Download Files outside of Web Root Issue

Hello,

I’m attempting to set up my digital download files outside of the main web root.

This is located at /var/www/……

However, when I attempt to save a product and include the path in the ‘File URL’ box, i get the following error message:

“The downloadable file /var/www/…./…/…/example.zip cannot be used as it does not exist on the server.”

The message has the full /var/ path, which i’ve removed from this thread for obvious reasons

But as soon as I enter https://www.domain.com/example.zip in the file Url, it will accept it

So is there any solutions to this issue?