Partial content

This plugin (previously known as feature) adds support for handling Partial Content requests: requests with the Range header. It intercepts the generated response adding the Accept-Ranges and the Content-Range header and slicing the served content when required.

Partial Content is well-suited for streaming content or resume partial downloads with download managers, or in unreliable networks.

It is especially useful for the Static Content Plugin.

Usage

To install the PartialContent plugin with the default configuration:

import io.ktor.features.*

fun Application.main() {
    // ...
    install(PartialContent)
    // ...
}

Configuration

install(PartialContent) {
    // Maximum number of ranges that will be accepted from an HTTP request.
    // If the HTTP request specifies more ranges, they will all be merged into a single range.
    maxRangeCount = 10
}

Detailed description

This plugin only works with HEAD and GET requests. And it will return a 405 Method Not Allowed if the client tries to use the Range header with other methods.

It disables compression when serving ranges.

It is only enabled for responses that define the Content-Length. And it:

Removes the Content-Length header
Adds the Accept-Ranges header
Adds the Content-Range header with the requested Ranges
Serves only the requested slice of the content

Last modified: 09 September 2021