GNU Wget
A non-interactive command-line tool for retrieving files over HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and FTPS.
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About GNU Wget
GNU Wget downloads files over HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and FTPS without user interaction, so it fits easily into scripts, cron jobs and terminals without a graphical environment. It can resume aborted downloads, mirror directories recursively with wildcards, and convert links in downloaded pages so a mirrored site works locally.
It supports HTTP proxies, cookies and persistent connections, and uses file timestamps to skip unchanged files when mirroring. It runs on most Unix-like systems and on Windows. GNU Wget2, its successor, is a separate project.
Strengths
- Resumes interrupted downloads
- Recursive mirroring with link conversion
- Easy to use from scripts and cron jobs
- Runs on Unix-like systems and Windows
Limitations
- Command line only
- Wget2 is the newer successor with further development
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree software under the GNU General Public License.
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Developer
- GNU Project
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Best suited for
- Scripted downloads and mirroring websites from the terminal
- Categories
- CLI tools, Download managers
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to GNU Wget
Compare allSoftware that can replace GNU Wget for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
GNU Wget2
Successor to Wget with HTTP/2, parallel connections and compression.
GNU Wget2 is the GPL-3.0 successor with HTTP/2, parallel connections and compression for faster mirroring, keeping the command line, although some Wget options are missing.
aria2
A command line downloader that pulls one file from several sources at once, including a torrent and a mirror together.
aria2 is a GPL-2.0 command-line tool that pulls one file from HTTP, FTP and BitTorrent sources at once and offers a JSON-RPC daemon, but lacks recursive mirroring.
Axel
Lightweight command-line download accelerator that fetches one file over several connections at once.
Axel is a lightweight Linux command-line accelerator using several connections per file, but it has no recursive mirroring and no Windows or macOS listing.
HTTrack
A free website copier that downloads whole sites to a local folder for offline browsing.
HTTrack is a GPL website copier focused on offline mirrors, with updates of existing copies and WARC output, replacing Wget's recursive mode rather than its single-file downloads.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
gallery-dl
A command-line program that downloads image galleries and collections from many image hosting sites.
Persepolis
A download manager built on aria2 that splits a file across up to sixty-four connections and schedules queues.
KGet
KDE's download manager for HTTP and FTP with pause, resume and Metalink support.
AriaNg
A web frontend written in plain HTML and JavaScript for controlling and monitoring aria2 downloads.
