Download URLs don't necessarily have to be limited by where the files are stored, or how they are actually called. URLs are pointers. It's in their name: Uniform Resource Locator. Joomla provides you with tools to handle URL redirects. Apache (and Litespeed) have done the same for even longer than Joomla's been around.
Let's say your site is example.com and you move the ZIP files to the files directory. You have several options.
Option 1. Joomla's Redirects feature.
Enable the System - Redirect plugin.
Go to System, Manage, Redirects and click on Add Link.
In the Expired URL enter the old URL without your site's URL. For example, if the old URL was https://www.example.com/foobar.zip you need to enter foobar.zip here.
In the New URL enter the URL path where you moved the file to. In this example, that would be /files/foobar.zip.
You need to do that for all files you have moved.
Option 2. Per-file .htaccess code.
You can add the following code to your .htaccess file:
RewriteRule ^foobar\.zip$ /files/foobar.zip [L]
You need to do that for all files you have moved.
Please note that this code should appear before Joomla's SEF URL code.
Option 3. Wildcard .htaccess code.
You can add the following code to your .htaccess file:
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.zip$ /files/$1.zip [L]
Please note that this code should appear before Joomla's SEF URL code.
Which one should you use?
If you only have a few ZIP files you want to move, most people should use Option 1. It's easier to manage.
If you prefer configuration files over a point and click interface, Option 2 is for you.
If you had a large number of ZIP files in your site's root –a generally very bad idea– you should use Option 3 instead.
Ideally, you should move away from this practice for future files. Get into the habit of placing your downloads into the files directory provided by Joomla for this exact use. Redirections make sense for historical URLs you can't retroactively change, but not really for new URLs going forward.
Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos
Lead Developer and Director
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