Why are docx, xlsx, pptx downloading from webserver as zip files

The new Office 2007 file formats are now using an Open XML file format system so they are more compatible with other office programs from Google, Open Office...etc. Essentially they are ZIP files that are full of XML files that when opened with the a proper application turn into a friendly word document. While that's pretty nice of Microsoft, they haven't been to good about release MIME type information for these file formats which can cause some interesting issues when trying to upload and download them to a webserver.

In my case when i was trying to download a xlsx file they would save as .zip files. When they tried to open them up they were just a bunch of XML files which to the untrained eye would be a bunch of gobbledygook.

There are couple of solutions for this. I tried with both of these and was successful. Anyone with similar issue can try either of these. Hope it saves your time and energy :)

Here is the list of Office 2007 MIME type associations. You can add all these in your .htaccess and it should work.

AddType application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroEnabled.12 .docm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document docx
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template dotx
AddType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12 potm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template potx
AddType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.addin.macroEnabled.12 ppam
AddType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12 ppsm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow ppsx
AddType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12 pptm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation pptx
AddType application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12 xlam
AddType application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12 xlsb
AddType application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12 xlsm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet xlsx
AddType application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12 xltm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template xltx

.manifest, application/manifest
.xaml, application/xaml+xml
.application, application/x-ms-application
.deploy, application/octet-stream
.xbap, application/x-ms-xbap

.docm, application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroEnabled.12
.docx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
.dotm, application/vnd.ms-word.template.macroEnabled.12
.dotx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template
.potm, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12
.potx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template
.ppam, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.addin.macroEnabled.12
.ppsm, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12
.ppsx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow
.pptm, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12
.pptx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation
.xlam, application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12
.xlsb, application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12
.xlsm, application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12
.xlsx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
.xltm, application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12
.xltx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template


Or, you can just add the following lines in your apache's conf/mime.types file.

application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroEnabled.12 docm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document docx
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template dotx
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12 potm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template potx
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.addin.macroEnabled.12 ppam
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12 ppsm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow ppsx
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12 pptm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation pptx
application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12 xlam
application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12 xlsb
application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12 xlsm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet xlsx
application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12 xltm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template xltx


Hope this helps. Happy coding!