Metalink is an extensible metadata file format that describes one or more computer files available for download. It specifies files appropriate for the user's language and operating system; facilitates file verification and recovery from data corruption; and lists alternate download sources (mirror URIs).
The metadata is encoded in HTTP header fields and/or in an XML file with extension or . The duplicate download locations provide reliability in case one method fails. Some clients also achieve faster download speeds by allowing different chunks/segments of each file to be downloaded from multiple resources at the same time (segmented downloading).
Metalink supports listing multiple partial and full file hashes along with PGP signatures. Most clients only support verifying MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256, however. Besides FTP and HTTP mirror locations and rsync, it also supports listing the P2P methods BitTorrent, ed2k, magnet link or any other that uses a URI.
Metalink 3.0 was publicly released in 2005. It was designed to aid in downloading Linux ISO images and other large files on release day, when servers would be overloaded (each server would have to be tried manually) and to repair large downloads by replacing only the parts with errors instead of fully re-downloading them. It was initially adopted by download managers, and was used by open source projects such as OpenOffice.org and Linux distributions. A community developed around it, more download programs supported it (including proprietary ones) and it saw commercial adoption. In 2008, the community took their work to the Internet Engineering Task Force which resulted in Metalink 4.0 in 2010, described in a Standards Track RFC. Metalink 3.0 (with the extension) and Metalink 4.0 (with the extension) are incompatible because they have a slightly different format. In 2011, another Standards Track RFC described Metalink in HTTP header fields.
| Tool | Debian-based | Fedora-based | Arch-based | BSD-based | Windows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aria2 | |||||
| cURL |
|
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| ||
| Wget |
|
|
|
| |
| DownThemAll | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | |
| FlashGot | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | |
| Free Download Manager | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | |
| GetRight | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | |
| jDownloader | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | |
| KGet | |||||
| Phex | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | |
| SmartFTP | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | |
| easyMule | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | |
| ZYpp | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | not in repo | |
See also: Comparison of download managers.
Mandriva Linux has integrated Metalink into package management with urpmi and aria2.Fedora has integrated Metalink into package management with yum. openSUSE has integrated Metalink into package management with ZYpp and aria2.
Wubi, the Windows-based Ubuntu installer, uses Metadl (LGPL) to download Ubuntu ISO images and takes advantage of Metalink's features of higher availability and increased reliability. If there are errors in the download, they are repaired, instead of restarting the large download.
Appupdater (GPL) for Windows "is similar to apt-get or yum on Linux. It automates the process of installing and maintaining up to date versions of programs."
Currently, OpenOffice.org uses Metalinks to distribute their free office suite. cURL offers Metalinks of their downloads. UniProt Consortium also provides a Metalink for their large protein database. Dofus, a Flash MMORPG uses Metalinks for downloads and so does SageMath, the open-source mathematical software.
According to the main metalinker.org site, the software hosting and collaboration platform Origo generates Metalinks for all hosted releases.[1]
The following Linux distributions use Metalink for ISO image distribution: Adios, Bayanihan Linux, BeleniX, Berry Linux, BLAG Linux and GNU, Bluewhite64 Linux, Damn Small Linux, Fedora, GoboLinux, Granular Linux, KateOS, Linux Mint, openSUSE, Pardus Linux, PCLinuxOS, PuppyLinux, Sabayon Linux, StartCom Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux, Ubuntu.
The following FreeBSD based distributions use Metalink for ISO image distribution: DesktopBSD, MidnightBSD, and TrueOS.
A guide to which clients support which Metalink features:
| Client | wget | cURL | DownThemAll | Free Download Manager | GetRight | KGet | Phex | SmartFTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licensing | Free Software (GNU General Public License) | Free Software (MIT/X derivate license) | Free Software (GNU General Public License) | Free Software (GNU General Public License) | Proprietary / $29.95 for Standard, $49.95 for Pro | Free Software (GNU General Public License) | Free Software (GNU General Public License) | Proprietary / Free 30 day Evaluation Multiple Editions/$39.99 Professional | |
| Interface | CLI | CLI | GUI | GUI | GUI | GUI | GUI | GUI | |
| Metalink 4.0 | |||||||||
| Runs on Linux | |||||||||
| Runs on Windows | |||||||||
| Runs on Mac OS X | |||||||||
| Resume Downloads | ? | ? | |||||||
| Segmented Downloads | ? | ? | |||||||
| Multiple File support | ? | ? | |||||||
| "location" | ? | ? | |||||||
| OS | ? | ? | |||||||
| Language | ? | ? | |||||||
| HTTP with Transparent Negotiation | ? | ? | |||||||
| Metalink/HTTP | ? | ? | |||||||
| HTTP | |||||||||
| FTP | |||||||||
| BitTorrent | ? | ? | |||||||
| magnet | ? | ? | |||||||
| MD5 Hashes | ? | ? | |||||||
| SHA-1 Hashes | ? | ? | |||||||
| SHA-256 Hashes | ? | ? | |||||||
| Piece Hashes | ? | ? | |||||||
| PGP Signatures | ? | ? | |||||||
No clients support rsync at this time.
Metalink is formatted as XML so it can be either hand-crafted or created with an XML library, useful for automation. These tools are specifically for Metalink.
Metalink 4.0 files have the extension and are XML text files. They are served with the application/metalink4+xml Internet media type.
Metalink in HTTP header fields makes use of existing standard HTTP header fields such as ETags, Link header fields (for mirrors and P2P), and Instance Digests (for hashes).
Etag: "thvDyvhfIqlvFe+A9MYgxAfm1q5=" Link: <http://www2.example.com/example.ext>; rel=duplicate Link: <ftp://ftp.example.com/example.ext>; rel=duplicate Link: <http://example.com/example.ext.torrent>; rel=describedby; type="application/x-bittorrent" Link: <http://example.com/example.ext.meta4>; rel=describedby; type="application/metalink4+xml" Link: <http://example.com/example.ext.asc>; rel=describedby; type="application/pgp-signature" Digest: SHA-256=MWVkMWQxYTRiMzk5MDQ0MzI3NGU5NDEyZTk5OWY1ZGFmNzgyZTJlODYzYjRjYzFhOTlmNTQwYzI2M2QwM2U2MQ==
Metalink 3.0 files have the extension and are XML text files.