# Using send\_file and handling browser side cacheing **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [March 8, 2007, 11:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-send-file-and-handling-browser-side-cacheing/88128 "2007-03-08T11:49:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mezza](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@mezza](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mezza)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 11:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-send-file-and-handling-browser-side-cacheing/88128/1 "2007-03-08T11:49:31Z")
I’m using send\_file to send rather large SWF files that I’d prefer the end browser to cache to reduce my bandwidth usage. I’ve used the method suggested by madrobby ([http://mir.aculo.us/](http://mir.aculo.us/) 2005/08/28/internet-explorer-and-ajax-image-caching-woes) to try to catch the HTTP\_IF\_MODIFIED\_SINCE request header, and then return HTTP 304 if necessary. However, this only seems to work reliably with Firefox and IE7, and not Safari. Oddly, even with Firefox, I don’t actually see the HTTP 304 response in my lighttpd logs though. Does anyone know of a practical solution to this? FYI, I’m using lighttpd with FCGI instances of my rails app. TIA, Mezza