File to byte[] in Java

As someone said, Apache Commons File Utils might have what you are looking for

public static byte[] readFileToByteArray(File file) throws IOException

Example use (Program.java):

import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
public class Program {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        File file = new File(args[0]);  // assume args[0] is the path to file
        byte[] data = FileUtils.readFileToByteArray(file);
        ...
    }
}

If you want to read bytes into a pre-allocated byte buffer, this answer may help.

Your first guess would probably be to use InputStream read(byte[]). However, this method has a flaw that makes it unreasonably hard to use: there is no guarantee that the array will actually be completely filled, even if no EOF is encountered.

Instead, take a look at DataInputStream readFully(byte[]). This is a wrapper for input streams, and does not have the above mentioned issue. Additionally, this method throws when EOF is encountered. Much nicer.

Let me add another solution without using third-party libraries. It re-uses an exception handling pattern that was proposed by Scott (link). And I moved the ugly part into a separate message (I would hide in some FileUtils class ;) )

public void someMethod() {
    final byte[] buffer = read(new File("test.txt"));
}

private byte[] read(final File file) {
    if (file.isDirectory())
        throw new RuntimeException("Unsupported operation, file "
                + file.getAbsolutePath() + " is a directory");
    if (file.length() > Integer.MAX_VALUE)
        throw new RuntimeException("Unsupported operation, file "
                + file.getAbsolutePath() + " is too big");

    Throwable pending = null;
    FileInputStream in = null;
    final byte buffer[] = new byte[(int) file.length()];
    try {
        in = new FileInputStream(file);
        in.read(buffer);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        pending = new RuntimeException("Exception occured on reading file "
                + file.getAbsolutePath(), e);
    } finally {
        if (in != null) {
            try {
                in.close();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                if (pending == null) {
                    pending = new RuntimeException(
                        "Exception occured on closing file" 
                             + file.getAbsolutePath(), e);
                }
            }
        }
        if (pending != null) {
            throw new RuntimeException(pending);
        }
    }
    return buffer;
}