How to load files when stored OUTSIDE public folder

[eluser]Jelmer[/eluser]
I use readfile() for this goal. I'm not entirely sure but I think it's more efficient. readfile() writes the file's contents directly to the output buffer while file_get_contents() first reads it into PHP and then has to write it through PHP. Which I'd guess is less efficient.

The same code using readfile():

Code:

$details = getimagesize($path . '/' .  $image);
header ('Content-Type: ' . $details['mime']);
readfile($path . '/'  . $image);
exit;