News : Metalink Makes Large Downloads Easier

MetaLink is a new technology that makes it easier and faster to get large files. It's kind of like a playlist for such files (they can be FTP, HTTP, or P2P), because it stores multiple file locations in a single file - and then the download proceeds according to a set of rules.

The Wikipedia page for metalink describes it like this:

"Metalink is an open standard/framework for programs that download (download managers, BitTorrent clients, Web browsers, FTP clients, & P2P programs). For increased convenience, it stores the many locations of files (FTP/HTTP/P2P) in a single file (a .metalink) for extra reliability in case one method fails and so chunks/segments of each file can be downloaded from multiple resources at the same time (known as accelerated/multi-threaded/segmented downloading)."

For developers, metalink files are made up of XML and they are extensible. They also work across multiple operating systems. For ordinary users, metalinks apparently make downloads "simpler, faster, and more reliable".

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