---
canonical: https://amplience.com/developers/docs/apis/asset-management/temp-file-service/
title: Temporary file service
description: Use the Amplience temporary file service to work with assets not stored in Content Hub. Supports single uploads up to 100MB and multipart uploads up to 2GB, for use with APIs such as the Background Removal API
audience: Developer
date_published: 2024-07-15
date_modified: 2025-01-27
---
# Temporary file service
The temporary file service allows you to work with assets that are not stored in Content Hub. You can create a temporary file and pass this as a parameter to an API such as the [Background removal API](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/ai-services/background-removal-api/), or pass the URL to the GraphQL Management API to create the asset in Content Hub.
The temporary file service supports [single upload](#creating-a-temporary-file), for files of up to 100MB in size and [multi part upload](#using-multi-part-upload) for files of up to 2GB.
## Using the API
The API is implemented as the mutations `createTempFileUploadUrl` and `createTempFileMultipartUploadUrl` as part of the [GraphQL Management API](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/apis/asset-management).
Use `createTempFileUploadUrl` for uploads of up to 100MB and `createTempFileMultipartUploadUrl` for uploads up to 2GB in size.
The end point for all requests to the GraphQL Management API is:
```
https://api.amplience.net/graphql
```
Amplience uses [OAuth2](https://oauth.net/2/) to [authorize](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/apis/asset-management/overview/usage/#authentication) access to the GraphQL Management API.
You can also use the API when logged in to the [GraphQL playground](https://api.amplience.net/graphql).
## Creating a temporary file
You can create a temporary file as follows:
```graphql
mutation {
createTempFileUploadUrl {
uploadUrl
downloadUrl
}
}
```
This will return an upload URL and a download URL.
- Upload the file by making a PUT request to the upload URL we gave you with the file bytes in the request
- Call the Background removal API passing the download URL.
Note that when uploading to the temporary file service you need to ensure that the `Content-Type` header is set to a valid format for the image: `image/jpeg` or `image/png`, for example.
## Example: Uploading a file using the temp file service
This example shows how to upload an image asset using the temp file service and generate a URL to pass to the Background removal API.
### Generate a temporary file URL
To generate a temporary URL we use the `createTempFileUploadUrl` mutation:
```graphql
mutation {
createTempFileUploadUrl {
uploadUrl
downloadUrl
}
}
```
`uploadUrl ` and `downloadUrl` are returned in the response.
```graphql
{
"data": {
"createTempFileUploadUrl": {
"uploadUrl": "https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/52a39c0c-f30a-492e-8eaa-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",
"downloadUrl": "https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/52a39c0c-f30a-492e-8eaa-106e23e14daa"
}
}
}
```
### Upload the image to the temporary file URL
Send a PUT request to upload to the temp file. This example uses cURL, but apart from your own code you could also use API tools such as Postman or Insomnia to send a PUT request. Note that you must set `content-type` to one of the supported image types- in this case `image/jpg`.
The filename is `woman-black-beret.jpg`.
```
curl https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/52a39c0c-f30a-492e-8eaa-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 --upload-file /Users/jonlansdell/woman-black-beret.jpg -H "Content-Type: image/jpg"
```
When the upload is complete you can check the contents of the `downloadUrl` returned by the temporary file service. This should contain the image you uploaded.
## Using multi part upload
For any file greater than 100MB in size, such as a video, you will need to break the file into smaller chunks and upload it in parts using the `createTempFileMultipartUploadUrl` mutation.
`createTempFileMultipartUploadUrl` takes a `fileSize` parameter, the size in bytes of the file to be uploaded, as input. In the example shown below we are requesting to upload a 200MB file.
The following will be returned in the response:
- `downloadUrl` The URL of the uploaded file
- `completeUrl` The URL to send a POST request to when all parts of the file have been uploaded
- `uploadPartUrls` An array of URLs to upload each part of the file to using PUT requests.
- `minPartSize` The minimum size of the parts to be uploaded, in bytes
- `maxPartSize` The maximum size of the parts to be uploaded, in bytes
```graphql
mutation {
createTempFileMultipartUploadUrl(input: { filesize: 200000000 }) {
downloadUrl
completeUrl
uploadPartUrls
minPartSize
maxPartSize
}
}
```
To upload a file you need to:
- Split the file into parts. The size of each part must be between the `minPartSize` and `maxPartSize`. The minimum size of all but the last part is 5MB. The final part may be smaller.
- Upload each part of the file in sequence by sending a PUT request to each URL in the `uploadPartUrls` array in turn until all of the file is uploaded.
Note that the temporary URLs returned by `createTempFileMultipartUploadUrl` will expire after one hour.
> **Info:** When choosing the size of each section to upload you should consider the speed of your internet connection. Uploading smaller chunks will be more likely to succeed even on slow connections, while using larger chunks will be faster overall, but very large chunks will require a reliable, fast connection.
### Sending the complete request
To indicate that the upload is complete, send a POST request to the URL returned in `completeUrl`.
The body of the POST request is in XML format and should contain a list of all the parts uploaded. For each part you must include:
- The part number
- The ETag of the part returned in the response to the upload request OR one of the checksum fields. The checksum fields can be calculated manually.
An example of the partial body of the request is shown below.
```xml
integer
string
string
string
string
...
```
When the complete request is processed, the file is available at the `downloadUrl`. This URL can be passed to the [createAsset](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/apis/asset-management/overview/examples/#createasset---video) mutation to create the asset in Content Hub.
## Example: multi part upload using the temp file service
In this example we're uploading a video named `new-blog-post.mp4` with a file size of 11723249 bytes. We'll split the file into parts, upload each part, send the complete request and then create the video asset in Content Hub. This file is small enough to be uploaded in a single part, but we'll upload it in multiple parts to demonstrate the process.
### Generate multipart upload URLs
The `CreateMultipartUploadUrl` mutation is used to generate the upload URLs and the URL to use to send the complete request. When the upload is complete, `downloadUrl` is used with the `createAsset` mutation to add the asset to Content Hub.
```graphql
mutation CreateMultipartUploadUrl {
createTempFileMultipartUploadUrl(input: { filesize: 11723249 }) {
downloadUrl
completeUrl
uploadPartUrls
minPartSize
maxPartSize
}
}
```
#### Example response
We have truncated the URLs for readability, but the array of `uploadPartUrls` is shown below, together with the `completeUrl` and `downloadUrl`.
```json
{
"data": {
"createTempFileMultipartUploadUrl": {
"downloadUrl": "https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/7c9e0ee0-c8a7-4f30-aa49-ebf136be462a",
"completeUrl": "https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/7c9e0ee0-c8a7-4f30-aa49-ebf136be462a/WC1BbXotQWxnb3JpdGhtPUFXUzQtSE1BQy1TSEEyNTYmWC1BbXotQ29udGVudC1TaGEyNTY9VU5TSUdORUQtUEFZTE9BRCZYLUFtei1DcmVkZW50aWFsPUFTSUFSWlNPVlNXVUtPV05OQ1o0JTJGMjA…",
"uploadPartUrls": [
"https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/7c9e0ee0-c8a7-4f30-aa49-ebf136be462a/WC1BbXotQWxnb3JpdGhtPUFXUzQtSE1BQy1TSEEyNTYmWC1BbXotQ29udGVudC1TaGEyNTY9VU5TSUdORUQtUEFZTE9BRCZYLUFtei1DcmVkZW50aWFsPUFTSUFSWlNPVlNXVUtPV05OQ1o0JTJGMjA…",
"https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/7c9e0ee0-c8a7-4f30-aa49-ebf136be462a/WC1BbXotQWxnb3JpdGhtPUFXUzQtSE1BQy1TSEEyNTYmWC1BbXotQ29udGVudC1TaGEyNTY9VU5TSUdORUQtUEFZTE9BRCZYLUFtei1DcmVkZW50aWFsPUFTSUFSWlNPVlNXVUtPV05OQ1o0JTJGMjA…",
"https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/7c9e0ee0-c8a7-4f30-aa49-ebf136be462a/WC1BbXotQWxnb3JpdGhtPUFXUzQtSE1BQy1TSEEyNTYmWC1BbXotQ29udGVudC1TaGEyNTY9VU5TSUdORUQtUEFZTE9BRCZYLUFtei1DcmVkZW50aWFsPUFTSUFSWlNPVlNXVUtPV05OQ1o0JTJGMjA…"
],
"minPartSize": 5242880,
"maxPartSize": 2147483648
}
}
}
```
### Split the file into parts
The file needs to be split into parts for upload and for this example we use the `split` command on the command line. 5MB is used as size of each part. The final part will be smaller.
```
split -b 5M /Users/jonlansdell/Documents/new-blog-post.mp4
```
### Upload each part
To upload the file go through each URL in the `uploadPartUrls` array in turn and send a PUT request to the URL including the corresponding part of the file. In this example we'll use cURL to send a PUT request for each of the 3 parts of the file:
```
curl https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/7c9e0ee0-c8a7-4f30-aa49-ebf136be462a/truncatedpart1URL --upload-file /Users/jonlansdell/xaa -v
```
```
curl https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/7c9e0ee0-c8a7-4f30-aa49-ebf136be462a/truncatedpart2URL --upload-file /Users/jonlansdell/xab -v
```
```
curl https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/7c9e0ee0-c8a7-4f30-aa49-ebf136be462a/truncatedpart3URL --upload-file /Users/jonlansdell/xac -v
```
If a PUT request is successful the response will include the ETag for the uploaded part. This should be included in the complete request sent when all parts are uploaded:
```
< HTTP/2 200
< date: Wed, 04 Sep 2024 11:26:29 GMT
< etag: "97ce90fa408e189f31d7aeb6204c9ea1"
```
The ETags returned in the response to each request in this example are as follows:
Part 1- 625c1805577b471034e03f28c5620eff
Part 2- f78130fcaf6bd8e1e215482f22b0bbdd
Part 3- 97ce90fa408e189f31d7aeb6204c9ea1
### Send the complete request
When each part of the file has been uploaded send a POST request to the URL returned in `completeUrl`.
`POST https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/truncatedcompleteUrl`
The body of the request must be in XML format and include either an ETag for each part of the file, or a checksum that you generate.
Using those ETags, the XML sent in the body of the complete request is as follows:
```xml
1
625c1805577b471034e03f28c5620eff
2
f78130fcaf6bd8e1e215482f22b0bbdd
3
97ce90fa408e189f31d7aeb6204c9ea1
```
### Create the asset in Content Hub
Once the complete request has been sent and 200 response is received, the `downloadUrl` returned by `CreateMultipartUploadUrl` can be used to add the asset to Content Hub. `downloadUrl` should be included in the `src` parameter. See [examples](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/apis/asset-management/overview/examples/) for more details.
```graphql
mutation {
createAsset(
input: {
name: "new-blog-post"
type: VIDEO
filename: "new-blog-post.mp4"
src: "https://temp-file-upload.amplience.net/7c9e0ee0-c8a7-4f30-aa49-ebf136be462a"
assetRepositoryId: "QXNzZXRSZXBvc2l0b3J5OmU3Mjc0ZTI0LWQ0MzEtNGY2Yi05YzFiLTQwMDZmYjUwOWIxOQ=="
}
) {
id
}
}
```