ZIP Files Downloading as PDFs
Background: I'm currently tutoring full-time, and the site I use allows tutors to download the session afterward as a .zip folder. In the past this has been incredibly helpful, because it allows me to review my lessons and improve my planning.
Current Issue: For some reason Firefox now appears to be misinterpreting these ZIP files as PDFs. When I begin the download, Firefox gives me the option to either open (as PDF) in Firefox, or to download. At this point (before any download occurs) Firefox has already labeled the file as a PDF. If I open it in Firefox, obviously it doesn't work (being a .zip folder.) If I download it, Windows Explorer usually lets me explore it as a .zip folder, but recently, about 10% of the files I download (even if I never open them as a PDF) still download as a PDF and are therefore inaccessible.
Fixes: I've tried downloading instead of opening with Firefox. This works about 90-95% of the time; not sure what the issue is. I've tried re-assigning the file type in Windows Explorer, to no avail. I've adjusted Firefox preferences (from "always ask" to "use Windows Explorer.") I'm not sure this will help, but will try.
Any advice? I hate to sound fussy, but I'm pretty meticulous about saving my lessons and hate losing that much data on my students. While I can save each file independently, it takes much longer. Thank you!
Modified by ajic.ajic
Chosen solution
This is strange, Firefox shouldn't treat a download as a PDF unless a site sends
Content-Type: application/pdf
As long as the site is sending the ZIP content type, Firefox should take it at its word.
That said, even if Firefox modifies the file extension, the internal file format remains ZIP. Have you tried renaming the saved file from whatever.pdf to whatever.zip to see whether that allows it to be opened? If your Windows hides common file extensions, you can turn that off and have it show you all file extensions for easier renaming. This article has the steps:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-show-file-extensions-in-windows/
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What do you have set here? see screenshot
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This is strange, Firefox shouldn't treat a download as a PDF unless a site sends
Content-Type: application/pdf
As long as the site is sending the ZIP content type, Firefox should take it at its word.
That said, even if Firefox modifies the file extension, the internal file format remains ZIP. Have you tried renaming the saved file from whatever.pdf to whatever.zip to see whether that allows it to be opened? If your Windows hides common file extensions, you can turn that off and have it show you all file extensions for easier renaming. This article has the steps:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-show-file-extensions-in-windows/
jonzn4SUSE said
What do you have set here? see screenshot
I don't believe I have that particular option. On that page I appear to have 2 relevant rows: Compressed (zipped) Folder: set to Use Windows Explorer (default) ZIP file: set to Save File
jscher2000 said
This is strange, Firefox shouldn't treat a download as a PDF unless a site sends Content-Type: application/pdf As long as the site is sending the ZIP content type, Firefox should take it at its word. That said, even if Firefox modifies the file extension, the internal file format remains ZIP. Have you tried renaming the saved file from whatever.pdf to whatever.zip to see whether that allows it to be opened? If your Windows hides common file extensions, you can turn that off and have it show you all file extensions for easier renaming. This article has the steps: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-show-file-extensions-in-windows/
This is awesome, thank you so much! It definitely has the contents there, because when I change the extension using these steps, it's a completely usable ZIP folder. Hopefully whatever is messing up the process eventually gets fixed, but for the moment I'm just excited to be able to use those files again.
Thanks!
Thank you for the update.
It would be useful to know what Content-Type the server is sending when the responses are not interpreted as expected. However, it sounds like you might be a bit busy to investigate that further yourself, so please mention the issue to the relevant IT team managing that platform to see whether they can replicate and resolve the issue.