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Add to SafariWhen comparing aria2 vs WebTorrent Desktop, the Slant community recommends aria2 for most people. In the question“What are the best Torrent clients?” aria2 is ranked 5th while WebTorrent Desktop is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose aria2 is:
Due to aria2 being a CLI only tool it uses very little memory.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Small memory footprint
Due to aria2 being a CLI only tool it uses very little memory.
Pro Supports multiple download protocols
Has support for lots of download protocols including BitTorrent, Metalink, HTTP, HTTPS and FTP.
Pro Remote control over simple standartized RPC
XML or JSON-based RPCs can be used to control aria2 remotely with both APIs completely documented. Simplest client that uploads torrent to be downloaded is 3 Python lines long (no 3rd-party libraries, only stdlib).
Run aria2c --help=#rpc to see more.
Pro Third parties offer a clean web interface
Some web interfaces consist of pure HTML+JS, no server-side needed (except aria2c of course). It uses the same RPC that can work even over WebSockets.
Pro Free and open source
Pro Streaming supported
Before the torrent is complete, you can stream the video and audio. It even supports seeking - it prioritizes the current location instead of always going in sequential order.
You can also stream to Chromecast, DLNA, and AirPlay.
Pro Insanely fast
Download multiple torrents simultaneously, efficiently and fast.
Pro Open Source
The developers have their files stored on GitHub.
Pro Beautiful interface
Pro Support webrtc peers
It supports webrtc peers which increases the swarm to allow for websites to stream.
Pro Comprehensive test suite
Runs completely offline, so it's reliable and fast.
Pro Exposes files as streams
Fetches pieces from the network on-demand so seeking is supported (even before torrent is finished).
Seamlessly switches between sequential and rarest-first piece selection strategy.
Pro Supports advanced torrent client features
- magnet uri support via ut_metadata
- peer discovery via dht, tracker, and ut_pex
- protocol extension api for adding new extensions
Cons
Con No native graphical user interface
While there is a web-based GUI, there is no native interface.
Con No HTTP/2 support
While the developer of aria2 is developing nghttp2 library, aria2 has no support for http2.
Con Ugly interface
Con Confusing to use
Con Missing some more advanced controls
For those who like fine-tuning something simple into something crazy.
