Date: 2016mar19
Update: 2025sep18
Language: Java
Q. Java: Best way to copy a binary file in Java
A. Use Java7+'s Files.copy() As shown in this full example:
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.File;
import java.nio.file.FileSystems;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.nio.file.StandardCopyOption;
class Demo {
static boolean copyBinaryFile(final String srcFile, final String destFile) {
File source = new File(srcFile);
File dest = new File(destFile);
try {
Files.copy(source.toPath(), dest.toPath(), StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING);
}
catch(IOException ex) {
// Log the error?
return false;
}
return true;
}
public static void main(String []args) {
final boolean result = copyBinaryFile("/var/log/wtmp", "/tmp/wtmp_copy");
System.out.println("copy result=" + result);
}
}
Output:
copy result=true
Or if you want to percolate the exceptions:
static void copyBinaryFile(final String srcFile, final String destFile) throws IOException {
File source = new File(srcFile);
File dest = new File(destFile);
Files.copy(source.toPath(), dest.toPath(), StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING);
}
There are other ways and I have seen articles comparing speeds.
But this has these benefits:
- Will profit from future improvements in Java
- Very simple to use
- Future proof