How do I send a file in Android from a mobile device to server using http?

In android, how do I send a file(data) from a mobile device to server using http.

Easy, you can use a Post request and submit your file as binary (byte array).

String url = "http://yourserver";
File file = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath(),
		"yourfile");
try {
	HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();

	HttpPost httppost = new HttpPost(url);

	InputStreamEntity reqEntity = new InputStreamEntity(
			new FileInputStream(file), -1);
	reqEntity.setContentType("binary/octet-stream");
	reqEntity.setChunked(true); // Send in multiple parts if needed
	httppost.setEntity(reqEntity);
	HttpResponse response = httpclient.execute(httppost);
	//Do something with response...

} catch (Exception e) {
	// show error
}

This can be done with a HTTP Post request to the server:

HttpClient http = AndroidHttpClient.newInstance("MyApp");
HttpPost method = new HttpPost("http://url-to-server");

method.setEntity(new FileEntity(new File("path-to-file"), "application/octet-stream"));

HttpResponse response = http.execute(method);

the most effective method is to use android-async-http

You can use this code to upload a file:

// gather your request parameters
File myFile = new File("/path/to/file.png");
RequestParams params = new RequestParams();
try {
    params.put("profile_picture", myFile);
} catch(FileNotFoundException e) {}

// send request
AsyncHttpClient client = new AsyncHttpClient();
client.post(url, params, new AsyncHttpResponseHandler() {
    @Override
    public void onSuccess(int statusCode, Header[] headers, byte[] bytes) {
        // handle success response
    }

    @Override
    public void onFailure(int statusCode, Header[] headers, byte[] bytes, Throwable throwable) {
        // handle failure response
    }
});

Note that you can put this code directly into your main Activity, no need to create a background Task explicitly. AsyncHttp will take care of that for you!

Wrap it all up in an Async task to avoid threading errors.

public class AsyncHttpPostTask extends AsyncTask<File, Void, String> {

	private static final String TAG = AsyncHttpPostTask.class.getSimpleName();
	private String server;

	public AsyncHttpPostTask(final String server) {
		this.server = server;
	}

	@Override
	protected String doInBackground(File... params) {
		Log.d(TAG, "doInBackground");
		HttpClient http = AndroidHttpClient.newInstance("MyApp");
		HttpPost method = new HttpPost(this.server);
		method.setEntity(new FileEntity(params[0], "text/plain"));
		try {
			HttpResponse response = http.execute(method);
			BufferedReader rd = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
					response.getEntity().getContent()));
			final StringBuilder out = new StringBuilder();
			String line;
			try {
				while ((line = rd.readLine()) != null) {
					out.append(line);
				}
			} catch (Exception e) {}
			// wr.close();
			try {
				rd.close();
			} catch (IOException e) {
				e.printStackTrace();
			}
			// final String serverResponse = slurp(is);
			Log.d(TAG, "serverResponse: " + out.toString());
		} catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (IOException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
		return null;
	}
}

the most effective method is to use org.apache.http.entity.mime.MultipartEntity;

see this code from the link using org.apache.http.entity.mime.MultipartEntity;

public class SimplePostRequestTest3 {

  /**
   * @param args
   */
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
    HttpPost httppost = new HttpPost("http://localhost:8080/HTTP_TEST_APP/index.jsp");

    try {
      FileBody bin = new FileBody(new File("C:/ABC.txt"));
      StringBody comment = new StringBody("BETHECODER HttpClient Tutorials");

      MultipartEntity reqEntity = new MultipartEntity();
      reqEntity.addPart("fileup0", bin);
      reqEntity.addPart("fileup1", comment);
      
      reqEntity.addPart("ONE", new StringBody("11111111"));
      reqEntity.addPart("TWO", new StringBody("222222222"));
      httppost.setEntity(reqEntity);

      System.out.println("Requesting : " + httppost.getRequestLine());
      ResponseHandler<String> responseHandler = new BasicResponseHandler();
      String responseBody = httpclient.execute(httppost, responseHandler);

      System.out.println("responseBody : " + responseBody);

    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    } finally {
      httpclient.getConnectionManager().shutdown();
    }
  }

}

##Added:

Example Link

For anyone still trying, you could try with retrofit2 this link.