title: Download a file in Laravel using a URL to external resource
body: <p>I'm keeping all uploads on a custom, external drive. The files are being stored via custom API. </p>
  
  <p>In Laravel 5.2, I can do this for a local file to download it:</p>
  
  <pre><code>return response()-&gt;download('path/to/file/image.jpg');
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Unfortunately, when I pass a URL instead of a path, Laravel throws an error:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>The file "<a href="https://my-cdn.com/files/image.jpg" rel="noreferrer">https://my-cdn.com/files/image.jpg</a>" does not exist</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>(the URL is a dummy of course).</p>
  
  <p>Is there any way I can download the <strong>image.jpg</strong> file using Laravel's implementation or do I do this with plain PHP instead?</p>