Add to urls.py: urlpatterns += patterns('', url(r'^media\/(?P.*)$', 'views.media_xsendfile', { 'document_root': settings.MEDIA_ROOT, }), ) Add to views.py: from django.conf import settings from django.http import HttpResponse from django.contrib.admin.views.decorators import staff_member_required @staff_member_required def media_xsendfile(request, path, document_root): response = HttpResponse() response['Content-Type'] = '' response['X-Sendfile'] = (os.path.join(settings.MEDIA_ROOT, path)).encode('utf-8') return response