Five Different Ways to Download a File Using Python

Downloading files using Python is a common task in web scraping, automation, and data handling. Here are five different methods to download a file with Python, ranging from standard libraries to third-party tools.

1. Using requests

import requests

url = 'https://example.com/file.zip'
response = requests.get(url)

with open('file.zip', 'wb') as f:
    f.write(response.content)

This is one of the most popular and simple ways. The requests library is user-friendly and handles redirects, cookies, and sessions well.

2. Using urllib (Standard Library)

import urllib.request

url = 'https://example.com/file.zip'
urllib.request.urlretrieve(url, 'file.zip')

This method uses only the Python standard library. It's suitable for quick scripts without installing additional packages.

3. Using wget Module

import wget

url = 'https://example.com/file.zip'
filename = wget.download(url)

wget is a simple and lightweight module perfect for downloading files with progress indication.

4. Using aiohttp for Asynchronous Download

import aiohttp
import asyncio

async def download_file(url, filename):
    async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
        async with session.get(url) as resp:
            with open(filename, 'wb') as f:
                while True:
                    chunk = await resp.content.read(1024)
                    if not chunk:
                        break
                    f.write(chunk)

url = 'https://example.com/file.zip'
asyncio.run(download_file(url, 'file.zip'))

For concurrent or non-blocking downloads, aiohttp is the go-to solution using Python’s asyncio.

5. Using httpx (Asynchronous + Modern Alternative)

import httpx

url = 'https://example.com/file.zip'
with httpx.Client() as client:
    response = client.get(url)
    with open('file.zip', 'wb') as f:
        f.write(response.content)

httpx is a modern alternative to requests with support for both sync and async HTTP requests.

Conclusion

Whether you're working on quick scripts or building scalable applications, Python offers multiple ways to download files effectively. Choose the method that fits your use case in terms of simplicity, performance, or concurrency.