Round up: Top 5 best internet download managers

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Introduction

Streaming (rather than downloading) content has become more popular in recent years, but many people aren't prepared to ditch their larger capacity smartphones, computers and storage devices just yet.

Started in the mid 90s, people's love affair with downloading files - from movies and MP3s to torrents and applications - is as strong as it ever was, and with increasingly fast broadband and mobile connectivity, more data is being downloaded to hard drives than at any point in history.

Internet download managers have existed for almost as long as the Internet has been around, and have similarly evolved over time. Their primary goal is still to help you with downloading large or multiple files, but many now come with extra functionality that supercharge the process - from splitting files into separate partitions to help them onto your hard drive quicker to converting them to other file formats or allowing you to share them with other people.

Downloading isn't all about illegal activity either - there are many legitimate reasons to fire up an internet download manager. You might be wanting to grab a file that you've uploaded yourself, for example, where you've lost the original copy. Or you might be downloading creative works, or open source material that has been made available by the author.

Here are five of the best Internet download managers. If you have any suggestions for this list, let us know in the comments below.

1. Download Accelerator Plus

Download Accelerator Plus is a tool that can help you speed up your internet downloads without having to put in any extra work. It works by searching a set of servers for the file you're downloading, which allows it to request the file from multiple sources at the same time in order to achieve the fastest download speed.

This works best when used to look for files that may be commonly available in multiple locations - such as anti-virus programs, operating system utilities and other executable files. In addition to speeding up your downloads, Download Accelerator Plus comes with an FTP program built-in that allows you to access, download and upload files stored on a web server, and a Private Disk function allows you to password-protect a folder for your downloads.

2. JDownloader 2 BETA

JDownloader2 is the sequel to the popular file downloader JDownloader. LIke others on our list, the program can download files from websites, but JDownloaders stands out for its ability to easily download files from one-click hosts - from Rapidshare to MediaFire, Uploaded and NetLoad.

Some download managers don't allow this due to incompatibility with the particular file formats that these sites use, but JDownloader2 runs into no such problems as it supports the Rapidshare Downloader Format (RSDF), Cryptload Container Format (CCF) and Download Link Container (DLC) formats.

Other handy extras featured in the program include automatic captcha recognition, allowing you to bypass the irritating security mechanism, and you can even set up your downloads workflow to automatically move downloaded files into various folders based on their filename, allowing you to keep your downloads neat and tidy with minimal effort.

Note that you'l need to download Java Runtime to get it to work, and the program is still BETA, so bear in mind that it's not the finished product.

3. Free Download Manager

Torrents have something of a reputation when it comes to illegal content - with owners of website such as ThePirateBay appearing in headlines for being brought to the dock for allowing its users to share copyrighted content. But there are numerous legitimate reasons to use torrents too, and you're looking to get involved, Free Download Manger combines the best bits of regular download managers with torrent downloading programs.

It allows you to start downloads directly from the BitTorrent network or by clicking on torrents hosted on other sites, in addition to being able to download files over the regular HTTP, HTTPS and FTP protocols. The program's makers claim they have managed to increase the tool's speed by up to 600%, in addition to adding the ability to continue previously cancelled downloads. With a slew of other features including the ability to convert audio and video into different file formats, Free Download Manager aims to be a one-stop shop for downloading a multitude of files from a wide range of online locations.

4. YouTube Downloader

YouTube Downloader is a hassle-free way of ripping YouTube videos to your hard disk drive, with the option to convert the file into multiple different formats. It may have YouTube in its name, but the app also works with a multitude of other video websites - including DailyMotion and Facebook.

The use of a tool like Free YouTube Downloader is necessary as many video websites stream video in the Flash format, which tends not to be compatible with smartphones, tablets and other devices. To save time, you can select from a variety of video formats - including AVI, MP4 and WVM - before pasting in a YouTube URL to automatically convert the file after it's downloaded.

5. Freemake Video Downloader

Freemake Video Downloader is particularly efficient at downloading videos from a range of websites before converting them into different file formats. If you're running Firefox, you can download a plug-in that allows you to download any video from YouTube with a single click, which is useful for archiving your own videos to hard disk or quickly grabbing copyright-free content from other people's accounts.

The program uses Freemake's own video conversion technology that powers the company's Freemake Video Converter, allowing you to convert files into: MP4, WebM, FLV, MP4 and 3GP. Aside from the basic conversion options, there's a whole heap of additional features - from allowing you to download from social media sites such as Yandex, Facebook, Nicovideo and VKontakte - and you can set it to download through a proxy server and even filter adult content.