Downloading a file from URL

On a server managed by you (VPS/dedicated server), or in some administration panels in the file manager, you can download a file from a URL. This can be especially useful for users with slow internet, because instead of having to download the file to your computer and then upload it to the server via FTP/web file manager, the file is downloaded directly by the server itself, which typically has high download speed.

Getting a direct link (address) of a file

In order to download a file from a URL, you must have a direct link to that file. To get this link, start downloading the file in your browser and right-click on the file in the downling/downloaded files and click something like Copy Download Link.

Often you can get the direct address of a file without even starting the download by copying the link that opens when you click download button/link, after which the file instantly automatically starts downloading (which is not the case with CurseForge, for example, where you need to wait after you click the Download button), see image below

If there is a filename with its expected extension at the end of the link address (bottom left of the image), it is usually a direct link to the file (but it’s not always the case).

If you want to be sure of the correctness of the link, simply start downloading the file and copy the address of the downloaded/uploaded file as described at the beginning.

How to download a file from a URL via the command line

On a machine that you manage, and therefore have access to the command line, you can use the command to download a file from a URL. On Linux/macOS, the wget or curl command is usually used. Both of these commands will download a file with name icon.png from a given URL:

$ curl -o icon.png https://url.com/file-32.png
$ wget -O icon.png https://url.com/file-32.png