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File

The File interface provides information about files and allows JavaScript in a web page to access their content.

File objects are generally retrieved from a FileList object returned as a result of a user selecting files using the <input> element, from a drag and drop operation's DataTransfer object, or from the mozGetAsFile() API on an HTMLCanvasElement. In Gecko, privileged code can create File objects representing any local file without user interaction (see Implementation notes for more information.)

A File object is a specific kind of a Blob, and can be used in any context that a Blob can. In particular, FileReader, URL.createObjectURL(), createImageBitmap(), and XMLHttpRequest.send() accept both Blobs and Files.

See Using files from web applications for more information and examples.

Constructor

File(): Returns a newly constructed File.

Properties

File.lastModified Read only: Returns the last modified time of the file, in millisecond since the UNIX epoch (January 1st, 1970 at Midnight).
File.lastModifiedDate Read only: Returns the last modified DateDate of the file referenced by the File object.
File.name Read only: Returns the name of the file referenced by the File object.
File.webkitRelativePath Read only: Returns the path the URL of the File is relative to.

File implements Blob, so it also has the following properties available to it:

File.size Read only: Returns the size of the file in bytes.
File.type Read only: Returns the MIME type of the file.

Methods

The File interface doesn't define any methods, but inherits methods from the Blob interface:

Blob.slice([start[, end[, contentType]]]): Returns a new Blob object containing the data in the specified range of bytes of the source Blob.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
File API	Working Draft	Initial definition

Browser compatibilityUpdate compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari
Basic support	13	Yes	7 7 3 — 7 Non-standard implementation.	10	11.5	6
`File()` constructor	13	No	7	No	11.5	10.1
`lastModified`	13	18	15	10	16	No
`lastModifiedDate`	13	12	15 — 61	10	16	No
`name`	13	12	3.6	10	16	Yes
`type`	13	Yes	3.6	10	16	Yes
`webkitRelativePath`	13 Prefixed 13 Prefixed Prefixed Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	No	49	No	No	No

	Mobile
	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Edge Mobile	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	iOS Safari	Samsung Internet
Basic support	Yes	Yes	Yes	7 7 4 — 7 Non-standard implementation.	11.1	6	Yes
`File()` constructor	Yes	Yes	Yes	7	No	6	Yes
`lastModified`	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
`lastModifiedDate`	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
`name`	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
`type`	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
`webkitRelativePath`	Yes	18 Prefixed 18 Prefixed Prefixed Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	No	49	No	No	?

Implementation notes

In Gecko, you can use this API from within chrome code. See Using the DOM File API in chrome code for details. To use it from chrome code, JSM, and Bootstrap scope, you have to import it using Cu.importGlobalProperties(['File']);
Starting from Gecko 6.0 (Firefox 6.0 / Thunderbird 6.0 / SeaMonkey 2.3), privileged code (such as extensions) can pass an nsIFile object to the DOM File constructor to specify the file to reference.
Starting from Gecko 8.0 (Firefox 8.0 / Thunderbird 8.0 / SeaMonkey 2.5), you can use new File to create File objects from XPCOM component code instead of having to instantiate the nsIDOMFile object directly. The constructor takes, in contrast to Blob, as second argument the filename. The filename can be any String.
```
new File(
  Array parts,
  String filename, 
  BlobPropertyBag properties
);
```
The following non-standard properties and methods were removed in Gecko 7 (Firefox 7.0 / Thunderbird 7.0 / SeaMonkey 2.4): File.fileName, File.fileSize, File.getAsBinary(), File.getAsDataURL(), File.getAsText(string encoding) (bug 661876). Standard properties File.name, Blob.size, and methods on FileReader should be used instead.