wget — Download Files from the Web

What is wget?

wget is a non-interactive command-line downloader for the web. It is part of the GNU project and excels at fetching files over HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP while handling redirects, retries, and interrupted downloads automatically.

wget is ideal for scripting downloads, mirroring websites for offline use, or grabbing files from remote servers in environments where graphical tools are unavailable.

Why Use wget?

• Reliable downloads — automatically resumes interrupted transfers and retries failed requests.
• Offline mirroring — great for caching a website or downloading a directory tree.
• Simple scripting — works in shell scripts without requiring interaction.
• Protocol support — HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP are all supported.
• Recursive download — follow links and mirror entire sites or directories.
• Lightweight and portable — available on most Unix-like systems and installable on macOS and Windows.

Installation

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt update && sudo apt install wget

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install wget

# Fedora / RHEL
sudo dnf install wget

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S wget

# Alpine Linux
apk add wget

# Windows (via Chocolatey)
choco install wget

# Verify
wget --version

Basic Usage

# Download a single file to the current directory
wget https://example.com/file.tar.gz

# Save with a specific filename
wget -O latest.tar.gz https://example.com/file.tar.gz

# Resume an interrupted download
wget -c https://example.com/large-file.zip

# Download a file and follow redirects
wget -L https://example.com/latest

Essential Flags

Tips & Tricks

Download a full website for offline browsing

wget --mirror --convert-links --adjust-extension --page-requisites --no-parent https://example.com/

This command downloads the site recursively, converts links for local viewing, saves required assets, and avoids climbing above the target path.

Download files listed in a text file

wget -i urls.txt

Use a plain text file with one URL per line to batch-download dozens or hundreds of files.

Limit download speed to reduce bandwidth impact

wget --limit-rate=200k https://example.com/large.iso

This is useful on shared networks or when running downloads alongside other work.

Use timestamping to avoid re-downloading unchanged files

wget -N https://example.com/file.tar.gz

Only downloads the file if the server has a newer version than the copy already stored locally.

Save cookies and reuse them for authenticated downloads

wget --save-cookies cookies.txt --keep-session-cookies --no-check-certificate \
  --user alice --password secret https://example.com/protected/resource

wget --load-cookies cookies.txt https://example.com/protected/page

Mirror an FTP directory

wget -r ftp://ftp.example.com/pub/software/

Recursive FTP downloads are useful when you need a local copy of a remote directory tree.

When to Use wget vs curl

• Use wget when you need robust file downloads, resumed transfers, or recursive site mirroring.
• Use curl when you need flexible HTTP requests, API interaction, or fine-grained control over headers and request methods.

Advanced Usage

# Retry downloads with exponential backoff
wget --tries=10 --retry-connrefused --wait=5 https://example.com/bigfile.iso

# Download only files with a specific extension
wget -r -A '*.jpg,*.png' https://example.com/gallery/

# Mirror a directory tree and save to a local folder
wget -m -nH --cut-dirs=2 https://example.com/path/to/files/