"How can I directly (without saving the file on 2nd server) download the file from 1st server to client's machine?"

Just use the Client API and get the InputStream from the response

Client client = ClientBuilder.newClient();
String url = "...";
final InputStream responseStream = client.target(url).request().get(InputStream.class);

There are two flavors to get the InputStream. You can also use

Response response = client.target(url).request().get();
InputStream is = (InputStream)response.getEntity();

Which one is the more efficient? I'm not sure, but the returned InputStreams are different classes, so you may want to look into that if you care to.

From 2nd server I can get a ByteArrayOutputStream to get the file from 1st server, can I pass this stream further to the client using the REST service?

So most of the answers you'll see in the link provided by @GradyGCooper seem to favor the use of StreamingOutput. An example implementation might be something like

final InputStream responseStream = client.target(url).request().get(InputStream.class);
System.out.println(responseStream.getClass());
StreamingOutput output = new StreamingOutput() {
    @Override
    public void write(OutputStream out) throws IOException, WebApplicationException {  
        int length;
        byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
        while((length = responseStream.read(buffer)) != -1) {
            out.write(buffer, 0, length);
        }
        out.flush();
        responseStream.close();
    }   
};
return Response.ok(output).header(
        "Content-Disposition", "attachment, filename=\"...\"").build();

But if we look at the source code for StreamingOutputProvider, you'll see in the writeTo, that it simply writes the data from one stream to another. So with our implementation above, we have to write twice.

How can we get only one write? Simple return the InputStream as the Response

final InputStream responseStream = client.target(url).request().get(InputStream.class);
return Response.ok(responseStream).header(
        "Content-Disposition", "attachment, filename=\"...\"").build();

If we look at the source code for InputStreamProvider, it simply delegates to ReadWriter.writeTo(in, out), which simply does what we did above in the StreamingOutput implementation

 public static void writeTo(InputStream in, OutputStream out) throws IOException {
    int read;
    final byte[] data = new byte[BUFFER_SIZE];
    while ((read = in.read(data)) != -1) {
        out.write(data, 0, read);
    }
}

Asides:

  • Client objects are expensive resources. You may want to reuse the same Client for request. You can extract a WebTarget from the client for each request.

    WebTarget target = client.target(url);
    InputStream is = target.request().get(InputStream.class);
    

    I think the WebTarget can even be shared. I can't find anything in the Jersey 2.x documentation (only because it is a larger document, and I'm too lazy to scan through it right now :-), but in the Jersey 1.x documentation, it says the Client and WebResource (which is equivalent to WebTarget in 2.x) can be shared between threads. So I'm guessing Jersey 2.x would be the same. but you may want to confirm for yourself.

  • You don't have to make use of the Client API. A download can be easily achieved with the java.net package APIs. But since you're already using Jersey, it doesn't hurt to use its APIs

  • The above is assuming Jersey 2.x. For Jersey 1.x, a simple Google search should get you a bunch of hits for working with the API (or the documentation I linked to above)


UPDATE

I'm such a dufus. While the OP and I are contemplating ways to turn a ByteArrayOutputStream to an InputStream, I missed the simplest solution, which is simply to write a MessageBodyWriter for the ByteArrayOutputStream

import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.lang.annotation.Annotation;
import java.lang.reflect.Type;
import javax.ws.rs.WebApplicationException;
import javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType;
import javax.ws.rs.core.MultivaluedMap;
import javax.ws.rs.ext.MessageBodyWriter;
import javax.ws.rs.ext.Provider;

@Provider
public class OutputStreamWriter implements MessageBodyWriter<ByteArrayOutputStream> {

    @Override
    public boolean isWriteable(Class<?> type, Type genericType,
            Annotation[] annotations, MediaType mediaType) {
        return ByteArrayOutputStream.class == type;
    }

    @Override
    public long getSize(ByteArrayOutputStream t, Class<?> type, Type genericType,
            Annotation[] annotations, MediaType mediaType) {
        return -1;
    }

    @Override
    public void writeTo(ByteArrayOutputStream t, Class<?> type, Type genericType,
            Annotation[] annotations, MediaType mediaType,
            MultivaluedMap<String, Object> httpHeaders, OutputStream entityStream)
            throws IOException, WebApplicationException {
        t.writeTo(entityStream);
    }
}

Then we can simply return the ByteArrayOutputStream in the response

return Response.ok(baos).build();

D'OH!

UPDATE 2

Here are the tests I used (

Resource class

@Path("test")
public class TestResource {

    final String path = "some_150_mb_file";

    @GET
    @Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM)
    public Response doTest() throws Exception {
        InputStream is = new FileInputStream(path);
        ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        int len;
        byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
        while ((len = is.read(buffer, 0, buffer.length)) != -1) {
            baos.write(buffer, 0, len);
        }
        System.out.println("Server size: " + baos.size());
        return Response.ok(baos).build();
    }
}

Client test

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        Client client = ClientBuilder.newClient();
        String url = "http://localhost:8080/api/test";
        Response response = client.target(url).request().get();
        String location = "some_location";
        FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(location);
        InputStream is = (InputStream)response.getEntity();
        int len = 0;
        byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
        while((len = is.read(buffer)) != -1) {
            out.write(buffer, 0, len);
        }
        out.flush();
        out.close();
        is.close();
    }
}

UPDATE 3

So the final solution for this particular use case was for the OP to simply pass the OutputStream from the StreamingOutput's write method. Seems the third-party API, required a OutputStream as an argument.

StreamingOutput output = new StreamingOutput() {
    @Override
    public void write(OutputStream out) {
        thirdPartyApi.downloadFile(.., .., .., out);
    }
}
return Response.ok(output).build();

Not quite sure, but seems the reading/writing within the resource method, using ByteArrayOutputStream`, realized something into memory.

The point of the downloadFile method accepting an OutputStream is so that it can write the result directly to the OutputStream provided. For instance a FileOutputStream, if you wrote it to file, while the download is coming in, it would get directly streamed to the file.

It's not meant for us to keep a reference to the OutputStream, as you were trying to do with the baos, which is where the memory realization comes in.

So with the way that works, we are writing directly to the response stream provided for us. The method write doesn't actually get called until the writeTo method (in the MessageBodyWriter), where the OutputStream is passed to it.

You can get a better picture looking at the MessageBodyWriter I wrote. Basically in the writeTo method, replace the ByteArrayOutputStream with StreamingOutput, then inside the method, call streamingOutput.write(entityStream). You can see the link I provided in the earlier part of the answer, where I link to the StreamingOutputProvider. This is exactly what happens

Answer from Paul Samsotha on Stack Overflow
Top answer
1 of 3
39

"How can I directly (without saving the file on 2nd server) download the file from 1st server to client's machine?"

Just use the Client API and get the InputStream from the response

Client client = ClientBuilder.newClient();
String url = "...";
final InputStream responseStream = client.target(url).request().get(InputStream.class);

There are two flavors to get the InputStream. You can also use

Response response = client.target(url).request().get();
InputStream is = (InputStream)response.getEntity();

Which one is the more efficient? I'm not sure, but the returned InputStreams are different classes, so you may want to look into that if you care to.

From 2nd server I can get a ByteArrayOutputStream to get the file from 1st server, can I pass this stream further to the client using the REST service?

So most of the answers you'll see in the link provided by @GradyGCooper seem to favor the use of StreamingOutput. An example implementation might be something like

final InputStream responseStream = client.target(url).request().get(InputStream.class);
System.out.println(responseStream.getClass());
StreamingOutput output = new StreamingOutput() {
    @Override
    public void write(OutputStream out) throws IOException, WebApplicationException {  
        int length;
        byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
        while((length = responseStream.read(buffer)) != -1) {
            out.write(buffer, 0, length);
        }
        out.flush();
        responseStream.close();
    }   
};
return Response.ok(output).header(
        "Content-Disposition", "attachment, filename=\"...\"").build();

But if we look at the source code for StreamingOutputProvider, you'll see in the writeTo, that it simply writes the data from one stream to another. So with our implementation above, we have to write twice.

How can we get only one write? Simple return the InputStream as the Response

final InputStream responseStream = client.target(url).request().get(InputStream.class);
return Response.ok(responseStream).header(
        "Content-Disposition", "attachment, filename=\"...\"").build();

If we look at the source code for InputStreamProvider, it simply delegates to ReadWriter.writeTo(in, out), which simply does what we did above in the StreamingOutput implementation

 public static void writeTo(InputStream in, OutputStream out) throws IOException {
    int read;
    final byte[] data = new byte[BUFFER_SIZE];
    while ((read = in.read(data)) != -1) {
        out.write(data, 0, read);
    }
}

Asides:

  • Client objects are expensive resources. You may want to reuse the same Client for request. You can extract a WebTarget from the client for each request.

    WebTarget target = client.target(url);
    InputStream is = target.request().get(InputStream.class);
    

    I think the WebTarget can even be shared. I can't find anything in the Jersey 2.x documentation (only because it is a larger document, and I'm too lazy to scan through it right now :-), but in the Jersey 1.x documentation, it says the Client and WebResource (which is equivalent to WebTarget in 2.x) can be shared between threads. So I'm guessing Jersey 2.x would be the same. but you may want to confirm for yourself.

  • You don't have to make use of the Client API. A download can be easily achieved with the java.net package APIs. But since you're already using Jersey, it doesn't hurt to use its APIs

  • The above is assuming Jersey 2.x. For Jersey 1.x, a simple Google search should get you a bunch of hits for working with the API (or the documentation I linked to above)


UPDATE

I'm such a dufus. While the OP and I are contemplating ways to turn a ByteArrayOutputStream to an InputStream, I missed the simplest solution, which is simply to write a MessageBodyWriter for the ByteArrayOutputStream

import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.lang.annotation.Annotation;
import java.lang.reflect.Type;
import javax.ws.rs.WebApplicationException;
import javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType;
import javax.ws.rs.core.MultivaluedMap;
import javax.ws.rs.ext.MessageBodyWriter;
import javax.ws.rs.ext.Provider;

@Provider
public class OutputStreamWriter implements MessageBodyWriter<ByteArrayOutputStream> {

    @Override
    public boolean isWriteable(Class<?> type, Type genericType,
            Annotation[] annotations, MediaType mediaType) {
        return ByteArrayOutputStream.class == type;
    }

    @Override
    public long getSize(ByteArrayOutputStream t, Class<?> type, Type genericType,
            Annotation[] annotations, MediaType mediaType) {
        return -1;
    }

    @Override
    public void writeTo(ByteArrayOutputStream t, Class<?> type, Type genericType,
            Annotation[] annotations, MediaType mediaType,
            MultivaluedMap<String, Object> httpHeaders, OutputStream entityStream)
            throws IOException, WebApplicationException {
        t.writeTo(entityStream);
    }
}

Then we can simply return the ByteArrayOutputStream in the response

return Response.ok(baos).build();

D'OH!

UPDATE 2

Here are the tests I used (

Resource class

@Path("test")
public class TestResource {

    final String path = "some_150_mb_file";

    @GET
    @Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM)
    public Response doTest() throws Exception {
        InputStream is = new FileInputStream(path);
        ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        int len;
        byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
        while ((len = is.read(buffer, 0, buffer.length)) != -1) {
            baos.write(buffer, 0, len);
        }
        System.out.println("Server size: " + baos.size());
        return Response.ok(baos).build();
    }
}

Client test

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        Client client = ClientBuilder.newClient();
        String url = "http://localhost:8080/api/test";
        Response response = client.target(url).request().get();
        String location = "some_location";
        FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(location);
        InputStream is = (InputStream)response.getEntity();
        int len = 0;
        byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
        while((len = is.read(buffer)) != -1) {
            out.write(buffer, 0, len);
        }
        out.flush();
        out.close();
        is.close();
    }
}

UPDATE 3

So the final solution for this particular use case was for the OP to simply pass the OutputStream from the StreamingOutput's write method. Seems the third-party API, required a OutputStream as an argument.

StreamingOutput output = new StreamingOutput() {
    @Override
    public void write(OutputStream out) {
        thirdPartyApi.downloadFile(.., .., .., out);
    }
}
return Response.ok(output).build();

Not quite sure, but seems the reading/writing within the resource method, using ByteArrayOutputStream`, realized something into memory.

The point of the downloadFile method accepting an OutputStream is so that it can write the result directly to the OutputStream provided. For instance a FileOutputStream, if you wrote it to file, while the download is coming in, it would get directly streamed to the file.

It's not meant for us to keep a reference to the OutputStream, as you were trying to do with the baos, which is where the memory realization comes in.

So with the way that works, we are writing directly to the response stream provided for us. The method write doesn't actually get called until the writeTo method (in the MessageBodyWriter), where the OutputStream is passed to it.

You can get a better picture looking at the MessageBodyWriter I wrote. Basically in the writeTo method, replace the ByteArrayOutputStream with StreamingOutput, then inside the method, call streamingOutput.write(entityStream). You can see the link I provided in the earlier part of the answer, where I link to the StreamingOutputProvider. This is exactly what happens

2 of 3
0

See example here: Input and Output binary streams using JERSEY?

Pseudo code would be something like this (there are a few other similar options in above mentioned post):

@Path("file/")
@GET
@Produces({"application/pdf"})
public StreamingOutput getFileContent() throws Exception {
     public void write(OutputStream output) throws IOException, WebApplicationException {
        try {
          //
          // 1. Get Stream to file from first server
          //
          while(<read stream from first server>) {
              output.write(<bytes read from first server>)
          }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            throw new WebApplicationException(e);
        } finally {
              // close input stream
        }
    }
}
🌐
HowToDoInJava
howtodoinjava.com › home › resteasy › resteasy – file download example
RESTEasy - File Download Example
October 1, 2022 - http://localhost:8080/RESTfulDemoApplication/file-management/demoJpegFile/image · If you want to download sourcecode of above example, follow below given link. ... Happy Learning !! ... A fun-loving family man, passionate about computers and problem-solving, with over 15 years of experience in Java and related technologies.
🌐
Mastertheboss
mastertheboss.com › home › jboss frameworks › resteasy › using rest services to upload and download files
Using REST Services to upload and download files - Mastertheboss
May 24, 2024 - This REST Service tutorial is a quick guide for handling files upload and download using REST Services. We will create and test a Rest Service to upload and download files using JAX-RS API.
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Javatpoint
javatpoint.com › jax-rs-file-download-example
RESTful JAX-RS File Download Example - javatpoint
The javax.ws.rs package contains JAX-RS annotations. AnnotationDescription PathIt identifies the URI path. It can be specified on class or method. PathParamrepresents the... ... RESTful Example Like download in ious page, we can easily upload a file such as image file, pdf file, excel file, text file etc. The @FormDataParam("file") annotation is used to mention file parameter in the service class.
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Aviator Dao
java2novice.com › главная страница › welcome to aviator dao from the creators of the java2novice
From Java Programming to Aviator Game: Explore Aviator DAO
July 17, 2024 - Discover the evolution of our journey from Java programming tutorials to the exciting world of the Aviator Game. At Aviator DAO, we provide in-depth guides, strategies, and resources for mastering Aviator.
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Roy Tutorials
roytuts.com › home › rest › download file using rest web service
Download File Using REST Web Service - Roy Tutorials
November 16, 2025 - The REST API class publishes REST services over HTTP/HTTPS protocol. ... package com.roytuts.rest.resources; import java.io.File; import jakarta.ws.rs.GET; import jakarta.ws.rs.Path; import jakarta.ws.rs.Produces; import jakarta.ws.rs.core.MediaType; import jakarta.ws.rs.core.Response; import jakarta.ws.rs.core.Response.ResponseBuilder; @Path("/file") public class FileDownloadService { private static final String FILE_PATH = "C:/Download/250MB"; @GET @Path("/download") @Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM) public Response getFile() { File file = new File(FILE_PATH); ResponseBuilder response = Response.ok((Object) file); response.header("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + file.getName()); return response.build(); } }
🌐
DZone
dzone.com › coding › frameworks › java spring boot rest api to upload/download file on server
Java Spring Boot Rest API to Upload/Download File
May 1, 2020 - @Query("Select fileName from DocumnentStorageProperties a where user_id = ?1 and document_type = ?2") ... Create a Service class to store and download files on the server, and to store information in the database.
Top answer
1 of 7
269

Option 1 using an InputStreamResource

Resource implementation for a given InputStream.

Should only be used if no other specific Resource implementation is > applicable. In particular, prefer ByteArrayResource or any of the file-based Resource implementations where possible.

@RequestMapping(path = "/download", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public ResponseEntity<Resource> download(String param) throws IOException {

    // ...

    InputStreamResource resource = new InputStreamResource(new FileInputStream(file));

    return ResponseEntity.ok()
            .headers(headers)
            .contentLength(file.length())
            .contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM)
            .body(resource);
}

Option2 as the documentation of the InputStreamResource suggests - using a ByteArrayResource:

@RequestMapping(path = "/download", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public ResponseEntity<Resource> download(String param) throws IOException {

    // ...

    Path path = Paths.get(file.getAbsolutePath());
    ByteArrayResource resource = new ByteArrayResource(Files.readAllBytes(path));

    return ResponseEntity.ok()
            .headers(headers)
            .contentLength(file.length())
            .contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM)
            .body(resource);
}
2 of 7
71

The below Sample code worked for me and might help someone.

import org.springframework.core.io.ByteArrayResource;
import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestParam;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.nio.file.Paths;

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/app")
public class ImageResource {

    private static final String EXTENSION = ".jpg";
    private static final String SERVER_LOCATION = "/server/images";

    @RequestMapping(path = "/download", method = RequestMethod.GET)
    public ResponseEntity<Resource> download(@RequestParam("image") String image) throws IOException {
        File file = new File(SERVER_LOCATION + File.separator + image + EXTENSION);

        HttpHeaders header = new HttpHeaders();
        header.add(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_DISPOSITION, "attachment; filename=img.jpg");
        header.add("Cache-Control", "no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate");
        header.add("Pragma", "no-cache");
        header.add("Expires", "0");

        Path path = Paths.get(file.getAbsolutePath());
        ByteArrayResource resource = new ByteArrayResource(Files.readAllBytes(path));

        return ResponseEntity.ok()
                .headers(header)
                .contentLength(file.length())
                .contentType(MediaType.parseMediaType("application/octet-stream"))
                .body(resource);
    }

}
Find elsewhere
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CodeJava
codejava.net › frameworks › spring-boot › file-download-upload-rest-api-examples
Spring Boot File Download and Upload REST API Examples
November 16, 2023 - http://localhost:8080/downloadFile/mggiKcFQIf you will see some special characters in the response’s body, which is the content of the file downloaded. You can click Save Response > Save to a file to store the file on disk:Those are some code examples about File upload API and File download API implemented in Java and Spring framework.
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javaspring
javaspring.net › blog › how-to-download-a-file-using-a-java-rest-service-and-a-data-stream
How to Download Files from Remote Server to Client via Java REST Service (Jersey) Using Data Streams Without Saving on Intermediate Server — javaspring.net
Remote Server Errors: Propagate HTTP status codes (e.g., 404 Not Found if the remote file doesn’t exist). Network Issues: Catch IOException and return 503 Service Unavailable. Resource Leaks: Always close InputStream, OutputStream, and ClientResponse (use try-with-resources). ... Postman will automatically download the file.
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CalliCoder
callicoder.com › spring-boot-file-upload-download-rest-api-example
Spring Boot File Upload / Download Rest API Example | CalliCoder
February 18, 2022 - In this article, You’ll learn how to upload and download files in a RESTful spring boot web service. We’ll first build the REST APIs for uploading and downloading files, and then test those APIs using Postman. We’ll also write front-end code in javascript to upload files.
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Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 33681394 › download-file-using-rest-webservice
java - Download File using Rest Webservice - Stack Overflow
@POST @Consumes("application/x-www-form-urlencoded") @Produces("application/pdf") @Path("/downloaddocument") public Response downloadDocument(@FormParam("filename") String filename) { // Return your PDF document as a Responce here }
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Java Guides
javaguides.net › 2020 › 04 › spring-boot-file-upload-download-rest-api-example.html
Spring Boot File Upload / Download Rest API Example
March 27, 2023 - In this tutorial, we will learn how to upload and download a file using Spring Boot RESTful API. Uploading and downloading files are very common tasks for which developers need to write code in their applications.
🌐
Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 45752690 › download-file-from-rest-webservices-spring › 45876728
java - Download file from rest webservices spring - Stack Overflow
So the only solution working for me was to use GET request instead of POST passing the filepath as a pathparam. ... @GET @Path("/download/{filePath}") @Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM) public Response getdownloadFile(@PathParam("filePath") String filePath) { String path = null; byte [] barr = Base64.getDecoder().decode(filePath); path = new String(barr); File file = new File(path); try { String contentType = Files.probeContentType(file.toPath()); Response.ResponseBuilder response = Response.ok((Object) file); response.header("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename="+file.getName()); response.header("Content-Type", contentType); response.header("Content-Length", file.length()); return response.build(); } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); return Response.status(Status.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR).entity(e.getMessage()).build(); } }
🌐
CodingTechRoom
codingtechroom.com › question › -download-file-java-rest-data-stream
How to Download a File Using a Java REST Service with Data Streams - CodingTechRoom
Use the correct media type to facilitate downloading. Mistake: Forgetting to set the correct file path in the service. Solution: Double-check the file path configuration in your REST service.
🌐
Djamware
djamware.com › post › 68e1e24ccc093c00a5927365 › java-file-upload-and-download-with-spring-boot-rest-api
Java File Upload and Download with Spring Boot REST API
October 4, 2025 - In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to build a file upload and download REST API using Spring Boot 3.5.6 and Java 21.
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DZone
dzone.com › coding › frameworks › spring boot rest service: download files
Spring Boot REST Service: Download Files
April 5, 2019 - I created a REST service that downloads single and selected multiple files as ZIP files. Below is my input, and I need to download it as a JSON file. import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream; import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream; import java.io.IOException; import java.io.InputStream; import java.io.OutputStream; import java.text.SimpleDateFormat; import java.util.Date; import java.util.HashMap; import java.util.Map; import java.util.Map.Entry; import java.util.zip.ZipEntry; import java.util.zip.ZipOutputStream; import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse; import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils; im