Firefox Downloader

[Drolyt]

I noticed a couple weird things and I wonder why it works that way. Firstly it seems that in Firefox the maximum number of downloads you can have at one time is 30. This also means that if you are downloading 30 things you can't even load a page until at least one of those 30 things finishes downloading. Is there a reason for this? Is this true for all browsers or just Firefox? Maybe it's a Windows thing limiting the number of connections?

Secondly I went to bed after having started 30 downloads and clicking the link on 4 more. When I woke up I found dialog boxes for those 4 things asking me whether to open or download. I selected download and these 4 100 megabyte files downloaded instantaneously. Does this mean that Firefox is already downloading it before you select where to download the files to?

[valadil]

I've never heard of that kind of limit in firefox before. What seems more likely to me is that 30 downloads used up all your bandwidth and that stopped you from loading other pages.

[Drolyt]

I've never heard of that kind of limit in firefox before. What seems more likely to me is that 30 downloads used up all your bandwidth and that stopped you from loading other pages.

But the thirty downloads limit seems to apply regardless of what connection I'm using (I have a DSL connection at home, and a connection at school that gives me craploads of bandwidth I've never been able to use up). If I was just running out of bandwidth shouldn't I run out sooner with a slower connection? Also if that were the issue why couldn't firefox just slow down the downloads? All thirty downloads were downloading at about 100 Kb/sec each.

[lesser_minion]

Web browsers do have a maximum number of connections they will make to a particular server, and a maximum number of connections they will make in total.

You can change these settings using about:config in Firefox:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Network.http.max-connections
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Network.http.max-connections-per-server

And yes, the defaults in Firefox are 8 connections per server and 30 connections total.

[Jack Squat]

in about:config I see network.http.max-connections is set at 30 - so yes, there is this limit.

To change it, go to about:config (a warning will pop up saying that you could royally bork your browser if you mess with this) find the network.http.max-connections line, double-click on the 30, and change the number to whatever you want.


EDIT: Ninja'd

[Drolyt]

Is there a good reason they have those max connections?

[Jack Squat]

If I had to guess, it'd be to reduce strain on the network connections. Not so much useful for at home with one connection, or at a large school, where they have allocated bandwith, but the inbetween, were you have multiple active computers and nonallocated bandwidth, it'll keep one person from dominating the connection.

[Cicciograna]

Since the first question has already been addressed...


Does this mean that Firefox is already downloading it before you select where to download the files to?

Yes it does.

[Drolyt]

Well, I think that addresses everything. Thanks guys..

[lesser_minion]

Secondly I went to bed after having started 30 downloads and clicking the link on 4 more. When I woke up I found dialog boxes for those 4 things asking me whether to open or download. I selected download and these 4 100 megabyte files downloaded instantaneously. Does this mean that Firefox is already downloading it before you select where to download the files to?

It does. The prompt spawns when files with particular content-types (that your browser can't work with or has been told not to) start downloading. It's mostly there to prevent a download from executing code, and to make sure that you're ready to work with the file.

I imagine that the max connections thing is there because having too many connections can get hard to handle on both ends because of the memory and processing power required to deal with them.

I imagine that a server faced with 500,000 http requests from the same IP would 503 (or, more likely, 403) the whole lot.

[Mando Knight]

When I woke up I found dialog boxes for those 4 things asking me whether to open or download. I selected download and these 4 100 megabyte files downloaded instantaneously. Does this mean that Firefox is already downloading it before you select where to download the files to?

By clicking the download option, you tell it to save to a temporary folder, which is also where it sends the files for reference when you tell it to open instead of save.

[Drolyt]

By clicking the download option, you tell it to save to a temporary folder, which is also where it sends the files for reference when you tell it to open instead of save.

I thought that might be how it worked. Thank you.