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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-31T05:03:08+00:00

I’m using wordpress to create a ‘download’ popup that goes to a file attachment

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I’m using wordpress to create a ‘download’ popup that goes to a file attachment ID. The complexities aren’t important, but basically I have it open in a new window with a “Download” link.

The file type is going to be mp3 so I don’t want the browser to go to the mp3 and try to use an embedded quicktime player or anything like that, I just want it to force it to download.

Is there an easier way to do this than using php header() type stuff?

My ‘download’ popup has a whole bunch of code in it that loads the WP environment, pulls some attachment urls, changes the title of the page, etc, so its not like the php file can be blank with no whitespace except JUST the header() code (which I know it cant have anything else in the file in order to work).

Here’s the code for the popup window that comes up with the ‘download’ link. to sum up my question, how do i make the download link in the following code just download the mp3 rather than trying to load it into the browser.

As a sidenote is there a way i can close the window automatically once the download starts? Its not a big deal because I have a close window that would just be nice.

<?php
/**
 * Front to the WordPress application. This file doesn't do anything, but loads
 * wp-blog-header.php which does and tells WordPress to load the theme.
 *
 * @package WordPress
 */

/**
 * Tells WordPress to load the WordPress theme and output it.
 *
 * @var bool
 */
define('WP_USE_THEMES', false);
require('./wp-blog-header.php');

$mix_id = $_GET['m'];
$track_id = $_GET['t'];

$mix_attachment_id  = get_post_meta( $mix_id, 'zip', true );
$mix_attachment_url = wp_get_attachment_url( $mix_attachment_id );

// Update download count
$downloads = get_post_meta($mix_id, 'downloads', true);
$downloads = (int)$downloads + 1;
update_post_meta($mix_id, 'downloads', $downloads );

// Determine if track or mix download
if ($track_id == '') {
  // Mixtape Play
  $title = get_the_title($mix_id);
  $link_text = "Download Mixtape";
  $download_link = wp_get_attachment_url( $mix_attachment_id );
} else {
  // Track Download
  $title = get_the_title($track_id);
  $track_attachment_id = get_post_meta($track_id, 'mp3', true);
  $download_link = wp_get_attachment_url( $track_attachment_id );
  $link_text = "Download Track";

}
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title><?php echo $title; ?></title>
<style type="text/css">

  body {
    text-align: center;
    margin-top: 40px;
    font-family: arial, sans-serif;

  }

  a.download {
    background: #1B62A0;
    font-size: 28px;
    padding: 10px 20px;
    color: #fff;
    -webkit-border-radius: 10px;
    -moz-border-radius: 10px;
    border-radius: 10px;
    text-decoration: none;
    display: inline;
  }

  a.download:hover {
    background: #5DD8F0;
  }

  a.close {
    text-align: center;
    margin-top: 20px;
    display: block;
  }
</style>
</head>
<body>
  <a class="download" href="<?php echo $download_link; ?>"><?php echo $link_text; ?></a>
  <a href="#" class="close" onclick="javascript:window.close(); return false;">Close Window</a>
</body>
</html>
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I’ve done something similar, although not within WP. I don’t understand why you can’t just do the Header() logic at the top of the page, before any headers are sent?

    Something like below should work, just put it at the top of the page

    $s_filename = $_GET['s'];

// SAVE FILE
if( !empty( $s_filename ) )
{
    if( file_exists( $s_filename ) ) 
    {
            $fsize = filesize( $s_filename );
            // SET HEADERS
            header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename = " . $s_filename);
            header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");
            header("Content-Length: " . $fsize);
            header("Cache-Control: private");

            readfile( $s_filename );

            $result = "Your file download will begin shortly.<br />\r\n";
    }
}
else
{
    $result = "Error: File not found.<br />\r\n";
}
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