Thread

I am looking for a way that I can force people to download an MP3 off of a link rather than streaming it through a browser plugin. Right now I have the link set up as a direct link but when you click on it the browser opens the file instead of downloading it. Any thoughts on how I can force this to happen, let me know, thanks!

Have a look at the Download Helper in CodeIgniter.  It wouldn’t be a straight cut and paste, as it has a dependancy on the CI mime type file, but the basic process is the same: read the file with PHP, and then send it with an attachment Content-Disposition with binary encoding.

Alternatively you could take a look at the LinkLocker module that Brad made a while ago. A really neat addition to ExpressionEngine if you don’t want to code something yourself.

The LinkLocker Module seems to be what I need but it seems to be masking too well. Once the file downloads it gives me a very long file name and doesn’t know what type of file it is. I am trying to do this with mp3’s off of a libsyn podcast broadcast. Take a look here: http://www.lcbcchurch.com/splash2 and navigate to the listen tab. Then try and click on the PC link for the podcast named “Just Ask - Guest Speaker”. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciate, thanks!

Please disregard my last message…I was too trigger happy on the post. LinLocker is working great, thanks!

Please disregard my last message…I was too trigger happy on the post. LinLocker is working great, thanks!

Excellent news. It really is a great addition that one.

Sounds like you have it sorted now, but If you just want the file to download and aren’t bothered about people knowing the url of the file the simplest way would be to add something like this to your htaccess file

AddType application/octet-stream .mp3

That would force files ending in .mp3 that are linked to, to download; if they are embedded they will still play.

edit: fixed typo

Would this htaccess code work for .aif and .wav files as well?

Yes would work fine. I think you can just add them onto the end, so it would be

AddType application/octet-stream .mp3 .aif .wav .pdf

If that doesn’t work just put each one on a new line

AddType application/octet-stream .mp3
AddType application/octet-stream .aif
AddType application/octet-stream .wav
AddType application/octet-stream .pdf

Works perfectly. Thank you.

I was able to force downloads with .htaccess rules. I placed these rules in my .htaccess file in the root:

<Files *.png>
ForceType application/octet-stream
Header set Content-Disposition attachment
</ Files>

Sounds like you have it sorted now, but If you just want the file to download and aren’t bothered about people knowing the url of the file the simplest way would be to add something like this to your htaccess file

Is there any particular place that I need to put them within the .htaccess file…for some reason it isn’t working.