Ant Download Manager

About this release

Ant Download Manager is a transfer manager for people whose connection is faster than any single stream can prove. It opens several connections per file, pulls the pieces in parallel and joins them at the end, which on a fibre line turns a long wait into a short one. The list view shows every job with its speed, its remaining time and its segment breakdown, so nothing is hidden behind a bare progress bar.

The browser side is where most people meet it. Once the extension is registered, clicking any link hands the transfer over automatically, and pages carrying embedded video surface a capture panel listing every available quality and audio track. Playlists and multi part streams collect into a single queue rather than needing to be grabbed one at a time, and the manager reassembles segmented streams into one playable file at the end.

Resume behaviour is solid in the ways that matter. A dropped connection, a server that closes the socket or a machine that restarts mid job all pick up from the last complete segment instead of starting over. Jobs can be scheduled for quiet hours, throttled during the working day, or told to shut the machine down once the queue empties.

Everything else is deliberately plain: a category tree that files finished downloads by type, per site rules for cookies and referrers, proxy support, and a clipboard watcher that offers to take any link you copy. There is no account, no sync and nothing running in the background beyond the tray icon.

What it does

Parallel segment transfer

Files split across several connections and rejoin on completion, which fills a fast line properly.

Video and stream capture

Embedded media on most sites surfaces a quality list, including segmented streams that get rebuilt into one file.

Resume from failure

Interrupted jobs continue from the last finished segment rather than restarting.

Browser handoff

Extensions for the current Chromium and Firefox generations intercept downloads automatically.

Scheduling and throttling

Run a queue overnight, cap speed during working hours or shut down when the list is empty.

Automatic filing

Finished transfers land in folders by file type according to rules set once.

Changed in this version

• Capture updated for the current browser extension platform.
• Better parsing of adaptive streaming manifests with multiple audio tracks.
• Fixed a stall on servers that aggressively limit concurrent connections.
• Reduced memory use on queues with thousands of entries.
• Interface scaling corrected on high density displays.

System requirements

Install order

1. Unpack the archive to any folder.
2. Run the installer and accept the browser extension prompt when it appears.
3. Restart the browser so the extension registers.
4. Set a default download folder and category rules on first run.

Worth knowing before you start

File details