How to Change aria2 Progress Summary Interval?

To change how frequently the aria2 command-line download utility prints its progress summary to the console, you must use the --summary-interval option. By default, aria2 outputs a status update—showing the download speed, progress percentage, and estimated time remaining—every 60 seconds. By passing this specific flag followed by your desired time in seconds, you can either increase the frequency for real-time monitoring or decrease it to keep your terminal logs clean.

Understanding the --summary-interval Option

The summary-interval setting defines the gap between each progress report in the console. Setting this value appropriately is highly useful when redirecting outputs to log files or running aria2 in automated scripts where excessive verbosity is unwanted.

The basic syntax for the command is:

aria2c --summary-interval=<SEC> [URL]

• <SEC>: The number of seconds between each summary print.
• The default value is 60.
• To completely disable the progress summary, you can set the value to 0.

Examples of Usage

• High-frequency updates (Every 5 seconds): If you are monitoring a fast download and want near-instant feedback, lower the interval. aria2c --summary-interval=5 https://example.com/file.zip
• Low-frequency updates (Every 5 minutes): If you are running a long download in the background and want to minimize console clutter, increase the interval. aria2c --summary-interval=300 https://example.com/file.zip
• Disabling the summary completely: If you only want to see the final completion status or error messages, turn the interval off. aria2c --summary-interval=0 https://example.com/file.zip

Making the Setting Permanent

If you find yourself using the same interval frequently, you can avoid typing the flag every time by adding it to your aria2 configuration file (usually located at ~/.config/aria2/aria2.conf on Linux/macOS).

Add the following line to the file:

summary-interval=10

Once saved, aria2 will automatically apply a 10-second progress summary interval to all future download sessions unless overridden manually in the command line.