diff --git a/lib/attachmentlist.php b/lib/attachmentlist.php
index 51ceca8576..fe38281af9 100644
--- a/lib/attachmentlist.php
+++ b/lib/attachmentlist.php
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ class Attachment extends AttachmentListItem
     function showRepresentation() {
         if (empty($this->oembed->type)) {
             if (empty($this->attachment->mimetype)) {
-                $this->out->element('pre', null, 'oh well... not sure how to handle the following: ' . print_r($this->attachment, true));
+                $this->showFallback();
             } else {
                 switch ($this->attachment->mimetype) {
                 case 'image/gif':
@@ -332,6 +332,8 @@ class Attachment extends AttachmentListItem
                     $this->out->element('param', array('name' => 'autoStart', 'value' => 1));
                     $this->out->elementEnd('object');
                     break;
+                default:
+                    $this->showFallback();
                 }
             }
         } else {
@@ -354,9 +356,23 @@ class Attachment extends AttachmentListItem
                 break;
 
             default:
-                $this->out->element('pre', null, 'oh well... not sure how to handle the following oembed: ' . print_r($this->oembed, true));
+                $this->showFallback();
             }
         }
     }
+
+    function showFallback()
+    {
+        // If we don't know how to display an attachment inline, we probably
+        // shouldn't have gotten to this point.
+        //
+        // But, here we are... displaying details on a file or remote URL
+        // either on the main view or in an ajax-loaded lightbox. As a lesser
+        // of several evils, we'll try redirecting to the actual target via
+        // client-side JS.
+
+        common_log(LOG_ERR, "Empty or unknown type for file id {$this->attachment->id}; falling back to client-side redirect.");
+        $this->out->raw('<script>window.location = ' . json_encode($this->attachment->url) . ';</script>');
+    }
 }