Axel is a free and open source command-line download accelerator software for Linux. Using Axel, you can accelerate the HTTP and FTP file downloads from the terminal. It supports multiple connections per file, balance the load between different servers, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and FTPS protocols support, set maximum speed, number of connections, redirections, local output file, set user agent, IPv6 support and more.
How to Install Axel on Ubuntu
To install the latest version of Axel, run below apt command on your terminal application (ctrl+alt+t).
sudo apt install axel
For the complete usage command options and help details run below command.
axel --h
How to Use Axel to Download Files Faster
In the terminal app run commands like below syntax.
axel [options] url1 [url2] [url...]
Example:
Now we are going to download the below files.
http://speedtest.ftp.otenet.gr/files/test10Mb.db [10MB file test]
http://speedtest.ftp.otenet.gr/files/test1Gb.db [1GB file test]
In the terminal run below command.
axel -n 8 --output=manikandan.db http://speedtest.ftp.otenet.gr/files/test10Mb.db
The above command will set the maximum number of connections=8 and renames the output file as manikandan.db and saves in your Home directory.
To test the big file with more connections, run below command.
axel -n 10 --output=manikandan1GB.db http://speedtest.ftp.otenet.gr/files/test1Gb.db
Just replace the url with your download url.
