Metalink
Metalink is an extensible metadata file format that describes one or more computer files available for download. It specifies files appropriate for the user's language and operating system; facilitates file verification and recovery from data corruption; and lists alternate download sources (mirror URIs).

The metadata is encoded in HTTP header fields and/or in an XML file with extension or . The duplicate download locations provide reliability in case one method fails. Some clients also achieve faster download speeds by allowing different chunks/segments of each file to be downloaded from multiple resources at the same time (segmented downloading).

Metalink supports listing multiple partial and full file hashes along with PGP signatures. Most clients only support verifying MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256, however. Besides FTP and HTTP mirror locations and rsync, it also supports listing the P2P methods BitTorrent, ed2k, magnet link or any other that uses a URI.
Q180160
metadata
Concept
Q235557
file format
Concept
Q82753
computer file
Concept
Q7126717
download
Concept
Q9135
operating system
Concept
Q5448364
file verification
UNK
Q3326322
data corruption
Concept
Q1938536
mirror
Concept
Q61694
URIs
Concept
Q1428315
HTTP header fields
UNK
Q2115
XML
ORG
Q186157
extension
Concept
Q7446284
segmented downloading
UNK
Q477202
hashes
Concept
Q1227452
PGP
MEDIA
Q185235
MD5
MISC
Q13414952
SHA-1
MISC
Q1968605
SHA-256
MISC
Q1938536
mirror
Concept
Q283774
rsync
Concept
Q133862
BitTorrent
MEDIA
ed2k
UNK
Q582925
magnet link
UNK
Q61694
URI
Concept
Q1924866
Metalink
MEDIA
Q1924866
Metalink
MEDIA
+5^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
5
NUMBER
-1^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-1
NUMBER
-256^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-256
NUMBER
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
instance of
has quality