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When you receive media messages, they contain encrypted URLs that you need to decrypt and download. Baileys provides the downloadMediaMessage function to handle this automatically.

​
Basic Download

Use the downloadMediaMessage function to download media from any message: 
import { downloadMediaMessage, getContentType } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

sock.ev.on('messages.upsert', async ({ messages }) => {
  const msg = messages[0]
  if (!msg.message) return
  
  const messageType = getContentType(msg.message)
  
  if (messageType === 'imageMessage') {
    // Download as buffer
    const buffer = await downloadMediaMessage(
      msg,
      'buffer',
      {},
      {
        logger,
        reuploadRequest: sock.updateMediaMessage
      }
    )
    
    console.log('Downloaded image, size:', buffer.length)
  }
})

​
Download as Stream

For large media files, download as a stream to avoid loading everything into memory: 
import { createWriteStream } from 'fs'
import { downloadMediaMessage } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

sock.ev.on('messages.upsert', async ({ messages }) => {
  const msg = messages[0]
  if (!msg.message) return
  
  const messageType = getContentType(msg.message)
  
  if (messageType === 'imageMessage') {
    // Download as stream
    const stream = await downloadMediaMessage(
      msg,
      'stream',
      {},
      {
        logger,
        reuploadRequest: sock.updateMediaMessage
      }
    )
    
    // Save to file
    const writeStream = createWriteStream('./my-download.jpeg')
    stream.pipe(writeStream)
    
    await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      writeStream.on('finish', resolve)
      writeStream.on('error', reject)
    })
    
    console.log('Saved image to file')
  }
})
Using streams is more memory-efficient for large files like videos.

​
Handle All Media Types

1

Detect message type

import { getContentType } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

const messageType = getContentType(msg.message)
2

Download based on type

const mediaTypes = ['imageMessage', 'videoMessage', 'audioMessage', 'documentMessage', 'stickerMessage']

if (mediaTypes.includes(messageType)) {
  const buffer = await downloadMediaMessage(
    msg,
    'buffer',
    {},
    {
      logger,
      reuploadRequest: sock.updateMediaMessage
    }
  )
  
  // Process the media
  console.log(`Downloaded ${messageType}, size: ${buffer.length}`)
}

​
Save to File

Here’s a complete example that saves media to disk: 
import { createWriteStream } from 'fs'
import { downloadMediaMessage, getContentType } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

sock.ev.on('messages.upsert', async ({ messages }) => {
  for (const msg of messages) {
    if (!msg.message) continue
    
    const messageType = getContentType(msg.message)
    
    // Check if it's a media message
    if (messageType === 'imageMessage') {
      // Download the message
      const stream = await downloadMediaMessage(
        msg,
        'stream',
        {},
        {
          logger,
          // Pass this so that Baileys can request a reupload of media
          // that has been deleted
          reuploadRequest: sock.updateMediaMessage
        }
      )
      
      // Save to file
      const writeStream = createWriteStream('./downloads/image.jpeg')
      stream.pipe(writeStream)
      
      console.log('Image saved successfully')
    }
  }
})

​
Handle Deleted Media

WhatsApp automatically removes old media from their servers. If media is deleted, you can request a re-upload: 
const buffer = await downloadMediaMessage(
  msg,
  'buffer',
  {},
  {
    logger,
    // This function requests the phone to re-upload the media
    reuploadRequest: sock.updateMediaMessage
  }
)
Always pass reuploadRequest: sock.updateMediaMessage to handle deleted media gracefully.

​
Get Media Extension

You can determine the file extension from the message: 
import { extensionForMediaMessage } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'

const extension = extensionForMediaMessage(msg.message)
console.log('File extension:', extension) // e.g., '.jpeg'

​
Download Options

The downloadMediaMessage function accepts these parameters:
  • message - The WAMessage object
  • type - Either 'buffer' or 'stream'
  • options - Download options (optional)
  • ctx - Context object with logger and reuploadRequest
const stream = await downloadMediaMessage(
  msg,
  'stream',
  {
    startByte: 0,      // Optional: start byte for partial download
    endByte: 1024      // Optional: end byte for partial download
  },
  {
    logger,
    reuploadRequest: sock.updateMediaMessage
  }
)

​
Complete Example

import makeWASocket, { downloadMediaMessage, getContentType } from '@whiskeysockets/baileys'
import { createWriteStream } from 'fs'
import { mkdir } from 'fs/promises'

const sock = makeWASocket({ /* ... */ })

// Create downloads directory
await mkdir('./downloads', { recursive: true })

sock.ev.on('messages.upsert', async ({ messages }) => {
  for (const msg of messages) {
    if (!msg.message) continue
    
    const messageType = getContentType(msg.message)
    const mediaTypes = ['imageMessage', 'videoMessage', 'audioMessage']
    
    if (mediaTypes.includes(messageType)) {
      try {
        // Download as stream
        const stream = await downloadMediaMessage(
          msg,
          'stream',
          {},
          {
            logger,
            reuploadRequest: sock.updateMediaMessage
          }
        )
        
        // Determine file extension
        const extension = extensionForMediaMessage(msg.message)
        const fileName = `./downloads/${msg.key.id}${extension}`
        
        // Save to file
        const writeStream = createWriteStream(fileName)
        stream.pipe(writeStream)
        
        await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
          writeStream.on('finish', resolve)
          writeStream.on('error', reject)
        })
        
        console.log(`Downloaded ${messageType} to ${fileName}`)
      } catch (error) {
        console.error('Failed to download media:', error)
      }
    }
  }
})

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