How do I directly display an image using PHP?

Question

I have a question about displaying images in PHP. I need to have a PHP file display as JUST an image, as opposed to an image embedded in a web page, as if you had browsed to the JPEG image directly. The reason that I need it to be a PHP page as opposed to actually browsing to the image is that I need to resize the image before it is delivered. It would be easiest to use an image directly because that way I can display the image in a desktop application more easily. Is there any way to do this? Thanks!

Solution

<?php
header('Content-Type: image/jpeg');
readfile('path/to/image.jpeg');

Comments

[SDC]

readfile() is better if no processing is required on the file contents, because it just sends the file direct to the browser without loading it into PHP's memory, whereas echo file_get_contents() loads it into PHP's memory then outputs that, so it's doing twice as much as readfile().

[berkes]

Please include the relevant code, don't just link to answers. As per the FAQ.

[Ja͢ck]

Surely if it was this easy, the web server itself could do it :)