5 Excellent Download Managers For Linux
Files are downloaded via your internet browser. From Firefox, to Chrome, to Safari to Edge: everyone’s got a pretty decent download manager — and many users are more or less okay with what the default download managers have to offer in terms of features. It is because of this, some people wonder “if download managers still relevant. The answer is yes! While it is true that anyone can pause and resume files directly in a web browser, it’s not true that the web browser can handle them the best. For starters, a browser’s download manager often fails following certain download links, are terrible with mutli-link downloads, and don’t even have torrent integration, or connection settings. That’s why download managers (especially on Linux) are still very much a thing. Here are the best download managers for Linux.
1. uGet
The uGet download manager is a highly configurable, lightweight tool that allows users to easily organize their downloads in one central place. uGet supports features, like: allowing faster downloads via parallel download streams. The software has a great looking file queue that allows users to easily pause, resume, and stop downloads at any time. It can integrate with any browser’s download manager and has excellent clipboard monitoring features.
For a long time on Linux, the best choice for a good download manager has been uGet. It works well, and does everything anyone could ask for in a download tool. If you’re looking for a better way to manage downloads, do give this program a try.
2. PyLoad
PyLoad is a Python-based download manager designed for many premium and one-click download hosting sites (such as uploadedto, rapidshare, etc). It can handle many different download links, like: regular HTTP/HTTPS links, FTP links and can even detect files. PyLoad can run on virtually anything, not just a Linux desktop. PyLoad sports a web interface, allowing the software to run from a Linux server and can be accessed remotely.
Like all download managers, it has a queue that users can pause, resume and remove downloads from at any times. Other features include: file unzipping support and captcha recognition.
All and all Pyload is a great download manager, especially if you’re looking for something that can run on more than just a Linux PC.
3. Axel
Axel is a cross-platform download manager that exists to “boost” downloading of regular files. It is best to think of Axel as a wget alternative, as it exists in the command line, and not as a graphical interface tool. The core feature surrounding it is “faster downloads”, and it does this by connecting to one file multiple times. Though the developers of Axel talk all about how it “boosts” downloads, the real benefit of using this tool is portability. Users that download Axel have no need to download extra libraries or anything like that. The website itself says it has “zero dependencies”. As a result, the program can easily run anywhere from a flash drive.
4. Wget
The Wget tool has been around for quite a while. It’s an open-source tool that allows users to quickly “get” a file. Due to it’s simplicity, wget is heavily used in bash scripting. The Wget tool exists purely to download files, not manage them. Despite this, the tool has a ton of different features, such as downloading multiple files in succession (by specifying their location in a text file), working with Linux pipes and etc. Still, for users looking for a basic way to grab files outside of the browser, nothing does it better.
Wget is most likely already installed on your Linux PC.
5. Xtreme Download Manager
The Xtreme Download Manager is an open source tool that claims to boost downloads by up to “500%”. Additionally, it has the ability to resume broken downloads, integrate within popular web browsers, schedule downloading, data compression, connection reuse, and support for various download URL types. The download manager is cross-platform, and can easily be installed on Windows, Mac OS, Linux and even the BSD operating system!
The tool itself is very versatile and portable, due to the fact that it is written entirely in java. In fact, users can easily download the “jar” version of the app, place it on a flash drive and take it anywhere. Obviously, Java is an aging technology, but the fact that portability is there is a great thing! Try out Xtreme Download Manager today!
Conclusion
Download managers were a big thing when connections were a lot more unreliable. These days, grabbing a 1 GB file takes a little under 5 minutes. It is because of this many question why download managers are necessary. It’s understandable, and for most average people, the answer is not to use a manager. However, if you’re an advance user looking to get more out of your downloads, a manager is still very much a relevant tool. Happy downloading!
Wow, still no decent looking apps. I’m personally good with Firefox Downloadthemall plugin.