Force download links in HTML

Jul 12, 2022

Tagged: HTML

Learn how to force a file download in HTML by adding the download attribute to an a tag, so the browser saves the file instead of opening it in the tab.

I recently found out you can add the download attribute to an a tag:

<a href="file.pdf" download>pdf</a>

and the browser forces the download even if the file could be loaded in the browser (like a PDF).

This only works for links on the same origin.

When the server sends the file, the name comes from a Content-Disposition header. How to set a Content-Disposition filename is the walkthrough.

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