Free Download Manager

{{short description|Download manager for Windows, Linux and macOS}}

{{Multiple issues|

{{Primary sources|date=November 2023}}

{{Unreliable sources|date=November 2023}}

}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Free Download Manager

| logo =

| logo caption =

| screenshot = Free Download Manager 6.2.4.png

| caption = Free Download Manager 6.2.4 in Windows 10

| developer = SoftDeluxe

| released = {{Start date and age|2004}}

| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1453399|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

| latest release date = {{Start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q1453399|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}}}

| latest preview version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1453399|P348|P548=Q51930650}}

| latest preview date = {{Start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q1453399|P348|P548=Q51930650|P577}}}}

| programming language = C++

| operating system = Windows, macOS, Linux (.deb) and Android

| platform = Hardware: IA-32 and x64
Software: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, Apple Safari, SeaMonkey

| size = {{Nowrap|Varies with the devices}}

{{Cite web

|url=https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/download.htm

|title=Free Download Manager Downloads

|website=Free Download Manager Downloads

| access-date = 28 May 2021

}}

| language = Albanian, Arabic, Brazilian Bulgarian, Chinese Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Macedonian, Persian Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese-Brazil, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional, Turkish, Uzbek, Vietnamese.

| language count = 30

{{Cite web

|url=https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/features.htm#:~:text=Multi%20language%20support

|title=Multi Language Support

|website=Free Download Manager Features

}}

| genre = Download manager, BitTorrent client & Productivity software

| license = Proprietary

}}

Free Download Manager is a download manager for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.{{Cite web|title=Free Download Manager - download everything from the internet|url=https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/|access-date=2021-05-28|website=freedownloadmanager.org|language=en}}{{cite web|url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.freedownloadmanager.fdm|title=Free Download Manager - Download torrents, videos|website=Google Play Store}}

Free Download Manager is proprietary software, but was free and open-source software between versions 2.5{{cite web|url=http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/blog/2007/08/15/fdm-25-is-released/|title=FDM 2.5 is released!|date=15 April 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070831221120/http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/blog/2007/08/15/fdm-25-is-released/|archive-date=31 August 2007|url-status=dead|work=Free Download Manager blog}} and 3.9.7. Starting with version 3.0.852 (15 April 2010), the source code was made available in the project's Subversion repository instead of being included with the binary package. This continued until version 3.9.7.{{cite web|access-date=22 September 2018|publisher=SourceForge|title=Free Download Manager|url=https://sourceforge.net/p/freedownload/code/HEAD/tree/trunc/|work=SCM Repositories}} The source code for version 5.0 and newer is not available and the GNU General Public License agreement has been removed from the app.

The ability to download YouTube videos was included in the program's functionality until October 16th, 2021, when one of the developers, Alex, indicated that Google had filed a complaint report, requesting the option be disabled.{{Cite news |last=Hashrate |first=Miners |date=2021-11-05 |title=Free Download Manager removes support for YouTube downloads |url=https://www.bitcoinminershashrate.com/free-download-manager-removes-support-for-youtube-downloads/ |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=www.bitcoinminershashrate.com |language=en-US}} Attempts to download any videos from YouTube currently result in the message, "Youtube downloads are not available" being shown in the download box. A resolution with Google's legal team still has yet to be reached.

It was found that the website freedownloadmanager.org was spreading Linux malware for over three years until 2022. Researchers discovered that the site was intermittently redirecting users to domains that served a malicious version of the Free Download Manager software. This malware included a script that installed a backdoor on Linux devices to steal passwords, browsing history, cryptocurrency wallet files, and cloud service credentials. The infection was uncovered in September 2023 though it had been active since 2020. It is believed to have been a supply chain attack impacting the legitimate Free Download Manager project. The malware went undetected for years due to the stealthy nature of Linux threats compared to Windows. The administrators of the site did not respond to notifications about the campaign.{{Cite web |last=Goodin |first=Dan |date=2023-09-12 |title=Password-stealing Linux malware served for 3 years and no one noticed |url=https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/09/password-stealing-linux-malware-served-for-3-years-and-no-one-noticed/ |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us}}