---
title: Adding files
weight: 1
---

Adding a file to the media library is easy. Just pick one of the starting methods, optionally add some of the middle methods
and finish with a finishing method. All start and middle methods are chainable.

For example:

```php
$yourModel
    ->addMedia($pathToFile) //starting method
    ->withCustomProperties(['mime-type' => 'image/jpeg']) //middle method
    ->preservingOriginal() //middle method
    ->toMediaCollection(); //finishing method
```

## Starting methods

### addMedia

```php
/**
 * Add a file to the media library. The file will be removed from
 * its original location.
 *
 * @param string|\Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\File\UploadedFile $file
 *
 * @return \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\FileAdder
 */
public function addMedia($file)
```

### addMediaFromUrl

This method only accepts URLs that start with `http://` or `https://`

```php
/**
 * Add a remote file to the media library.
 *
 * @param string $url
 *
 * @return mixed
 *
 * @throws \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\Exceptions\FileCannotBeAdded
 */
public function addMediaFromUrl(string $url)
```

### addMediaFromDisk

```php
/**
 * Add a file from the given disk.
 *
 * @param string $key
 * @param string $disk
 *
 * @return \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\FileAdder
 */
public function addMediaFromDisk(string $key, string $disk = null): FileAdder
```

### addMediaFromRequest

```php
/**
 * Add file from the current request to the media library.
 *
 * @param string $keyName
 *
 * @return \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\FileAdder
 *
 * @throws \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\Exceptions\FileCannotBeAdded
 */
public function addMediaFromRequest(string $keyName): FileAdder
```

### addMultipleMediaFromRequest

```php
/**
 * Add multiple files from the current request to the media library.
 *
 * @param string[] $keys
 *
 * @return Collection
 *
 * @throws \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\Exceptions\FileCannotBeAdded
 */
public function addMultipleMediaFromRequest(array $keyNames): Collection
```

Please note the return type of `addMultipleMediaFromRequest` is a collection of `FileAdder`s. This means you'll have to loop over every `FileAdder` to use any of the middle methods. For example:

```php
$fileAdders = $this->model
    ->addMultipleMediaFromRequest(['file-one', 'file-two'])
    ->each(function ($fileAdder) {
        $fileAdder->toMediaCollection();
    });
```

### addAllMediaFromRequest

```php
/**
 * Add all files from the current request to the media library.
 *
 * @return Collection
 *
 * @throws \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\Exceptions\FileCannotBeAdded
 */
public function addAllMediaFromRequest(): Collection
```

Please note the return type of `addAllMediaFromRequest` is a Collection of `FileAdder`s. This means you'll have to loop over every `FileAdder` to use any of the middle methods. See the `addMultipleMediaFromRequest` method above for an example.

### addMediaFromBase64

```php
/**
 * Add a base64 encoded file to the media library.
 *
 * @param string $base64data
 * @param string|array ...$allowedMimeTypes
 *
 * @throws InvalidBase64Data
 * @throws \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\Exceptions\FileCannotBeAdded
 *
 * @return \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\FileAdder
 */
 public function addMediaFromBase64(string $base64data, ...$allowedMimeTypes): FileAdder
```

### addMediaFromString

```php
/**
 * Add a file to the media library that contains the given string.
 *
 * @param string string
 *
 * @return \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\FileAdder
 */
 public function addMediaFromString(string $string): FileAdder
```

The file will be named 'text.txt' by default. A specific file name can be set using `usingFileName`

```php
$model
    ->addMediaFromString('my string')
    ->usingFileName('custom-filename.txt')
    ->toMediaCollection();
```

### copyMedia

```php
/**
 * Copy a file to the media library.
 *
 * @param string|\Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\File\UploadedFile $file
 *
 * @return \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\FileAdder
 */
public function copyMedia($file)
```

## Middle methods

### preserveOriginal

```php
/**
 * When adding the file to the media library, the original file
 * will be preserved.
 *
 * @return $this
 */
public function preservingOriginal()
```

### usingName

```php
/**
 * Set the name of the media object.
 *
 * @param $name
 *
 * @return $this
 */
public function usingName($name)
```

### setName

This is an alias for `usingName`

### usingFileName

```php
/**
 * Set the name of the file that is stored on disk.
 *
 * @param $fileName
 *
 * @return $this
 */
public function usingFileName($fileName)
```

### setFileName

This is an alias for `usingFileName`

### withCustomProperties

```php
/**
 * Set the metadata.
 *
 * @param array $customProperties
 *
 * @return $this
 */
public function withCustomProperties(array $customProperties)
```

## Finishing methods

### toMediaCollection

```php
/**
 * Set the target media collection to default.
 * Will also start the import process.
 *
 * @param string $collectionName
 * @param string $diskName
 *
 * @return Media
 *
 * @throws \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\Exceptions\FileCannotBeAdded
 */
public function toMediaCollection($collectionName = 'default', $diskName = '')
```

### toMediaCollectionOnCloudDisk

This function does almost the same as `toMediaCollection`. It'll store all media on the disk configured in the `cloud` key of `config/filesystems.php`

```php
 /**
  * @param string $collectionName
  *
  * @return \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\Models\Media
  *
  * @throws FileCannotBeAdded
  * @throws \Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\Exceptions\FileCannotBeAdded
  */
 public function toMediaCollectionOnCloudDisk(string $collectionName = 'default')
```