diff --git a/kolibri/utils/file_transfer.py b/kolibri/utils/file_transfer.py
index dc8398b5f0d..faceb864a7f 100644
--- a/kolibri/utils/file_transfer.py
+++ b/kolibri/utils/file_transfer.py
@@ -747,9 +747,15 @@ def _set_headers(self):
         if self._headers_set:
             return
 
-        response = self.session.head(self.source, timeout=self.timeout)
+        response = self.session.head(
+            self.source, timeout=self.timeout, allow_redirects=True
+        )
         response.raise_for_status()
 
+        if response.url != self.source:
+            logger.debug("Redirected from {} to {}".format(self.source, response.url))
+            self.source = response.url
+
         self.compressed = bool(response.headers.get("content-encoding", ""))
 
         self.content_length_header = "content-length" in response.headers