aria2c(1)
aria2c is a lightweight multi-protocol download utility that supports HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, BitTorrent, and Metalink with parallel connections and resumable downloads.
Synopsis
aria2c [OPTION]... [URI]...Description
aria2c is a command-line download manager offering significant speed improvements through parallel downloading and multiple connection strategies. It supports resumable downloads, proxy configuration, and simultaneous downloads of multiple files or BitTorrent tasks.
The tool handles HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, SFTP, BitTorrent, and Metalink protocols. It can read URLs from files, validate checksums, and configure bandwidth limits, making it ideal for downloading large files, managing torrents, and automating bulk downloads in scripts.
Common options
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
-o, --out=FILE | specify output filename or directory |
-d, --dir=DIR | specify directory to save downloaded files |
-x, --max-connection-per-server=NUM | set maximum connections per server (default: 1) |
-k, --min-split-size=SIZE | set minimum split size in bytes (default: 20M) |
-j, --max-concurrent-downloads=NUM | set maximum concurrent downloads (default: 5) |
-l, --log=FILE | save download log to file |
-S, --show-files | show files contained in torrent/metalink and exit |
--limit-rate=SPEED | limit download speed in bytes/sec (e.g., 1M) |
-c, --continue | resume incomplete downloads |
-i, --input-file=FILE | read URLs from text file, one URL per line |
-q, --quiet | suppress output to console |
--check-integrity=true|false | validate downloaded files (requires hash in torrent) |
Examples
download a single file with default settings
aria2c https://example.com/file.zipdownload with 8 parallel connections and 1MB minimum split size for faster speeds
aria2c -x 8 -k 1M https://example.com/large-file.isodownload up to 3 files concurrently from URLs listed in urls.txt, saving to Downloads folder
aria2c -i urls.txt -j 3 -d ~/Downloadsresume an interrupted download, specifying output filename
aria2c -c -o incomplete-file.zip https://example.com/file.zipdownload while limiting speed to 2 megabytes per second
aria2c --limit-rate=2M https://example.com/file.isodisplay files in torrent without downloading
aria2c -S torrent-file.torrentdownload multiple files concurrently from different mirrors
aria2c -j 5 https://mirror1.com/file.tar.gz https://mirror2.com/file.tar.gzdownload and save activity log to file for troubleshooting
aria2c --log=download.log https://example.com/file.zip