Motrix is a free, open-source desktop download manager that handles HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent, and magnet links in one clean app, with resumable transfers, speed profiles, and a pluggable engine.
Motrix is a desktop download manager that keeps every transfer in one place instead of letting browser dialogs scatter across tabs and windows. It accepts HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent, and magnet links, then passes the work to a bundled aria2-based engine that splits a file across multiple connections when the server permits it. The routine is simple: add a link or drop a torrent file, choose a save folder, and watch progress in a task list that shows live speed, size, and time remaining. BitTorrent jobs open a per-file view, so you take only the pieces you need. Downloads resume after a restart, which is the whole point: unattended, dependable fetching on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Where Motrix earns its keep is the awkward transfer: operating system images, large archives, project backups, or a season of video files queued overnight. Because the engine runs as a separate process, closing a browser tab no longer kills a download partway through, and interrupted connections pick up where they stopped. The interface stays quiet, offering a task list, global and per-task speed limits, and a tray icon that reports progress in the background. Media-heavy users who also pull from streaming sites often pair it with a dedicated tool such as YTDownloader, which covers pages that hand out players rather than plain files. Between them, most desktop download jobs are covered.
Most download managers fail in small ways: they hide the queue inside a browser, forget a half-finished file after a reboot, or bury simple options under layers of settings. Motrix avoids that by treating the download list as the main screen. Sessions are stored in a local database, so a restart restores tasks instead of forcing you to start over, and multiple speed-limit profiles let you throttle everything while a call or an online match needs the bandwidth. Tracker list management with automatic updates and health checks helps BitTorrent transfers find peers, while UPnP and NAT-PMP port mapping reduces manual router configuration for people behind a home network. Optional resolver plugins can extract direct file links from supported pages, and the plugin sandbox asks for permissions before running anything. A dashboard with transfer statistics rounds it off.
Key capabilities and highlights.
Handles HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, BitTorrent, and magnet links inside a single queue, so you no longer juggle a browser for ordinary web files and a separate client for torrent jobs, and every transfer shares the same list, settings, save folder rules, and speed limits.
Transfers run on an aria2-based core that opens multiple connections per file wherever the server allows it, which usually means faster completion on large downloads and steadier throughput on links that are slow or unreliable, without any extra configuration from you.
Torrent and magnet jobs list their contents before the download begins, so you can tick individual files from a large release instead of pulling the whole set, which saves disk space and shortens the wait when only a few items matter.
Built-in tracker lists refresh automatically and are checked for health, so torrent transfers keep discovering peers without you hunting down public lists or pasting tracker addresses by hand, and stale entries are dropped instead of being retried forever.
Download state is written to a local database, so tasks survive a restart, a crash, or an abrupt laptop shutdown and continue from the exact point they reached, which matters most on slow connections where restarting a large file is expensive.
Set separate upload and download caps and keep several profiles for different situations, so a queue can keep running quietly while a video call or an online match needs the line, and you switch profiles instead of retyping numbers.
An official extension for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox captures downloads in the browser and sends them straight to the app with a single click, so large files land in the queue instead of a temporary folder you have to tidy later.
Sandboxed plugins can rename files from a template, scrape direct links from a page, or resolve media from supported sites, and the same download core runs headless under Node.js or Docker for a NAS, giving you one queue across devices.
Browse historical releases and previous builds.
Common questions about Motrix.
Yes. It is open-source software released under the MIT license, with no paid tier, no bundled toolbars, and no account requirement.
The desktop app runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The same download engine can also run headless on a server or inside Docker, which suits NAS devices and home labs.
Yes. Torrent and magnet jobs are supported natively, including per-file selection inside a torrent and built-in tracker list management for finding peers.
For direct HTTP and FTP links, the engine can split a file across multiple connections, which often improves speed on servers that allow it. Torrent speed depends on peer and seed availability.
Yes. Transfers run inside the app rather than in a browser tab, so closing the browser or the tab does not interrupt them.
Yes. Upload and download limits can be set globally or per task, and you can save several speed profiles to switch between as your connection needs change.
Yes. An official extension for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox intercepts downloads in the browser and hands them to the desktop app so the queue stays in one place.
They are optional add-ons that run in a sandbox and can do things such as rename files from a template or extract direct file links from supported pages. You approve their requested permissions before they run.
Motrix is a free, open-source desktop download manager that handles HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent, and magnet links in one clean app, with resumable transfers, speed profiles, and a pluggable engine.
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