How Does a Download Accelerator Work?

Download Accelerator Basics

A download accelerator, is a piece of software that helps a computer download information more quickly over the Internet. A download accelerator is usually one component of a larger software program, known as a download manager. A download manager is a program that assists users with all aspects of downloading and uploading, adding useful options that are not always available through a web browser. Download Accelerator Plus is one of the most popular managers on the web, and boasts more than 100 million users worldwide.

Download Accelerator Functions

Download acceleration works in a way similar to downloading a .torrent file: the download manager splits the file to be downloaded into parts that are downloaded separately. The distinction is that a download accelerator assists with downloading a file from a single source, while torrent files and similar person-to-person downloading schemes involve downloading parts from many different sources. Certain cites place limits on bandwidth for single connection, so multiple connections achieve faster download rates. Also, by downloading in parts, a corrupted portion of data spoils only part of the download instead of all of it. So download acceleration doesn't necessarily speed up the user's connection itself, rather it optimizes the download so that it will more easily reach the users maximum connection speed.

Other Benefits

While most download managers contain download accelerating tools, they can also provide other features to assist advanced Internet users. Some common features aside from download acceleration include: scheduling and queuing download tasks, repairing or resuming broken or failed downloads, and allocating bandwidth to different tasks. Many of the features download managers offer are intended for advanced internet users; the download accelerator portion is only reason many users choose to install a download manager.

Resources

• Website for Download Accelerator Plus