"TypeError: can not serialize 'ContentFile' object"

Question

import base64
from django.core.files.base import ContentFile


file = "data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEU..."
format, imgstr = file.split(';base64,') 
ext = format.split('/')[-1] 

data = ContentFile(base64.b64decode(imgstr), name='temp.' + ext)
somemodel.save(data)

I want to save a base64 media file in a Django model file field.

I expected it to save the data, but I got:

TypeError: 'Cannot serialize 'ContentFile' object'.

Can someone please tell me where I went wrong?

Answer 1

Django can't serialize ContentFile objects directly. Write the ContentFile to a temporary file and then save that file to the model's field:

import base64
import uuid
from django.core.files.base import ContentFile
from django.core.files.storage import default_storage

file = "data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEU..."
format, imgstr = file.split(';base64,')
ext = format.split('/')[-1]
data = ContentFile(base64.b64decode(imgstr))
file_name = '{}.{}'.format(uuid.uuid4(), ext)
path = default_storage.save('tmp/' + file_name, data)
somemodel.filefield = path
somemodel.save()