M4V video files not downloading or viewing, just showing characters in browser tab
Website I'm trying to download videos. http://www.eevblog.com/episodes/
I click on a video, it takes me to that videos page, somewhere down the page is a download link. I click the download and the browser tab starts filling up with all these strange characters.
It doesn't ask me what to do with this like download or play.
What do other browsers do: Google Chrome v34 - downloads the file Opera v20 - downloads the file IE 11 - downloads the file
I looked under Applications in options and there are only a few, doesn't even fill in the whole box of content types and the action to take. How can I add more to this list.
Thanks,
Jeffery
All Replies (4)
This happens if the server isn't configured properly and is sending the file as text/plain or text/html.
Firefox opens files send that way in a tab instead of presenting a download dialog.
- https://developer.mozilla.org/Properly_Configuring_Server_MIME_Types
- https://developer.mozilla.org/How_Mozilla_determines_MIME_Types
A workaround is not to left-click such a link, but to right-click and use "Save Link As" to save the file if that is possible.
Note that you can still use "Save Page As" to save the file if it gets opened in a tab.
You may have to add the correct file extension in this case to make it a valid media file.
Modified by cor-el
I understand what your saying and I have been right clicking and doing save as but I don't understand why the other browsers just download it and Firefox doesn't.
For some non-technical person who doesn't understand this stuff it makes Firefox look like it's broken.
Thanks for the reply.
Jeffery
The response headers for the .m4v file unfortunately indicate:
Content-Type: text/plain
The site can fix this by associating .m4v with video/mp4. If you're a fan, please let them know.
Note that you can see this content type in "Tools > Page Info > General" when you have the m4v file open in a tab.