This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Large downloads are prone to failure

  • 6 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by jonzn4SUSE

more options

Good day, everyone,

I've been using Firefox for several months since switching over when the migration to Manifest V3 in Chrome gained momentum. Initially, Firefox worked flawlessly, but over the past couple of months I've encountered a recurring issue where downloads often fail -- sometimes right at the start and other times midway through -- especially with larger files.

I've encountered this issue across multiple machines, and changing the destination drive where the files are saved hasn't made any difference. Interestingly, the same files download without any issues in Chrome, so I've ended up relying on Chrome exclusively for downloads.

Has anyone else experienced this issue?

Thanks in advance!

Good day, everyone, I've been using Firefox for several months since switching over when the migration to Manifest V3 in Chrome gained momentum. Initially, Firefox worked flawlessly, but over the past couple of months I've encountered a recurring issue where downloads often fail -- sometimes right at the start and other times midway through -- especially with larger files. I've encountered this issue across multiple machines, and changing the destination drive where the files are saved hasn't made any difference. Interestingly, the same files download without any issues in Chrome, so I've ended up relying on Chrome exclusively for downloads. Has anyone else experienced this issue? Thanks in advance!

Chosen solution

Just a quick update:

I followed the "Reset the download folder" instructions from this guide:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/cant-download-or-save-files#w_reset-the-download-folder

It seems to have resolved the issue, as I'm no longer encountering download errors on any of my machines.

Thanks, everyone!

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (6)

more options

If this is a bug then you need to do the proper reporting link to report this. Otherwise you should contact the site on how best to download large file as well.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/file-bug-report-or-feature-request-mozilla

Helpful?

more options

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/cant-download-or-save-files

markwarner22 said

If this is a bug then you need to do the proper reporting link to report this.

You generally need to figure out what the actual issues is first and reproduce it and such before filing a bug though.

From https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=bug-writing.html

If you can't reproduce the problem, there's probably no use in reporting it, unless you provide unique information about its occurrence.

Got an old Dell from my mom that used to have connection drops so one could not do video chat well or download larger files. It was dusty inside and once I blew it out with a electric duster it no longer had connection drops.

Modified by James

Helpful?

more options

Thank you for your responses!

The network connection has been verified to be stable, with no drops observed.

The knowledge base article offers only general advice. Could there be a way to enable detailed logging to better understand the circumstances surrounding a download failure? With verbose logs, I could analyze the Firefox source code to better understand the issue, which would help me submit a comprehensive bug report -- provided that a bug is indeed the cause.

At any rate, the issue started at a certain point in time, was not present initially, and is occurring on multiple machines. I am uncertain if it was caused by an OS update, a Firefox update, or something else. However, I find it unlikely that security software is responsible, given that Chrome consistently completes downloads successfully.

Helpful?

more options

Can we get proof of the issue? Screenshots and steps to replicate with links would help us help you.

Modified by jonzn4SUSE

Helpful?

more options

Chosen Solution

Just a quick update:

I followed the "Reset the download folder" instructions from this guide:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/cant-download-or-save-files#w_reset-the-download-folder

It seems to have resolved the issue, as I'm no longer encountering download errors on any of my machines.

Thanks, everyone!

Helpful?

more options

Great. Mark it as resolved and have a nice day.

Helpful?

Ask a question

You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.