# Image and document upload/download in Elasticsearch

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/image-and-document-upload-download-in-elasticsearch/110222>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [December 4, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/image-and-document-upload-download-in-elasticsearch/110222 "2017-12-04T23:45:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bradley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@bradley](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/bradley)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/image-and-document-upload-download-in-elasticsearch/110222/1 "2017-12-04T23:45:50Z")

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I'm looking to build an app around Elasticsearch with image and file upload/download. So a user uploads an image or document (PDF, Word, etc.), the image gets stored, and retrieved later by users and admin. It looks like Elastic can import/ingest data from files and images, but it is not clear to me if the image/file itself can be uploaded and retrieved. I just need to know if that is possible. If not I'll need to include another system into my app.

> <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47643806/image-and-document-upload-download-in-elasticsearch>

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**Author:** ![bradley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@bradley](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/bradley)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/image-and-document-upload-download-in-elasticsearch/110222/2 "2017-12-05T00:22:45Z")

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I've probably found my answer here: [Storing images in an index](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/storing-images-in-an-index/44409)

It looks like it's possible, but inefficient.

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**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/image-and-document-upload-download-in-elasticsearch/110222/3 "2017-12-05T00:26:06Z")

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I agree. Better to store blobs elsewhere IMO and add the link to the blobstore in the json document.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 12:26am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/image-and-document-upload-download-in-elasticsearch/110222/4 "2018-01-02T00:26:06Z")

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