SoFunction
Updated on 2025-04-29

Introduction to 10 ways to download files in Python

In Python, we can use a variety of methods to implement file download function. This article will introduce 10 different Python file download methods and provide detailed code examples.

1. Use modules

import 

url = '/'
filename = ''

(url, filename)
print(f"The file has been downloaded: {filename}")

2. Use the requests library (easy way)

import requests

url = '/'
filename = ''

response = (url)
with open(filename, 'wb') as f:
    ()
print("Download is complete!")

3. Use the requests library (with progress bar)

import requests
from tqdm import tqdm

url = '/'
filename = ''

response = (url, stream=True)
total_size = int(('content-length', 0))
block_size = 1024  # 1KB

progress_bar = tqdm(total=total_size, unit='iB', unit_scale=True)
with open(filename, 'wb') as f:
    for data in response.iter_content(block_size):
        progress_bar.update(len(data))
        (data)
progress_bar.close()
print("\nDownload is complete!")

4. Use the wget library

import wget

url = '/'
filename = (url)
print(f"\nThe file has been downloaded: {filename}")

5. Use (standard library)

import 
import 

url = '/'
parsed_url = (url)
filename = ''

conn = (parsed_url.netloc)
("GET", parsed_url.path)
response = ()

with open(filename, 'wb') as f:
    (())
()
print("Download is complete!")

6. Use aiohttp (asynchronous download)

import aiohttp
import asyncio

async def download_file(url, filename):
    async with () as session:
        async with (url) as response:
            with open(filename, 'wb') as f:
                while True:
                    chunk = await (1024)
                    if not chunk:
                        break
                    (chunk)
    print(f"The file has been downloaded: {filename}")

url = '/'
filename = ''

​​​​​​​(download_file(url, filename))

7. Use pycurl (high performance download)

import pycurl
from io import BytesIO

url = '/'
filename = ''

buffer = BytesIO()
c = ()
(, url)
(, buffer)
()
()

with open(filename, 'wb') as f:
    (())
print("Download is complete!")

8. Use the urllib3 library

import urllib3

url = '/'
filename = ''

http = ()
response = ('GET', url)

with open(filename, 'wb') as f:
    ()
print("Download is complete!")

9. Use ftplib to download FTP files

from ftplib import FTP

ftp = FTP('')
(user='username', passwd='password')
filename = 'remote_file.zip'
local_filename = 'local_file.zip'

with open(local_filename, 'wb') as f:
    (f'RETR {filename}', )
()
print("FTP file download is completed!")

10. Download using scp (via paramiko)

import paramiko

host = ''
port = 22
username = 'user'
password = 'password'
remote_path = '/path/to/remote/'
local_path = ''

ssh = ()
ssh.set_missing_host_key_policy(())
(host, port, username, password)

sftp = ssh.open_sftp()
(remote_path, local_path)
()
()
print("The SCP file download is completed!")

Summarize

This article introduces 10 ways to download files in Python, including:

  • Standard library method
  • Simple library method
  • How to take progress bar in library
  • Library-specific method
  • Standard library method
  • Asynchronous Method
  • High-performance method
  • 8.urllib3 library method
  • FTP Download
  • SCP Download

Depending on different needs and scenarios, you can choose the most suitable method. For simple download tasks, the requests library is the most convenient choice; for large file downloads, requests or asynchronous aiohttp with progress bars are more suitable; for special protocols such as FTP/SCP, special libraries are required.

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