Skip to main content
apiguide.dev

Content-Disposition Header

Indicates whether the body should be displayed inline or treated as a downloadable attachment.

Header TypeResponse Header
SpecificationStandard RFC compliant
Associated CodesHTTP 200

What is the Content-Disposition header?

The Content-Disposition response header tells the client how to present the body: rendered inline within the browser, or as an attachment that prompts a download. When set to attachment, it can also suggest a filename.

API Usage & Best Practices

  • Trigger downloads: Use attachment; filename="report.csv" when an API endpoint returns a file the user should save rather than view.
  • Display inline: Use inline for previewable content such as PDFs or images meant to render directly.
  • Encode non-ASCII names: Use the filename* parameter with UTF-8 encoding (RFC 5987) for filenames containing non-ASCII characters.

Examples

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/csv
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="export.csv"

Associated HTTP Status Codes

HTTP 200 — OK

The request has succeeded. The response payload contains the requested resource representation.

View reference →

Sponsors

Support the project →