Master aria2: Fast, Lightweight Command-Line Downloader and Advanced Config Guide

aria2 is a lightweight and efficient command-line download tool that supports multiple protocols—including HTTP(S), FTP, BitTorrent (with DHT, PEX, MSE/PE), and Metalink—and can download from multiple source URLs to maximize bandwidth utilization.

It offers two unique capabilities: concurrent multi‑protocol downloading and simultaneous downloading from multiple sources, allowing users to retrieve files faster without waiting for a single download to finish.

Installation commands:

sudo apt-get install aria2

sudo yum install aria2

Basic usage examples include downloading a single file, downloading multiple files with -Z, extending download URLs with -P, specifying an output name with -o, resuming interrupted downloads with -c, setting the number of connections per server with -x, controlling parallel downloads per file with -s, limiting the number of parallel downloads with -j, defining a download directory with -d, and applying speed limits using --max-download-limit.

Advanced operations cover BitTorrent torrent file downloads, magnet link downloads, listing torrent contents with -S, selecting specific files using --select-file, and handling Metalink files with options such as follow-metalink and metalink-preferred-protocol.

The configuration file ( aria2.conf) provides extensive customization, including download directory, log file path, maximum concurrent downloads, integrity checks, resume behavior, proxy settings, connection timeouts, DHT configuration, RPC server settings, upload/download speed limits, piece selection strategies, file allocation methods, and many other fine‑tuned parameters to adapt aria2 to various network and performance requirements.