Metalink
Sign in to saveMetalink is an extensible metadata file format that describes one or more computer files available for download. It specifies files appropriate for a user's language and operating system; facilitates file verification and recovery from data corruption; and lists alternate download sources (mirror URIs).
Official website
Metalinker.org - Bridging the gap
metalinker.org →Link to the official site · 6,466 chars · not written by Vinony
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Encyclopedic overview
12 sectionsContents
- Development history
- Client programs
- Client libraries
- In use
- Metalink client feature comparison
- Metalink generation
- Example Metalink 4.0 .meta4 file
- Example Metalink/HTTP header fields
- Example Metalink 3.0 .metalink file
- See also
- References
- External links
Metalink is an extensible metadata file format that describes one or more computer files available for download. It specifies files appropriate for a 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).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Metalink” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.