How to use download accelerator in Linux terminal

Download accelerator works by splitting a download into multiple segments and simultaneously downloading each. All downloaded segments will be combined into a single file once all finish downloading. This method circumvents the download speed limit imposed by some providers.

Download accelerators usually are part of download manager programs which could come as a standalone desktop application or a browser extension. A popular download accelerator for Linux is axel. axel is a command-line application and is great for automation and when working on remote servers via SSH.

1. Launch terminal.
2. Install axel for your system.

   $ sudo apt update && sudo apt install --assume-yes axel #Ubuntu and Debian

3. Go to the folder that you want to download your file into (optional).

   $ cd Downloads/

4. Copy download URL from browser (optional).
5. Download file using axel.

   $ axel https://wordpress.org/latest.zip
   Initializing download: https://wordpress.org/latest.zip
   File size: 21.7178 Megabyte(s) (22772803 bytes)
   Opening output file wordpress-6.0.2.zip
   Starting download
   
   Connection 0 finished
   Connection 3 finished
   Connection 2 finished
   Connection 1 finished
   Connection 1 finished
   Connection 0 finished
   Connection 3 finished
   [100%] [..........................................] [   3.8MB/s] [00:00]
   
   Downloaded 21.7178 Megabyte(s) in 5 second(s). (3856.91 KB/s)

6. Configure your download options as needed.

   $ axel --help
   Axel 2.17.11 (linux-gnu)
   Usage: axel [options] url1 [url2] [url...]
   
   --max-speed=x           -s x    Specify maximum speed (bytes per second)
   --num-connections=x     -n x    Specify maximum number of connections
   --max-redirect=x                Specify maximum number of redirections
   --output=f              -o f    Specify local output file
   --search[=n]            -S[n]   Search for mirrors and download from n servers
   --ipv4                  -4      Use the IPv4 protocol
   --ipv6                  -6      Use the IPv6 protocol
   --header=x              -H x    Add HTTP header string
   --user-agent=x          -U x    Set user agent
   --no-proxy              -N      Just don't use any proxy server
   --insecure              -k      Don't verify the SSL certificate
   --no-clobber            -c      Skip download if file already exists
   --quiet                 -q      Leave stdout alone
   --verbose               -v      More status information
   --alternate             -a      Alternate progress indicator
   --percentage            -p      Print simple percentages instead of progress bar (0-100)
   --help                  -h      This information
   --timeout=x             -T x    Set I/O and connection timeout
   --version               -V      Version information
   
   Visit https://github.com/axel-download-accelerator/axel/issues to report bugs