MVC : Display Image From Byte Array

In this tutorial, I am going to explain how to display image from a byte array in ASP.NET MVC using C# .NET and VB.NET. 

1. Open Visual Studio and create a new MVC project.
2. Once the project is loaded, right-click on Controllers folder and add a new Controller.
3. Create Images folder in your project and add a sample image.
4. Now, open the DemoController and add GetImageFromByteArray action method.
5. Within the action method, place the code given below (Below, I have given the entire Controller code).

C#.NET Code

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace DemoProject.Controllers
{
    public class DemoController : Controller
    {
        // GET: Demo/GetImageFromByteArray
        public ActionResult GetImageFromByteArray()
        {
            // Get image path
            string imgPath = Server.MapPath("~/images/self-discipline.png");
            // Convert image to byte array
            byte[] byteData = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(imgPath);
            //Convert byte arry to base64string
            string imreBase64Data = Convert.ToBase64String(byteData);
            string imgDataURL = string.Format("data:image/png;base64,{0}", imreBase64Data);
            //Passing image data in viewbag to view
            ViewBag.ImageData = imgDataURL;
            return View();
        }
    }
}

VB.NET Code

Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Linq
Imports System.Web
Imports System.Web.Mvc

Namespace DemoProject.Controllers
    Public Class DemoController
        Inherits Controller
        ' GET: Demo/Image
        Public Function GetImageFromByteArray() As ActionResult
            ' Get image path
            Dim imgPath As String = Server.MapPath("~/images/self-discipline.png")
            ' Convert image to byte array
            Dim byteData As Byte() = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(imgPath)
            'Convert byte arry to base64string
            Dim imreBase64Data As String = Convert.ToBase64String(byteData)
            Dim imgDataURL As String = String.Format("data:image/png;base64,{0}", imreBase64Data)
            'Passing image data in viewbag to view
            ViewBag.ImageData = imgDataURL
            Return View()
        End Function
    End Class
End Namespace

Now, let me explain what is there in the code.

1. I read the image from the folder into an imgPath local variable.
2. In the second step, I have converted the image into a byte array using ReadAllBytes method.
3. And then, I have converted the byte array into base 64 string format using Convert.ToBase64String method.
4. Now, I have appended data:image/png;base64 at the beginning of base64 string so that the browser knows that the src attribute value itself contains the image data.
5. Finally, I have assigned this image data in the ViewBag and returned it to the View.

Now, add a new View to GetImageFromByteArray action method. And, add an image view. We can directly assign the image data from ViewBag to src attribute of the image tag like below.

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Asp.Net MVC Display image from byte array";
}

<h2>Asp.Net MVC Display image from byte array</h2>
<img src="@ViewBag.ImageData">

Output

Now, if you run the program, you can see the output of how to display the image from the byte array.



Now, if you look into the source of the page, you can see the base 64 string rendered as an image.

Conclusion

I hope you learned how to display the image f the om byte array in MVC. Please post your comments and feedback below.