ELX Download Manager
Fast downloads that survive any break
A free download manager for Windows. It splits every file into eight connections, resumes after a pause, a dropped link or a restart, downloads torrents and magnet links, and takes over downloads from Chrome, Edge, Opera, Yandex Browser and Firefox together with your login on the site. A live speed graph and a sortable table show everything at once; a small window follows each download and offers Open file, Show in folder and Close when it is done.
Key features
Eight connections per file
A file is split into parts and every part comes over its own connection. When a connection finishes early it takes half of the slowest remaining part, so the last minutes of a download are as fast as the first.
Resume after anything
Pause, a dropped Wi-Fi, a closed laptop lid or a restart — the download continues from the byte where it stopped. A server that limits connections is not a problem: extra connections step aside instead of failing the download.
Torrents and magnet links
Open .torrent files and magnet links, pick the files you need inside a torrent, see peers, seeds and upload. Downloaded files are never left locked: you can move or delete them while the program is running.
Takes over browser downloads
The ELX extension hands downloads from Chrome, Edge, Opera, Yandex Browser and Firefox to the program — with the cookies, authorization headers and form data of the original request, so files behind a login download too.
Proxy with a torrent switch
HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5 proxies with a login. Like in qBittorrent, a separate switch decides whether torrent peer traffic goes through the proxy or directly, while trackers and normal downloads stay on the proxy.
See the speed
A live graph of total speed, a progress ring for everything still downloading and a table you can sort by number, name, size, downloaded, remaining, speed and time — with a segment bar for every file.
A window per download
A small window shows the graph and speed of one download and asks what to do when it finishes. Choose silent mode, a normal or a minimized window — the main program keeps downloading in the tray either way.
Screenshots
How a download works
The first request asks the server for the file size and whether it supports resuming. If it does, the file is divided into eight parts (the number is set in Settings) and each part is requested with its own connection. Parts are written straight into one file on disk, so there is no slow assembly step at the end.
- Work stealing. A connection that finishes its part takes half of the largest part still in progress. The segment bar in the details of a download shows every connection and where it is.
- Breaks are normal. Every connection retries on its own with a growing pause; a connection that receives data resets its retry counter.
- Polite to servers. If a server answers 429 or 503 or refuses new connections, extra connections step aside and their parts go to the ones that work.
- Login pages are recognised. If a server returns a web page instead of a file, the program reports it instead of saving HTML under the file's name.
Browsers and sites with a login
The ELX extension remembers the real request of the browser — every header including cookies, Authorization and Origin, and for forms the POST method and the form data — and passes it to the program together with the link. The browser download is only paused while the program makes its first request: if the server refuses or answers with a login page, the browser simply continues, so a file is never lost.
| Browser | How to install the extension |
|---|---|
| Chrome, Edge, Opera, Yandex Browser | One Chromium extension for all four: open the extensions page, turn on Developer mode, click Load unpacked and choose the extensions\chrome folder of the program. |
| Firefox | Install elx-download-manager-firefox.xpi from about:addons. Release Firefox accepts only signed add-ons — use Developer Edition or ESR, or load it as a temporary add-on. |
Torrents and proxy
Torrents use the anacrolix/torrent engine with DHT, so magnet links without trackers work too. Before a torrent starts you choose which files to download; you can change it later in the details of the download. Seeding after completion is optional.
| Traffic | With a proxy set |
|---|---|
| HTTP and HTTPS downloads | Through the proxy |
| HTTP trackers, magnet metadata, web seeds | Through the proxy |
| Torrent peers (download and upload) | Through the proxy or directly — a separate switch |
| UDP trackers, DHT, incoming peer connections | Directly: these protocols cannot go through an HTTP proxy |
Download window, tray and updates
- During a download: silent mode, a window or a minimized window on the taskbar. Closing the window does not stop the download.
- When it finishes: nothing, or a window with Open file (Enter), Show in folder and Close (Esc). A minimized window comes up by itself.
- Cancel in the window asks whether to delete the unfinished file or keep the download paused; the answer can be remembered.
- Table: select with the mouse, Ctrl, Shift or a rubber band; Del removes the entry, Shift+Del removes it with the file; Move to folder carries finished and unfinished files and torrents.
- Tray: the icon animates while downloading, its ring shows the total progress.
- Updates: at startup the program asks elxsoftware.com for a new version and installs it in one click after checking the installer's SHA-256.
At a glance
- Operating system
- Windows 10 (1809) and 11, 64-bit
- Written in
- Go; interface in WebView2 (Wails)
- Protocols
- HTTP, HTTPS, BitTorrent (TCP, uTP, DHT), magnet links
- Proxy
- HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5 with a login
- Browsers
- Chrome, Edge, Opera, Yandex Browser (Manifest V3), Firefox (.xpi)
- Interface languages
- English, Russian, Spanish, German, French, Italian
- Installation
- For the current user or for all users, no admin rights needed for the first