How to Limit Wget Download Size on Ubuntu Linux

This article details how to restrict data usage when downloading files with wget on Ubuntu. It identifies the specific command-line options required to cap both cumulative download volumes and individual file sizes. Readers will find syntax examples to implement these limits immediately.

To limit the total amount of data downloaded during a recursive session, use the --quota option. This flag sets a maximum size for the entire retrieval process. If the total data downloaded exceeds this limit, wget will stop automatically. This is particularly useful when mirroring websites or downloading multiple files where bandwidth or disk space is constrained.

The syntax for setting a download quota is as follows:

wget -r --quota=500m https://example.com

In this example, wget will recursively download content from the URL but will cease operation once 500 megabytes of total data have been transferred. You can specify the size in bytes, kilobytes (k), megabytes (m), or gigabytes (g).

If you need to limit the size of a single specific file rather than the total session data, use the --max-filesize option. This command aborts the download if the individual file exceeds the specified limit. This ensures that no single large file consumes excessive resources.

The syntax for limiting a single file size is:

wget --max-filesize=100m https://example.com/largefile.zip

In this case, if the file largefile.zip is larger than 100 megabytes, wget will stop downloading it. Combining these options allows for precise control over data consumption on your Ubuntu system.