Instead, it’s kind of like an add-on tool for your Mac and Windows PC that you can use to download files quickly from web pages to your device. Why Would You Want to Use Wget?īefore we jump in and describe Wget’s features and use-cases, it’s important to clarify that Wget isn’t a direct replacement for a web browser. Wget supports downloading via HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP protocols and provides features such as recursive downloads, downloading through proxies, SSL/TLS support for encrypted downloads, and the ability to download paused/incomplete files. It derives from an old program, Geturl, which translates to ‘ get content from URL‘ (Uniform Resource Locator), wherein get (or GET) is an HTTP method for fetching information from a website. Wget, also called GNU Wget, is a CLI-based program for retrieving content from web servers. Download a File by Skipping Certificate Check Download and Save a File Under a Different Name