# Django \`ImageFile.read()\` raises \`bytes object has no attribute read\`

**URL:** <https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/django-imagefile-read-raises-bytes-object-has-no-attribute-read/20786>\
**Category:** Using the ORM\
**Created:** [May 8, 2023, 5:17am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/django-imagefile-read-raises-bytes-object-has-no-attribute-read/20786 "2023-05-08T05:17:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nekidev](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/nekidev/32/11968_2.png) [@Nekidev](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/Nekidev)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 5:17am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/django-imagefile-read-raises-bytes-object-has-no-attribute-read/20786/1 "2023-05-08T05:17:04Z")

</div>

This is the model I’m using:

```py
from django import models

class Image(models.Model):
    file = models.ImageField(upload_to='uploads/images/')

```

Now, if I do `image.file.read()` I get `AttributeError: 'bytes' object has no attribute 'read'`

```py
>>> from images.models import Image
>>> img = Image.objects.first()
>>> img.file.read()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<console>", line 1, in <module>
  File "...\.venv\lib\site-packages\django\core\files\utils.py", line 42, in <lambda>
    read = property(lambda self: self.file.read)
  File "...\.venv\lib\site-packages\django\core\files\utils.py", line 42, in <lambda>
    read = property(lambda self: self.file.read)
AttributeError: 'bytes' object has no attribute 'read'

```

`image.file.file` returns a `bytes` object and not a `File` object. I’m using Django 4.2.1 with python 3.10.7.

The following piece of code solves it, but is not a viable workaround.

```py
import io

from images.models import Image

img = Image.objects.first()
img.file.file.file = io.BytesIO(img.file.file.file)

img.file.read() # Runs without errors

```

I believe that `image.file.file.file` should be a `File` object but it is returning a `bytes` object instead. Is there something I’m missing?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jerch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/jerch/32/13571_2.png) [@jerch](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/jerch)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 8:50am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/django-imagefile-read-raises-bytes-object-has-no-attribute-read/20786/2 "2023-05-08T08:50:14Z")

</div>

What is the raw value for that entry in the database? Normally it should only contain the file path string, which the storage engine needs to locate the file to do the file API stuff underneath. It seems that you somehow ended up providing the file’s byte directly into the database. How did you populate that file entry, is there any custom logic involved (custom storage engine, a custom script creating it by other means)?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nekidev](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/nekidev/32/11968_2.png) [@Nekidev](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/Nekidev)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/django-imagefile-read-raises-bytes-object-has-no-attribute-read/20786/3 "2023-05-08T13:11:12Z")

</div>

The raw DB value is `uploads/images/I2524DIFKRDKPHQ3W4AZY6WW2U.webp`, the path to the file in my project’s storage. I’m using `https://github.com/willmeyers/django-bunny-storage` with an overriden `url` method.

```py
from images.models import Image

img = Image.objects.first()

img.file # <ImageFile: uploads/images/I2524DIFKRDKPHQ3W4AZY6WW2U.webp>
img.file.file # <File: None>
img.file.file.file # b'\x...'

```

The records were created using both the admin site and a custom `django-admin` command. This happens with all models where there is an `ImageField`.

The project’s source code is in [GitHub](https://github.com/Nekos-API/Nekos-API/tree/main/api).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nekidev](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/nekidev/32/11968_2.png) [@Nekidev](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/Nekidev)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/django-imagefile-read-raises-bytes-object-has-no-attribute-read/20786/4 "2023-05-08T18:16:16Z")

</div>

After checking my storage library’s code, I found that the error was in the library itself.

```py
from django.core.file import File

import requests

class BunnyStorage(Storage):
    def _open(self, name, mode='rb'): 
        resp = requests.get(self.base_url + name, headers=self.headers)

        if resp.status_code == 404: 
            raise ValueError('File not found.')

        return File(resp.content)

```

After replacing `File` with `io.BytesIO` (which is a file-like object) the error stopped being raised.