Fix uploading files using fetch and multipart/form-data
New Courses Coming Soon
Join the waiting lists
I had a form that accepted a file and some fields and I wanted to send this data to the server through the Fetch API, like this (React code):
<form
encType='multipart/form-data'
action='/api/post'
method='POST'
onSubmit={async (e) => {
e.preventDefault()
if (!title) {
alert('Enter a title')
return
}
if (!content && !image) {
alert('Enter some text in the post')
return
}
const body = new FormData()
body.append('image', image)
body.append('title', title)
body.append('content', content)
const res = await fetch('/api/post', {
body,
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'Content-Type': 'multipart/form-data',
},
})
}}
>
...
</form>
I had a problem. The files data was not actually sent to the server.
The solution was this: you must NOT set the headers.
I did set the multipart/form-data
header as that’s what you do with files upload, but apparently that’s what is breaking the file upload through fetch.
Remove the headers from the fetch
request and things should be working.
→ Get my JavaScript Beginner's Handbook
→ Read my
JavaScript Tutorials
on The Valley of Code
→ Read my
TypeScript Tutorial
on The Valley of Code
Here is how can I help you:
- COURSES where I teach everything I know
- CODING BOOTCAMP cohort course - next edition in 2025
- THE VALLEY OF CODE your web development manual
- BOOKS 17 coding ebooks you can download for free on JS Python C PHP and lots more
- Interesting links collection
- Follow me on X