title: How to return binary data instead of base64 encoded byte[] in spring mvc rest controller
body: <p>I want to return a generated pdf file via spring-mvc-rest controller. This is a shortened version of the code I'm currently using:</p>
  
  <pre><code>@RestController
  @RequestMapping("/x")
  public class XController {
      @RequestMapping(value = "/", method = RequestMethod.GET)
      public ResponseEntity&lt;byte[]&gt; find() throws IOException {
          byte[] pdf = createPdf();
  
          HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
          headers.setContentType(new MediaType("application", "pdf"));
          headers.setContentDispositionFormData("attachment", "x.pdf");
          headers.setContentLength(pdf.length);
          return new ResponseEntity&lt;byte[]&gt;(pdf, headers, HttpStatus.OK);
      }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This works almost fine, it just to return the actual byte array as base64 encoded :(</p>
  
  <pre><code>curl -i 'http://127.0.0.1:8080/app/x'
  
  Server: Apache-Coyote/1.1
  Content-Disposition: form-data; name="attachment"; filename=x.pdf"
  Content-Type: application/pdf
  Content-Length: 138654
  Date: Fri, 08 Jan 2016 11:25:38 GMT
  
  "JVBERi0xLjYNJeLjz9MNCjMyNCAwIG9iag [...]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>(btw. the response doesn't even contain a closing <code>"</code> :)</p>
  
  <p>Any hints appreciated!</p>