GDown PHP

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Google Drive Public File Downloader when Curl/Wget Fails - PHP Implementation

GDown PHP is a PHP port of the popular Python gdown library, providing robust downloading of public files from Google Drive.

Features

• ✅ Folder downloads - Download entire Google Drive folders (up to 50 files)
• ✅ Skip security notices - Download large files that curl/wget can't handle
• ✅ File info preview - Check file name and size BEFORE downloading (unique to PHP version!)
• ✅ Fuzzy URL parsing - Extract file IDs from any Google Drive URL format
• ✅ Resume support - Continue interrupted downloads
• ✅ Google Docs/Sheets/Slides - Download with format conversion (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, etc.)
• ✅ Speed limiting - Control download bandwidth
• ✅ Proxy support - Download through HTTP/HTTPS proxies
• ✅ Cookie support - Use browser cookies for authenticated access
• ✅ Progress display - Real-time download progress
• ✅ CLI and Library - Use as command-line tool or integrate into your application

Installation

Via Composer

composer require zupolgec/gdown-php

Global Installation (for CLI usage)

composer global require gdown/gdown-php

Usage

Command Line Interface

Basic Download

# Download by URL
gdown https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1l_5RK28JRL19wpT22B-DY9We3TVXnnQQ

# Download by file ID
gdown 1l_5RK28JRL19wpT22B-DY9We3TVXnnQQ

# Specify output filename
gdown https://drive.google.com/uc?id=FILE_ID -O output.zip

Fuzzy URL Extraction

# Extract file ID from any Drive URL format
gdown --fuzzy 'https://drive.google.com/file/d/10DXTyitz_PnjGP9u7vDzp916iRshE43K/view?usp=drive_link'

Download Folders

# Download entire folder (up to 50 files)
gdown --folder https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/FOLDER_ID

# Download folder to specific directory
gdown --folder https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/FOLDER_ID --output my_folder

Get File Info (Without Downloading)

# Check file name and size before downloading
gdown --info https://drive.google.com/uc?id=FILE_ID

Output:

File Name: my-large-file.zip
File Size: 1.25 GB
MIME Type: application/zip
Last Modified: 2024-01-15 10:30:00

Download Google Docs/Sheets/Slides

# Download Google Doc as DOCX (default)
gdown https://docs.google.com/document/d/DOC_ID/edit

# Download as PDF
gdown https://docs.google.com/document/d/DOC_ID/edit --format pdf

# Download Google Sheet as XLSX
gdown https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/SHEET_ID/edit

# Download Google Slides as PPTX
gdown https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/SLIDE_ID/edit

Resume Downloads

# Resume interrupted download
gdown https://drive.google.com/uc?id=FILE_ID --continue

Speed Limiting

# Limit download speed to 1MB/s
gdown https://drive.google.com/uc?id=FILE_ID --speed 1MB

Proxy Support

# Download through proxy
gdown https://drive.google.com/uc?id=FILE_ID --proxy http://proxy.example.com:8080

All Options

gdown --help

PHP Library Usage

Basic Download

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use GDown\GDown;

// Download by URL
$file = GDown::download(
    url: 'https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1l_5RK28JRL19wpT22B-DY9We3TVXnnQQ',
    output: 'downloaded-file.zip'
);

echo "Downloaded: {$file}\n";

// Download by file ID
$file = GDown::download(
    id: '1l_5RK28JRL19wpT22B-DY9We3TVXnnQQ',
    output: 'downloaded-file.zip'
);

Get File Info Before Downloading

<?php

use GDown\GDown;

// Get file information without downloading
$fileInfo = GDown::getFileInfo(
    url: 'https://drive.google.com/uc?id=FILE_ID'
);

echo "File: {$fileInfo->name}\n";
echo "Size: {$fileInfo->getFormattedSize()}\n";
echo "MIME: {$fileInfo->mimeType}\n";

if ($fileInfo->size > 1024 * 1024 * 100) { // > 100MB
    echo "File is large, are you sure you want to download?\n";
    // ... then download if confirmed
}

Advanced Usage

<?php

use GDown\Downloader;

$downloader = new Downloader(
    quiet: false,              // Show progress
    proxy: 'http://proxy:8080', // Use proxy
    speedLimit: 1024 * 1024,   // 1MB/s speed limit
    useCookies: true,          // Use cookies from ~/.cache/gdown/cookies.txt
    verify: true,              // Verify SSL certificates
    userAgent: 'My Custom UA'  // Custom user agent
);

$file = $downloader->download(
    url: 'https://drive.google.com/uc?id=FILE_ID',
    output: 'output.zip',
    fuzzy: true,               // Extract ID from any URL format
    resume: true,              // Resume if interrupted
    format: 'pdf'              // For Google Docs (pdf, docx, etc.)
);

Fuzzy URL Matching

<?php

use GDown\GDown;

// Works with any Google Drive URL format
$file = GDown::download(
    url: 'https://drive.google.com/file/d/FILE_ID/view?usp=sharing',
    fuzzy: true,
    output: 'file.zip'
);

Download Folders

<?php

use Zupolgec\GDown\FolderDownloader;

// Download entire folder (up to 50 files)
$downloader = new FolderDownloader();
$result = $downloader->downloadFolder(
    url: 'https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/FOLDER_ID',
    output: 'my_folder'  // Optional: defaults to folder name from Drive
);

echo "Downloaded {$result['files']} files to {$result['folder']}\n";

Example: Testing with Your Provided URL

# Download the file from your example
gdown https://drive.google.com/file/d/10DXTyitz_PnjGP9u7vDzp916iRshE43K/view?usp=drive_link --fuzzy

# Or check its info first
gdown https://drive.google.com/file/d/10DXTyitz_PnjGP9u7vDzp916iRshE43K/view?usp=drive_link --info --fuzzy

Comparison with Python gdown

Feature Parity

Feature	Python gdown	GDown PHP
Download large files	✅	✅
Fuzzy URL parsing	✅	✅
Resume downloads	✅	✅
Speed limiting	✅	✅
Proxy support	✅	✅
Cookie support	✅	✅
Google Docs formats	✅	✅
Folder download	✅	✅
File info preview	❌	✅ NEW!

Unique PHP Features

• File Info Preview: Check file size and name before downloading (not available in Python version)
• Native Composer Integration: Seamless integration with PHP projects
• Type Safety: Full PHP 8.0+ type declarations for better IDE support

Requirements

• PHP 8.0 or higher
• ext-curl
• ext-json
• ext-mbstring

Development

Install Dependencies

composer install

Run Tests

composer test

Code Style

# Check code style
composer cs-check

# Fix code style
composer cs-fix

Static Analysis

composer phpstan

FAQ

I get a 'Permission Denied' error

Make sure the Google Drive file permission is set to 'Anyone with the link'.

I set 'Anyone with Link' but still can't download

Google restricts access when downloads are concentrated. Try:

1. Download your browser cookies using an extension like "Get cookies.txt LOCALLY"
2. Move cookies.txt to ~/.cache/gdown/cookies.txt
3. Run download again

How do I download private files?

Use the cookie method above. GDown will use your browser's authentication cookies.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Credits

• Inspired by wkentaro/gdown (Python)
• Developed with ❤️ for the PHP community

Links

• GitHub Repository
• Packagist Page
• Issue Tracker
• Original Python gdown