Downloads can be much faster, more efficient, and simplified by using Metalinks, a new system which automates segmented downloading and checksum verification.

What is Metalink?

Metalink is an XML format for downloads that lists mirrors, Peer-to-peer (P2P) links, and checksums. Metalink was designed to make typically advanced downloading features easier for everyone to use. Previously, gathering mirrors and manually adding them to download managers was time consuming and frustrating. Having access to more mirrors increases reliability, and speed, as multiple mirrors can be downloaded from at once. Using P2P lessens bandwidth costs for distributors such as OpenOffice.org and mirrors. Unfortunately, P2P can not be used in all situations because it is sometimes blocked (by offices, universities, and ISPs), so it is helpful to have regular mirrors to fall back on in these cases.

I have a cable internet connection with a max download speed of 800k a second. Most of my download speeds are around 200k/sec though. Why? One server is feeding many people, and that’s all it can serve up. But, it’s still pretty fast, and fine for most downloads. There’s not much difference with waiting 1 minute or 4 minutes. If you want to get something bigger though, you start to notice the difference. Instead of taking 14 minutes to download an ISO, it can take 2 hours or longer. You don’t really know how fast or reliable a server is until you start downloading from it.

Using a download manager, you can download a segment of each file from multiple servers at the same time. The segments are then added together when they have all finished. This lets you fully use your maximum download speed. (Download managers have other features like pausing and resuming downloads which are also helpful).

Take a look at this page (figure 1). Similar to many download pages, it lists a bunch of mirrors:

Figure 1: Arch Linux mirror list

This lists the mirrors in general. A Metalink will point to a specific file(s) on all the mirrors. It can list priority and location of the mirrors, so it’s easy to download from many of them at once, along with P2P like BitTorrent, ed2k, and magnet links.

Metalinks can be found at http://www.metalinker.org and http://metalink.packages.ro/ as well as directly from OpenOffice.org, Arch Linux, PC-BSD, DesktopBSD, blag linux, StartCom Linux, Ubuntu Christian Edition, Berry Linux, redWall Firewall, and others.

Metalink Clients

What is wxDownload Fast?

wxDownload Fast is a multi-platform open source download manager (GUI), similar to other download managers and Metalink clients: GetRight on Windows and Speed Download on Mac OS X. wxDownload Fast is available on Windows and Linux. Like most download managers, it supports resuming and segmented downloading.

Figure 2: wxDownload Fast GUI Metalink client

Installing and running wxDownload Fast

wxDownload Fast can be compiled from source. Binaries are available for Windows, Debian, and Ubuntu. wxDownload Fast can be integrated with Firefox via FlashGot.

Using wxDownload Fast: an example

If you use wxDownload Fast with FlashGot, you can just click on a Metalink. Otherwise, you will have to copy the link, click New in wxDownload Fast, and then click OK to start downloading. wxDownload Fast will automatically process the Metalink and start downloading from the mirrors. Once the download has finished, it will verify the checksum automatically. You can let wxDownload Fast handle all of your downloads, not just Metalinks, so it’s pretty useful.