Difference Between Download Manager and Download Accelerator (With Table)

When downloading files from the internet, download managers and download accelerators can come in handy. Both tools have grown in popularity as a result of their assistance with the full downloading procedure. Those who are not as familiar with the internet as others may be perplexed as to which is which. 

Download Manager vs Download Accelerator 

The main difference between download manager and download accelerator is that download manager is a program that is designed to make downloading and organizing for the user, whereas download accelerator helps increase the download speed by making several connections to a single website, and each link will download a distinct section of the file. 

A download manager is a computer program that downloads potentially unrelated stand-alone files from the Internet for storage. Some download managers can also be used to speed up downloads by downloading from numerous sources at the same time. Although web browsers may include download managers as a feature, they differ in that they do not prioritize accurate, complete, and uninterrupted information downloads. 

A download accelerator increases download speeds by connecting to a single website many times. If your internet connection is really slow, a download accelerator will be of little value to you. Because downloads are split into numerous threads rather than one, Download Accelerator software allows you to download all types of files without difficulty and at maximum speed. 

Comparison Table Between Download Manager and Download Accelerator 

Parameters of Comparison 

Download Manager 

Download Accelerator 

Meaning  

Download Manager is a program that is designed to make downloading, organizing, and saving files easier. 

A download accelerator boosts download speeds by making several connections to a single website. Each link downloads a distinct section of the file. 

Purpose  

To manage the entire process 

To increase the speed of download. 

Features  

Capable of pausing and resuming large file downloads, scheduled downloads, etc. 

It uses multipart to increase speed, creates multiple connections, splits files into smaller pieces, can get a file simultaneously from several sites, etc.  

Uploading 

Possible 

Not possible 

Co-relation 

Most of them come with a download accelerator. 

They don’t include a download manager. 

Connection Quality 

Not limited by bad connections. 

Limited by the quality of your connection. 

What is Download Manager? 

A download manager is a tool that assists its user in downloading stand-alone files from the internet. Its capabilities, however, are not restricted to downloading; it may even upload at times. The download manager is made up of a slew of little files. Normally, a download manager assists in recovering problems without losing data or previously completed work. 

Download managers may also perform multi-source downloading. Because it downloads separate parts from different sites, multi-source downloading is superior to download acceleration. In this manner, you can take advantage of the constraints imposed by each site and download the content as quickly as your connection allows. 

A download manager is a software application that controls the downloading of files from the Internet. It can be integrated into a Web browser or run as a separate, generally more powerful, manager. 

The download manager is a system service that manages lengthy HTTP downloads. Clients can ask for a URI to be downloaded to a specific destination file. The download manager will handle HTTP transactions and retry downloads after failures or across connectivity changes and machine reboots in the background. 

It can also download huge files for broadband users, resume broken downloads, limit downloading capacity, automatically surf a site to obtain specific content, and perform frequent download upgrades. 

Download managers that are simple to use work well with web browsers. Scheduling, traffic shaping, virus detection, and cataloging are among the features. 

Most download managers include features that speed up downloads by dealing with several segments at the same time. 

What is Download Accelerator? 

Some people jump to conclusions and claim that a download accelerator may speed up one’s present internet connection; nevertheless, a quicker connection requires more than this instrument. However, the download accelerator can guarantee that the user’s download rate will be increased. Normally, this program searches for mirror sites, which are quite useful during downloads. This utility can also recover from shutdowns, failures, and lost connections. 

Download accelerators have nearly vanished, having been absorbed by download managers. Despite the fact that they perform more accurately as a download manager, several applications nevertheless bear the name download accelerator. Internet Download Accelerator is distinguished by its outstanding overall performance and user-friendly design. 

Internet Download Accelerator significantly speeds up file downloads from the Internet via the HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP protocols. The acceleration is performed by dividing a downloaded file into many portions and downloading all of them at the same time. Internet Download Accelerator restores broken downloads from HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP servers from where they left off. 

To improve usability, Internet Download Accelerator replaces the regular download modules in Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape, Safari, Yandex. Browser, Vivaldi, and other browsers. Furthermore, the software monitors the system clipboard and finds URLs in it. You may use IDA to download and save videos from popular video services. 

Download Accelerator employs multipart download to boost download speeds by making numerous connections of various file parts. Download Accelerator Plus works by breaking files into smaller chunks and searching for quicker mirrors automatically. It can also download a file from multiple locations at the same time. 

Main Differences Between Download Manager and Download Accelerator 

  1. A download manager is a program that is designed to make downloading, organize, and saving files. A download accelerator boosts download speeds by making several connections to a single website. Each link downloads a distinct section of the file. 
  2. The main purpose of a download manager is to help manage the entire process, and the purpose of a download accelerator is to increase the speed of download. 
  3. The features of the download manager are that it’s capable of pausing and resuming large file downloads, scheduled downloads, etc. The features of a download accelerator are that it uses multipart to increase speed, creates multiple connections, splits files into smaller pieces, can get a file simultaneously from several sites, etc. 
  4. Uploading is possible in download manager and not in download accelerator. 
  5. Most of the download managers come with a download accelerator. However, vice versa is not true. 
  6. A drawback of a download accelerator is that it is limited by the quality of your connection. This is not the case with a download manager. 

Conclusion 

Both download manager and download accelerator are good techniques for obtaining files from the internet. However, the download accelerator’s primary objective is to increase download speed, but the download manager, as the name implies, supervises the entire process. The download manager can also upload files, whilst the other cannot. 

References 

  1. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/5277879/ 
  2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1742287610000575