
$width = imagesx($im);
$height = imagesy($im);

Performance Measurement

Using this method, the process of obtaining image dimensions is significantly faster:

$start = microtime(true);

$url = "http://news.softpedia.com/images/news2/Debian-Turns-15-2.jpeg";

$raw = ranger($url);
$im = imagecreatefromstring($raw);

$width = imagesx($im);
$height = imagesy($im);

$stop = round(microtime(true) - $start, 5);

echo $width." x ".$height." ({$stop}s)";

Test Results

The example image took only 0.20859 seconds to retrieve its dimensions. Loading 32KB of data has proven effective in this approach. By applying this technique, you can swiftly obtain image sizes of remote images, minimizing the bottlenecks typically encountered with getimagesize.