| Developer(s) | SoftDeluxe |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 2004 |
| Stable release | 6.19.0.5156[1] 
/ 13 March 2023 |
| Repository | |
| Written in | 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 | Varies with the devices[2] |
| Available in | 30[3] languages |
List of languages 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. | |
| Type | Download manager, BitTorrent client & Productivity software |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | www |
Free Download Manager is a download manager for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.[4][5]
Free Download Manager is proprietary software, but was free and open-source software between versions 2.5[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]
