Telegram Bot File Storage

The Telegram Bot API is great at moving messages and terrible at being a file store. getFile returns a file_path that's valid for roughly an hour, so the thing you'd actually put in a database — a stable download URL — doesn't exist. What you get is a file_id, which is a reference, not a link, and it's bound to your specific bot token: rotate the token or migrate to a new bot and every saved file_id becomes dead weight.

On top of that, getFile downloads are capped at 20 MB and uploads at 50 MB, so anything chunky simply can't round-trip through the Bot API.

The durable pattern is to treat Telegram as the inbox and files.link as the warehouse. When a user sends a document or photo, download it once via the bot, push the bytes through the files.link three-call upload, and persist the permanent CDN URL against the user or chat id. That URL outlives token rotations, bot migrations, and the file_path expiry window, and serves from edge locations worldwide when you reference it elsewhere.

A python-telegram-bot handler:

async def handle_file(update, context):
    tg_file = await update.message.document.get_file()
    data = bytes(await tg_file.download_as_bytearray())
    name = update.message.document.file_name
    # 1) POST /v1/files/{folderId} -> { urls: [{ url, id }] }
    meta = api_post(f"/v1/files/{FOLDER}",
                    {"filesMetadata": [{"name": name}]})
    url, fid = meta["urls"][0]["url"], meta["urls"][0]["id"]
    requests.put(url, data=data)               # 2) PUT bytes
    api_post("/v1/files/confirm-upload", {"ids": [fid]})  # 3) confirm
    save_for_user(update.effective_user.id, cdn_url_for(fid))
    await update.message.reply_text("Saved permanently.")

The Authorization header is your raw API key. To send a stored file back, you don't re-upload bytes — hand Telegram the CDN URL directly: await context.bot.send_photo(chat_id, photo=cdn_url) or send_document(chat_id, document=cdn_url), and Telegram fetches it from the edge itself. For files larger than the 50 MB Bot API cap, reply with a CDN link instead of pushing bytes; the user taps it and the browser downloads from the nearest edge. For private files, mint a fresh signed URL (10-minute expiry) immediately before the send.