LibriVox Forum

Direct downloads by clicking on the Download buttons on our catalog pages are currently not working in the latest version of Chrome. You can still right click and 'save as' to download, but you will get an error that says ...zip can't be downloaded securely and you have to choose discard or click on the up arrow and choose keep.

Chrome flags these for the following reason. Insecure: You tried to download a file or program that wasn't secure but was started on a secure page. In some cases, you can choose to download anyway.

Since our workflow software enters the archive download links in the database http and not https, this is results in what is known as 'mixed content'. It does not mean the links are insecure. The actual archive.org links to the downloads are https links.

Fixes/Workarounds:

1. Try a different browser - The downloads still work normally in Edge, Firefox, etc. This is some new security thing in Chrome (version 87.0.4280.88).
2. Download directly from the archive.org page for the project
3. Enable mixed content in Google Chrome for librivox.org which will reenable normal downloads from all the catalog pages

• a. Click the lock or caution icon, then click Site settings.
  b. Scroll to Insecure content, then use the drop-down list to change “Block (default)” to “Allow.”
  c. Reload the page.

The correct way to fix this would be to fix the website so that all archive.org links use https://

However in the mean time the following javascript bookmark ("bookmarklet") might also come in useful;
it rewrites all the http urls on a page to https:
To use, create a new bookmark in the browser, and paste in the "javascript:..." text as the URL.

Then navigate to an audiobook page and click on the bookmark. There will be no visual feedback but all http links should be replaced by https links.

Then hopefully the downloads should work. You will need to click the bookmarklet each time you navigate to an audiobook page.

I haven't actually tested it in Chrome, I hope it works.

dekymo wrote: ↑

December 30th, 2020, 10:39 am

The correct way to fix this would be to fix the website so that all archive.org links use https://

Yes, of course. However at present we do not have a way to automate this change. As I'm sure you appreciate, fixing all 14,812 cataloged projects by hand is not practical, hence the suggested workaround.

dekymo wrote: ↑

December 30th, 2020, 10:39 am

However in the mean time the following javascript bookmark ("bookmarklet") might also come in useful;
it rewrites all the http urls on a page to https:

Code: Select all

javascript:for(var a=document.links,b=0;b<a.length;b++)"http:"==a[b].protocol&&(a[b].protocol="https:");

To use, create a new bookmark in the browser, and paste in the "javascript:..." text as the URL.

Then navigate to an audiobook page and click on the bookmark. There will be no visual feedback but all http links should be replaced by https links.

Then hopefully the downloads should work. You will need to click the bookmarklet each time you navigate to an audiobook page.

I haven't actually tested it in Chrome, I hope it works.

Thanks for suggesting this alternate option for any users who would prefer this solution. I gave it a try, and it does work in Chrome.

I have another workaround: Right-click the download button and copy the link address. Paste this in the URL window and press enter. This begins the download, for me at least. I hope this isn't redundant.

Yes, mentioned elsewhere, but it never hurts to have things in multiple places. You can also just right click and choose open in new tab or window.