Air Files downloading as ZIP

Fix server side mime type to solve this annoying problem

As I begin my foray into the Adobe Air development arena I hit a strange snag for some people trying to download .air files - Windows was silently changing them to .zip during download - breaking the entire process! Here is how to fix it.

The problem seems to be caused by a missing server-side mime type to show the client how to deal with the .air file. Since .air files are basically just zips the browser is looking at the file headers and drawing a somewhat logical conclusion.

To fix the problem the web server needs to know the correct .air mime type - Since I only use Apache on linux here is how to deal with it there:

edit /etc/mime.types (or wherever yours is) and add the following



the ´air´ at the end is the extension.

After that reload/restart Apache and you should be good to go. Later on moving to a badge installer is probably the best and more user friendly solution - but to provide manual downloads this is an essential step.

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