Stream file download

[monkeytooth]

The other day I noticed someone had post something like this, well this was actually the solution to the problem. But it got me thinking about a project of mine that I am working on and the need to pump out a downloadable file. We are storing most of the files in a database using base64 encoding the 2 key types of files we are storing are images and PDF's mostly pdf's anyway where I am wanting to go with this is, is there anyway to take the base64 encoded file and get it to download through this, or am I tackling the idea in the wrong way?

 

<?php
$filename = 'somename.txt'; //this would obviously be changed according to the file type we would output

$data =<<<DATA
I know my data would go here for the given file once decoded.
DATA;

header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=' . $filename);
header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
header('Expires: 0');
header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0');
header('Pragma: public');
header('Content-Length: ' . strlen($data));
echo $data;
?>