Website with .acsm link is opening as XML page when should download
Hello,
I have a website that has links to download Adobe DRM files (.acsm). In Chrome, Internet Explorer and Edge when you click the file button it downloads an .acsm file and opens in Adobe Digital Editions. In Firefox v63.0 it opens as an xml page in the browser.
I've checked the Firefox Applications Settings and I don't have .acsm listed as a file type so can't change the Application type and Firefox is not prompting me to add .acsm and select an action when I click on the button so I don't have a chance to set a file type action either. I have already reset Firefox back to default and that made no difference.
I can't work out why other browsers on devices I've tested on download this file correctly but Mozilla doesn't - I hoping someone here can tell me and point me in the right direction for a fix!
Thanks, Tania
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Hi Tania, as a temporary workaround, can you use right-click > Save Link As... on the download link/button?
Firefox usually will download a file if it is a content type that cannot be displayed in a tab. On the other hand, if the server is telling Firefox that a .acsm file is XML text, then Firefox may simply display it. This information usually is conveyed in the Content-Type header sent with the file.
The content type often is echoed on the Page Info dialog, which you can call up on the page using either:
- right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info
- (menu bar) Tools > Page Info
The third line usually is Type -- what does Firefox show there?
Hi *waves*,
Unfortunately "right click and save" is turned off so isn't an option is this case. Appreciate the lateral thinking - I'm 100% up for a workaround if there is one.
The content header on the page reads mimetypeapplication/epub+zipPK???���?���,I�?˧��������?���META-INF/container.xml]
The page info is telling me that it's "Text Type" = text / plain
Hi Tania, the Content-Type header that Firefox checks is sent before the actual file; Firefox doesn't read inside files for that information.
"text/plain" is often what servers send when they don't know what to say about a particular file extension. It's the fallback. So the ultimate solution would be for the server to sent a different content type header for .acsm files. Not sure if you have any influence with them on this question.
Meanwhile, this is hard to work around on our end as users. There are some add-ons that claim to be able to modify headers before Firefox processes them, but I haven't tested any of them myself and they look a bit complicated to set up.
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/search/?platform=windows&q=response%20header&type=extension
Much appreciate the links.
I'll take a look at the addons and see if I can set one of them up to get round this.
Thank you very much for your advice and pointers.
Hi Tania, I created an extension that I hope will help with this problem. I suggest leaving it off until you run into a problem, and only turning it on (using its toolbar button) while you are downloading files that need it. Otherwise, because it intercepts every response from every web server, it may slow down your browsing.
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/content-type-fixer/
If you try it, let me know how it goes.
That is awesomely kind of you, thank you!
I will give it a try and let you know how it goes.