diff --git a/src/_h5ai/client/js/inc/ext/download.js b/src/_h5ai/client/js/inc/ext/download.js
index 4a287f8e..dfc9b42a 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/client/js/inc/ext/download.js
+++ b/src/_h5ai/client/js/inc/ext/download.js
@@ -27,34 +27,6 @@ modulejs.define('ext/download', ['_', '$', 'core/settings', 'core/resource', 'co
 			}, 1000);
 		},
 
-		handleResponse = function (json) {
-
-			$download.removeClass('current');
-			$img.attr('src', resource.image('download'));
-
-			if (json && json.code === 0) {
-				setTimeout(function () { // wait here so the img above can be updated in time
-
-					window.location = '?action=getArchive&id=' + json.id + '&as=' + (settings.packageName || location.getItem().label) + '.' + settings.format;
-				}, 200);
-			} else {
-				failed();
-			}
-		},
-
-		requestArchive = function (hrefsStr) {
-
-			$download.addClass('current');
-			$img.attr('src', resource.image('loading.gif', true));
-
-			server.request({
-				action: 'createArchive',
-				type: settings.type,
-				format: settings.format,
-				hrefs: hrefsStr
-			}, handleResponse);
-		},
-
 		onSelection = function (items) {
 
 			selectedHrefsStr = '';
@@ -72,15 +44,19 @@ modulejs.define('ext/download', ['_', '$', 'core/settings', 'core/resource', 'co
 		onClick = function (event) {
 
 			var type = settings.type,
-				extension = type === 'shell-zip' ? 'zip' : 'tar',
-				query = '?action=passArchive' +
-					'&as=' + encodeURIComponent((settings.packageName || location.getItem().label) + '.' + extension) +
-					'&type=' + type +
-					'&hrefs=' + encodeURIComponent(selectedHrefsStr),
-				$iframe = $('<iframe src="' + query + '" style="display: none;" />');
+				extension = (type === 'shell-zip') ? 'zip' : 'tar',
+				query = {
+					action: 'passArchive',
+					as: (settings.packageName || location.getItem().label) + '.' + extension,
+					type: type,
+					hrefs: selectedHrefsStr
+				},
+				$form = $('<form action="#" method="post" style="display:none;" />');
 
-			$iframe.appendTo('body');
-			setTimeout(function () { $iframe.remove(); }, 1000);
+			for (var key in query) {
+				$form.append('<input type="hidden" name="' + key + '" value="' + query[key] + '" />')
+			}
+			$form.appendTo('body').submit().remove();
 		},
 
 		init = function () {
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/Api.php b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/Api.php
index 5e208467..8ecabb1d 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/Api.php
+++ b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/Api.php
@@ -100,57 +100,6 @@ class Api {
 		}
 
 
-		else if ($action === "createArchive") {
-
-			json_fail(1, "downloads disabled", !$options["download"]["enabled"]);
-
-			list($format, $hrefs) = use_request_params(array("format", "hrefs"));
-
-			normalized_require_once("/server/php/inc/Archive.php");
-			$archive = new Archive($this->app);
-
-			$hrefs = explode("|:|", trim($hrefs));
-			$target = $archive->create($format, $hrefs);
-
-			if (!is_string($target)) {
-				json_fail($target, "package creation failed");
-			}
-
-			json_exit(array("id" => basename($target), "size" => filesize($target)));
-		}
-
-
-		else if ($action === "getArchive") {
-
-			json_fail(1, "downloads disabled", !$options["download"]["enabled"]);
-
-			list($id, $as) = use_request_params(array("id", "as"));
-			json_fail(2, "file not found", !preg_match("/^package-/", $id));
-
-			$target = $this->app->get_cache_abs_path() . "/" . $id;
-			json_fail(3, "file not found", !file_exists($target));
-
-			header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");
-			header("Content-Length: " . filesize($target));
-			header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"$as\"");
-			header("Connection: close");
-			register_shutdown_function("delete_tempfile", $target);
-
-			// readfile($target);
-
-			// Send data in small segments of 16MB to not hit PHP's memory limit (default: 128M)
-			if ($fd = fopen($target, 'rb')) {
-				set_time_limit(0);
-				while (!feof($fd)) {
-					print fread($fd, 1024 * 1024 * 16);
-					ob_flush();
-					flush();
-				}
-				fclose($fd);
-			}
-		}
-
-
 		else if ($action === "passArchive") {
 
 			json_fail(1, "downloads disabled", !$options["download"]["enabled"]);
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/Archive.php b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/Archive.php
index 5d5e8890..4280fdfa 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/Archive.php
+++ b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/Archive.php
@@ -41,35 +41,6 @@ class Archive {
 	}
 
 
-	// public function create($format, $hrefs) {
-
-	// 	$this->dirs = array();
-	// 	$this->files = array();
-
-	// 	$this->add_hrefs($hrefs);
-
-	// 	if (count($this->dirs) === 0 && count($this->files) === 0) {
-	// 		return 404;
-	// 	}
-
-	// 	$target = $this->app->get_cache_abs_path() . "/package-" . sha1(microtime(true) . rand()) .  "." . $format;
-
-	// 	try {
-	// 		$archive = new PharData($target);
-	// 		foreach ($this->dirs as $archived_dir) {
-	// 			$archive->addEmptyDir($archived_dir);
-	// 		}
-	// 		foreach ($this->files as $real_file => $archived_file) {
-	// 			$archive->addFile($real_file, $archived_file); // very, very slow :/
-	// 		}
-	// 	} catch (Exeption $err) {
-	// 		return 500;
-	// 	}
-
-	// 	return @filesize($target) ? $target : null;
-	// }
-
-
 	private function shell_cmd($cmd) {
 
 		$cmd = str_replace("[ROOTDIR]", "\"" . $this->app->get_abs_path() . "\"", $cmd);