How to Use wget in Linux with Examples

GNU Wget is a command-line utility for downloading files from the web. It supports HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP protocols and provides features such as recursive downloads, bandwidth limiting, resume support, and background operation.

This guide explains how to use the wget command through practical examples and detailed explanations of the most common options.

Installing Wget #

Wget is pre-installed on most Linux distributions. To verify, run:

wget --version

If it is not installed, use your distribution’s package manager.

Ubuntu, Debian, and Derivatives #

sudo apt install wget

Fedora, RHEL, and Derivatives #

sudo dnf install wget

Wget Command Syntax #

The general syntax of the wget command is:

wget [OPTIONS] [URL]

• OPTIONS - Flags that control download behavior
• URL - The address of the file or resource to download

Download a File #

In its simplest form, wget downloads the resource at the given URL to the current working directory :

wget https://releases.ubuntu.com/noble/ubuntu-24.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso

During the download, wget displays the progress bar alongside the file name, file size, download speed, and estimated time remaining. Once the download completes, the file is saved in the current directory.

If a file with the same name already exists, wget appends .N (a number) to the filename to avoid overwriting it. To skip the download instead of creating a numbered copy, use the -nc (no clobber) option:

wget -nc https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/wget/wget-1.25.0.tar.gz

File ‘wget-1.25.0.tar.gz’ already there; not retrieving.

To suppress all output, use the -q (quiet) option:

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

The -q option hides the progress bar as well. When you want a quiet run that still shows how far along the transfer is, combine it with --show-progress:

wget -q --show-progress https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/wget/wget-1.25.0.tar.gz

wget-1.25.0.tar.gz  100%[===================>]   5.02M  1.71MB/s    in 2.9s

For a middle ground between the default output and full silence, -nv (no verbose) prints only errors and a one-line summary for each file.

Save Under a Different Name #

To save the downloaded file with a specific name, use the -O option:

wget -O latest-hugo.zip https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/archive/refs/heads/master.zip

This saves the file as latest-hugo.zip instead of its original name.

Download to a Specific Directory #

By default, wget saves files in the current directory. To save to a different location, use the -P option:

wget -P /mnt/iso https://releases.ubuntu.com/noble/ubuntu-24.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso

Resume a Download #

To resume an interrupted download, use the -c (continue) option:

wget -c https://releases.ubuntu.com/noble/ubuntu-24.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso

--2026-08-14 16:43:26--  https://releases.ubuntu.com/noble/ubuntu-24.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso
Resolving releases.ubuntu.com (releases.ubuntu.com)... 91.189.91.107, 185.125.190.37, 91.189.91.108, ...
Connecting to releases.ubuntu.com (releases.ubuntu.com)|91.189.91.107|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 206 Partial Content
Length: 3405469696 (3.2G), 3403237819 (3.2G) remaining [application/x-iso9660-image]
Saving to: ‘ubuntu-24.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso’

The 206 Partial Content status and the remaining figure confirm the server picked up where the previous attempt stopped. A 200 OK response here means the server ignored the range request and the transfer started over from zero.

This is useful when downloading large files over an unreliable connection.

Limit Download Speed #

To prevent wget from consuming all available bandwidth, use the --limit-rate option. Append k for kilobytes, m for megabytes, or g for gigabytes:

wget --limit-rate=2m https://example.com/large-file.tar.gz

This limits the download speed to 2 MB per second.

Download Multiple Files #

To download multiple files at once, create a text file with one URL per line and pass it to wget with the -i option:

https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/wget/wget-1.25.0.tar.gz
https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/hello/hello-2.12.2.tar.gz
https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/make-4.4.1.tar.gz

wget -i urls.txt

Wget works through the list in order and closes with a FINISHED block reporting how many files were downloaded and the total transfer time.

To read URLs from standard input, use -i -.

Download in the Background #

To run the download as a background process, use the -b option:

wget -b https://releases.ubuntu.com/noble/ubuntu-24.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso

Continuing in background, pid 77466.
Output will be written to ‘wget-log’.

The output is written to wget-log in the current directory. To monitor progress, use the tail command:

tail -f wget-log

--2026-08-14 16:42:43--  https://releases.ubuntu.com/noble/ubuntu-24.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso
Resolving releases.ubuntu.com (releases.ubuntu.com)... 91.189.91.108, 91.189.91.109, 91.189.91.107, ...
Connecting to releases.ubuntu.com (releases.ubuntu.com)|91.189.91.108|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 3405469696 (3.2G) [application/x-iso9660-image]
Saving to: ‘ubuntu-24.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso’

     0K .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........  0%  229K 4h1m

Because the log is not a terminal, wget writes dot progress rather than the usual bar. Each row of dots is 50 KB. To send the log somewhere other than wget-log, add -o:

wget -b -o ~/downloads.log https://releases.ubuntu.com/noble/ubuntu-24.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso

Recursive Download and Website Mirroring #

To download an entire website for offline browsing, use the -m (mirror) option combined with -k (convert links) and -p (download page requisites):

wget -m -k -p https://example.com

• -m - Mirror mode: enables recursive downloading, timestamping, and infinite depth
• -k - Convert links in downloaded pages to point to local files
• -p - Download all resources needed to display each page (CSS, images, JavaScript)

To limit the recursive depth, use the -l option:

wget -r -l 2 https://example.com

This downloads pages up to 2 levels deep from the starting URL.

When you want a single directory and not the rest of the site, add --no-parent. It stops wget from following links that climb above the starting path:

wget -r --no-parent https://example.com/docs/manuals/

Without --no-parent, one link back to /docs/ is enough to pull in that directory and everything below it.

To accept or reject specific file types during a recursive download:

wget -r --accept=jpg,png,gif https://example.com/gallery/

wget -r --reject=mp4,avi https://example.com/media/

Authentication #

HTTP Authentication #

To download from a server that requires HTTP basic authentication, use the --user and --password options:

wget --user=admin --password=secret https://example.com/protected/file.tar.gz

For token-based authentication, pass the token as a custom header:

wget --header="Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" https://api.example.com/data.json

FTP Authentication #

To download from a password-protected FTP server:

wget --ftp-user=FTP_USERNAME --ftp-password=FTP_PASSWORD ftp://ftp.example.com/file.tar.gz

Useful Options #

Check if a URL Exists #

The --spider option checks whether a URL is reachable without downloading the file:

wget --spider https://releases.ubuntu.com/noble/ubuntu-24.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso

Spider mode enabled. Check if remote file exists.
--2026-08-14 16:21:02--  https://releases.ubuntu.com/noble/ubuntu-24.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso
Resolving releases.ubuntu.com (releases.ubuntu.com)... 185.125.190.37, 185.125.190.40, 91.189.91.107, ...
Connecting to releases.ubuntu.com (releases.ubuntu.com)|185.125.190.37|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 3405469696 (3.2G) [application/x-iso9660-image]
Remote file exists.

The last line is the one to check. When the URL is wrong, the same command ends differently:

HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found
Remote file does not exist -- broken link!!!

--spider also sets a non-zero exit status on failure, which makes it usable in scripts that verify a mirror before starting a large download.

Download Only if Newer #

The -N (timestamping) option downloads the file only if the remote version is newer than the local copy:

wget -N https://example.com/data.csv

Custom HTTP Headers #

To send custom headers with the request, use the --header option:

wget --header="Accept: application/json" https://api.example.com/endpoint

You can pass --header multiple times to add several headers.

Set Retries and Timeouts #

To control retry behavior and connection timeouts:

wget --tries=5 --timeout=30 https://example.com/file.tar.gz

• --tries=N - Retry up to N times (default is 20)
• --timeout=N - Set DNS, connect, and read timeout to N seconds

To also retry when the connection is refused:

wget --tries=5 --retry-connrefused https://example.com/file.tar.gz

Change the User Agent #

Some servers block requests from the default wget user agent. To send a different user agent string, use the -U option:

wget -U "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:140.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/140.0" https://example.com/

Skip Certificate Verification #

To download from a host with an invalid or self-signed SSL certificate, use --no-check-certificate:

wget --no-check-certificate https://self-signed.example.com/file.tar.gz

Use Cookies #

To save persistent cookies sent by a server to a file, use --save-cookies:

wget --save-cookies cookies.txt https://example.com/login

Many login systems use session cookies. To save those too, add --keep-session-cookies:

wget --save-cookies cookies.txt --keep-session-cookies https://example.com/login

To send cookies from a file with subsequent requests, use --load-cookies:

wget --load-cookies cookies.txt https://example.com/protected/file.tar.gz

This is useful when the resource requires an authenticated cookie. Combine --save-cookies, --keep-session-cookies, and --load-cookies to keep the same session across multiple wget calls.

Use a Proxy #

To download through a proxy server, pass the proxy address with the -e option:

wget -e use_proxy=yes -e https_proxy=http://proxy.example.com:8080 https://example.com/file.tar.gz

You can also export the proxy environment variables before calling wget:

export http_proxy=http://proxy.example.com:8080
export https_proxy=http://proxy.example.com:8080
wget https://example.com/file.tar.gz

If the proxy requires authentication, add --proxy-user and --proxy-password:

wget --proxy-user=USER --proxy-password=PASS https://example.com/file.tar.gz

Download and Pipe to Another Command #

To download a file and pipe it directly to another command without saving it to disk, use -O -:

wget -q -O - "https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz" | tar -xzf - -C /var/www

This downloads the latest WordPress archive and extracts it directly to /var/www.

Use Server-Suggested Filename #

Some servers send a Content-Disposition header with a suggested filename. By default, wget ignores it and names the file after the last path segment:

wget "https://codeload.github.com/gohugoio/hugo/tar.gz/refs/tags/v0.128.0"

Saving to: ‘v0.128.0’

That name is not useful. With --content-disposition, wget uses the name the server suggests instead:

wget --content-disposition "https://codeload.github.com/gohugoio/hugo/tar.gz/refs/tags/v0.128.0"

Saving to: ‘hugo-0.128.0.tar.gz’

Troubleshooting #

Unable to resolve host address
DNS resolution failed. Verify the hostname is correct and that your DNS settings are working. Try ping hostname to test.

HTTP request sent, awaiting response… 403 Forbidden
The server is blocking the request. Try changing the user agent with -U, or check if the server requires authentication.

ERROR: cannot verify certificate
The server’s SSL certificate is invalid or expired. If you trust the host, use --no-check-certificate. Otherwise, update your system’s CA certificates with sudo apt install ca-certificates or sudo dnf install ca-certificates.

Download speed is extremely slow
Check your connection and whether the remote server is throttling. Try a different mirror if one is available. Use -c to resume if the download stalls.

wget: command not found
Wget is not installed. Install it with sudo apt install wget or sudo dnf install wget depending on your distribution.

Quick Reference #

For a printable quick reference, see the Wget Cheatsheet .

FAQ #

What is the difference between wget and curl?
Both download files from the web. Wget specializes in recursive downloads, website mirroring, and resuming large transfers. curl supports more protocols and is better suited for API interactions and sending data. Wget saves to a file by default, while curl prints to standard output. See the curl vs wget comparison for side-by-side examples, or the curl command examples guide for curl on its own.

How do I download an entire directory from a web server?
Use wget -r --no-parent URL/directory/ to recursively download the directory without ascending to the parent. Add --accept or --reject to filter file types.

Can wget resume a partially downloaded file?
Yes. Use the -c flag. Wget sends a Range header to request only the remaining bytes. If the server does not support range requests, the download starts from the beginning.

How do I retry a failed download automatically?
Wget retries up to 20 times by default. Use --tries=N to change the limit. Add --retry-connrefused to also retry when the server refuses the connection. The --waitretry=N option uses linear backoff, starting at one second and increasing to a maximum of N seconds between retries.

How do I download files that require login?
For HTTP basic authentication, use --user and --password. For token-based APIs, pass the token with --header="Authorization: Bearer TOKEN". For FTP, use --ftp-user and --ftp-password.

Conclusion #

Wget is a versatile tool for downloading files, mirroring websites, and automating transfers from the command line. Combine it with options like -c for resuming, --limit-rate for bandwidth control, and -m -k -p for offline website copies.

For the complete list of options, see the GNU Wget Manual .

About the authors

Dejan Panovski

Dejan Panovski is the founder of Linuxize, an RHCSA-certified Linux system administrator and DevOps engineer based in Skopje, Macedonia. Author of 800+ Linux tutorials with 20+ years of experience turning complex Linux tasks into clear, reliable guides.

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