Support arbitrary file objects for .download_file() and update README

README.rst

@@ -138,6 +138,10 @@ disconnects the client.
 Another common one is the ``RPCError``, which usually has descriptive information on what went wrong.
 However, you may encounter something strange. If you don't manage to solve it, please open an issue.
 
+Unless you know what you're doing, you should download media by always using the ``.download_file()``
+function, which supports a ``str`` or a file handle as parameters. Otherwise, ``.invoke()`` may raise
+``InvalidDCError`` which you will have to handle, and in turn call ``.invoke_on_dc()`` manually.
+
 Advanced uses
 =============
 
@@ -241,9 +245,3 @@ Once this is done, pass the proxy settings to the ``TelegramClient`` constructor
 
 The ``proxy=`` argument should be a tuple, a list or a dict, consisting of parameters described
 `here <https://github.com/Anorov/PySocks#usage-1>`_.
-
-Disclaimer
-==========
-
-This project was originally an implementation from TLSharp (a C# library for the Telegram API),
-but since then, the project has evolved a lot on its own.

telethon/telegram_bare_client.py

@@ -283,11 +283,11 @@ class TelegramBareClient:
 
     def download_file(self,
                       input_location,
-                      file_path,
+                      file,
                       part_size_kb=None,
                       file_size=None,
                       progress_callback=None):
-        """Downloads the given InputFileLocation to file_path.
+        """Downloads the given InputFileLocation to file (a stream or str).
 
            If 'progress_callback' is not None, it should be a function that
            takes two parameters, (bytes_downloaded, total_bytes). Note that
@@ -303,11 +303,15 @@ class TelegramBareClient:
         if part_size % 1024 != 0:
             raise ValueError('The part size must be evenly divisible by 1024.')
 
-        # Ensure that we'll be able to download the media
+        if isinstance(file, str):
-        utils.ensure_parent_dir_exists(file_path)
+            # Ensure that we'll be able to download the media
+            utils.ensure_parent_dir_exists(file)
+            f = open(file, 'wb')
+        else:
+            f = file
 
-        offset_index = 0
+        try:
-        with open(file_path, 'wb') as file:
+            offset_index = 0
             while True:
                 offset = offset_index * part_size
                 result = self.invoke(
@@ -319,8 +323,11 @@ class TelegramBareClient:
                 if not result.bytes:
                     return result.type  # Return some extra information
 
-                file.write(result.bytes)
+                f.write(result.bytes)
                 if progress_callback:
-                    progress_callback(file.tell(), file_size)
+                    progress_callback(f.tell(), file_size)
+        finally:
+            if isinstance(file, str):
+                f.close()
 
     # endregion

telethon/telegram_client.py

@@ -723,16 +723,22 @@ class TelegramClient(TelegramBareClient):
 
     def download_file(self,
                       input_location,
-                      file_path,
+                      file,
                       part_size_kb=None,
                       file_size=None,
                       progress_callback=None,
                       on_dc=None):
+        """Downloads the given InputFileLocation to file (a stream or str).
+
+           If 'progress_callback' is not None, it should be a function that
+           takes two parameters, (bytes_downloaded, total_bytes). Note that
+           'total_bytes' simply equals 'file_size', and may be None.
+        """
         if on_dc is None:
             try:
                 super(TelegramClient, self).download_file(
                     input_location,
-                    file_path,
+                    file,
                     part_size_kb=part_size_kb,
                     file_size=file_size,
                     progress_callback=progress_callback
@@ -744,7 +750,7 @@ class TelegramClient(TelegramBareClient):
             client = self._get_exported_client(on_dc)
             client.download_file(
                 input_location,
-                file_path,
+                file,
                 part_size_kb=part_size_kb,
                 file_size=file_size,
                 progress_callback=progress_callback