Axel

The correct title of this article is axel. The initial letter is capitalized due to technical restrictions.

axel is a command line tool similar to wget. The difference is that it is both an accelerator and it splits the file into multiple pieces.

Axel accomplishes its speed performance by opening more than one connection at a time, effectively multiplying allowable bandwidth. (note: some FTP operators are not very happy with this practice.)

Usage

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
--output=f              -o f    Specify local output file
--search[=x]            -S [x]  Search for mirrors and download from x servers
--no-proxy              -N      Just don't use any proxy server
--quiet                 -q      Leave stdout alone
--verbose               -v      More status information
--alternate             -a      Alternate progress indicator
--help                  -h      This information
--version               -V      Version information

Simple

% axel http://www.example.com/file.tar.gz

Limit speed

You can also specify a speed (bytes/s) for axel so that it will not eat up all your bandwidth. For example following will try to keep the average speed around 5242880 (5120 kbyte/s):

% axel -s 5242880 http://www.example.com/file.tar.gz

Limit the number of connections

You can also specify the number of connections you wish to open. For example, the following will open 3 connections for downloading:

% axel -n 3 -s 5242880 http://www.example.com/file.tar.gz

See also

• wget
• prozilla

External links

• Official website