How to limit total download size in wget

A download quota keeps one wget run from consuming more disk or bandwidth than the job can afford. That matters most for URL lists, recursive pulls, and unattended fetches where the total size is not obvious before the command starts.

GNU wget enforces this cap with --quota or -Q. The quota is checked after each file completes, not during the transfer, so the current file is allowed to finish even when it pushes the session past the configured budget.

That end-of-file behavior is the main operational caveat. A single large file can exceed the quota by itself, and setting the value to 0 or inf removes the limit entirely, so keep quota-controlled runs in their own directory and verify the actual bytes written before chaining the output into another task.

1. Create an isolated working directory and write the target URLs to one input file.

   $ mkdir -p ~/transfers/wget-quota/export-run-01
   $ cd ~/transfers/wget-quota/export-run-01
   $ cat > urls.txt <<'EOF'
   https://downloads.example.net/exports/catalog-064k.bin
   https://downloads.example.net/exports/inventory-delta-096k.bin
   https://downloads.example.net/exports/media-index-160k.bin
   EOF

   One directory per quota run keeps the manifest, payloads, and later verification in the same place.

2. Run wget with a total transfer cap and let the last file finish even if it crosses the limit.

   $ wget --quota=200k --input-file=urls.txt --directory-prefix=payloads
   ##### snipped #####
   Saving to: 'payloads/catalog-064k.bin'
   2026-03-29 09:23:16 (7.81 MB/s) - 'payloads/catalog-064k.bin' saved [65536/65536]
   ##### snipped #####
   Saving to: 'payloads/inventory-delta-096k.bin'
   2026-03-29 09:23:16 (8.94 MB/s) - 'payloads/inventory-delta-096k.bin' saved [98304/98304]
   ##### snipped #####
   Saving to: 'payloads/media-index-160k.bin'
   2026-03-29 09:23:16 (10.2 MB/s) - 'payloads/media-index-160k.bin' saved [163840/163840]
   
   FINISHED --2026-03-29 09:23:16--
   Downloaded: 3 files, 320K in 0.03s (10.4 MB/s)
   Download quota of 200K EXCEEDED!

   Quota never truncates a file mid-transfer, so the final total can exceed the configured value when the last completed file exhausts the budget.

3. Use the short -Q form when the same quota logic needs a compact flag in shell wrappers.

   $ wget -Q 50m --input-file=urls.txt --directory-prefix=quota-050m
   $ wget -Q 500m --input-file=urls.txt --directory-prefix=quota-500m

   -Q and --quota are equivalent, so choose the form that reads most clearly in the surrounding script.

4. Check the actual bytes on disk instead of assuming the configured quota is a hard ceiling.

   $ du -sh payloads
   320K    payloads
   $ ls -lh payloads
   total 320K
   -rw-r--r-- 1 user user  64K Mar 29 09:23 catalog-064k.bin
   -rw-r--r-- 1 user user  96K Mar 29 09:23 inventory-delta-096k.bin
   -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 160K Mar 29 09:23 media-index-160k.bin

   The directory size is the real post-run result that downstream tooling has to handle.