# Tracking file downloads from a website

> Learn how to track file downloads on a static website with Plausible, swapping in its file downloads script and listing extensions like pdf and epub.

Author: [Flavio Copes](https://flaviocopes.com/about/) | Published: 2022-07-03 | Topics: [Tutorials](https://flaviocopes.com/tags/tutorial/) | Canonical: https://flaviocopes.com/tracking-file-downloads/

I had the need to track file downloads on a website.

I initially looked into using URL shorteners that provided stats, as I assumed that was my only option without a backend (was building a static site) but nothing really excited me.

Then I saw [Plausible can track file downloads](https://plausible.io/docs/file-downloads-tracking).

It's pretty simple, too, you just have to swap the default script and list which file extensions you want to track, in my case pdf and epub. PDF files would be tracked by default but epub no, so I needed to add both.

From

```html
<script
  defer
  data-domain="yourdomain.com"
  src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"
></script>
```

to

```html
<script
  defer
  file-types="pdf,epub"
  data-domain="yourdomain.com"
  src="https://plausible.io/js/script.file-downloads.js"
></script>
```

And then add a goal named "File Download" in the website settings.

Super easy, works like a charm.