How to have jQuery restrict file types on upload?

I would like to have jQuery limit a file upload field to only jpg/jpeg, png, and gif. I am doing backend checking with PHP already. I am running my submit button through a JavaScript function already so I really just need to know how to check for the file types before submit or alert.

You can get the value of a file field just the same as any other field. You can't alter it, however.

So to superficially check if a file has the right extension, you could do something like this:

var ext = $('#my_file_field').val().split('.').pop().toLowerCase();
if($.inArray(ext, ['gif','png','jpg','jpeg']) == -1) {
    alert('invalid extension!');
}

No plugin necessary for just this task. Cobbled this together from a couple other scripts:

$('INPUT[type="file"]').change(function () {
    var ext = this.value.match(/\.(.+)$/)[1];
    switch (ext) {
        case 'jpg':
        case 'jpeg':
        case 'png':
        case 'gif':
            $('#uploadButton').attr('disabled', false);
            break;
        default:
            alert('This is not an allowed file type.');
            this.value = '';
    }
});

The trick here is to set the upload button to disabled unless and until a valid file type is selected.

You could use the validation plugin for jQuery: http://docs.jquery.com/Plugins/Validation

It happens to have an accept() rule that does exactly what you need: http://docs.jquery.com/Plugins/Validation/Methods/accept#extension

Note that controlling file extension is not bullet proof since it is in no way related to the mimetype of the file. So you could have a .png that's a word document and a .doc that's a perfectly valid png image. So don't forget to make more controls server-side ;)

For the front-end it is pretty convenient to put 'accept' attribute if you are using a file field.

Example:

<input id="file" type="file" name="file" size="30" 
       accept="image/jpg,image/png,image/jpeg,image/gif" 
/>

A couple of important notes:

• The accept attribute is supported in Internet Explorer 10, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari 6.
• It will show text for file extension differently in the file browser dialog from different browsers.

Don't want to check rather on MIME than on whatever extention the user is lying? If so then it's less than one line:

<input type="file" id="userfile" accept="image/*|video/*" required />

for my case i used the following codes :

    if (!(/\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|tiff|png)$/i).test(fileName)) {	            
    alert('You must select an image file only');	           
    }

I try to write working code example, I test it and everything works.

Hare is code:

HTML:

<input type="file" class="attachment_input" name="file" onchange="checkFileSize(this, @Model.MaxSize.ToString(),@Html.Raw(Json.Encode(Model.FileExtensionsList)))" />

Javascript:

 //function for check attachment size and extention match
function checkFileSize(element, maxSize, extentionsArray) {
    var val = $(element).val(); //get file value

    var ext = val.substring(val.lastIndexOf('.') + 1).toLowerCase(); // get file extention 
    if ($.inArray(ext, extentionsArray) == -1) {
        alert('false extension!');
    }
    
    var fileSize = ($(element)[0].files[0].size / 1024 / 1024); //size in MB
    if (fileSize > maxSize) {
        alert("Large file");// if Maxsize from Model > real file size alert this
    }
}

If you're dealing with multiple (html 5) file uploads, I took the top suggested comment and modified it a little:

    var files = $('#file1')[0].files;
    var len = $('#file1').get(0).files.length;

    for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {

        f = files[i];

        var ext = f.name.split('.').pop().toLowerCase();
        if ($.inArray(ext, ['gif', 'png', 'jpg', 'jpeg']) == -1) {
            alert('invalid extension!');
           
        }
    }

This code works fine, but the only issue is if the file format is other than specified options, it shows an alert message but it displays the file name while it should be neglecting it.

$('#ff2').change(
                function () {
                    var fileExtension = ['jpeg', 'jpg', 'pdf'];
                    if ($.inArray($(this).val().split('.').pop().toLowerCase(), fileExtension) == -1) {
                        alert("Only '.jpeg','.jpg','.pdf' formats are allowed.");
                        return false; }
});

This example allows to upload PNG image only.

HTML

<input type="file" class="form-control" id="FileUpload1" accept="image/png" />

JS

$('#FileUpload1').change(
                function () {
                    var fileExtension = ['png'];
                    if ($.inArray($(this).val().split('.').pop().toLowerCase(), fileExtension) == -1) {
                        alert("Only '.png' format is allowed.");
                        this.value = ''; // Clean field
                        return false;
                    }
                });

<form enctype="multipart/form-data">
   <input name="file" type="file" />
   <input type="submit" value="Upload" />
</form>
<script>
$('input[type=file]').change(function(){
    var file = this.files[0];
    name = file.name;
    size = file.size;
    type = file.type;
    //your validation
});
</script>

    $("input[name='btnsubmit']").attr('disabled', true);
	$('input[name="filphoto"]').change(function () {
	var ext = this.value.match(/\.(.+)$/)[1];
	switch (ext) 
	{
	case 'jpg':
	case 'jpeg':
	case 'png':
	case 'bmp':
		$("input[name='btnsubmit']").attr('disabled', false);
	break;
	default:
		alert('This is not an allowed file type.');
		$("input[name='btnsubmit']").attr('disabled', true);
		this.value = '';

function validateFileExtensions(){
        var validFileExtensions = ["jpg", "jpeg", "gif", "png"];
        var fileErrors = new Array();

        $( "input:file").each(function(){
            var file = $(this).value;
            var ext = file.split('.').pop();
            if( $.inArray( ext, validFileExtensions ) == -1) {
                fileErrors.push(file);
            }
        });

        if( fileErrors.length > 0 ){
            var errorContainer = $("#validation-errors");
            for(var i=0; i < fileErrors.length; i++){
                errorContainer.append('<label for="title" class="error">* File:'+ file +' do not have a valid format!</label>');
            }
            return false;
        }
        return true;
    }

Here is a simple code for javascript validation, and after it validates it will clean the input file.

<input type="file" id="image" accept="image/*" onChange="validate(this.value)"/>

function validate(file) {
	var ext = file.split(".");
	ext = ext[ext.length-1].toLowerCase();    	
	var arrayExtensions = ["jpg" , "jpeg", "png", "bmp", "gif"];

	if (arrayExtensions.lastIndexOf(ext) == -1) {
		alert("Wrong extension type.");
		$("#image").val("");
	}
}