Bulk Image Downloader 5.0 is the latest version of the excellent image (and video) downloading program for Windows devices that I consider best of its class.
I reviewed Bulk Image Downloader 4.65 back in 2013, and release of the new major version justifies a new look at the program to see what is new and changed.
First of all, Bulk Image Downloader is not a free program but commercial. I think it is worth every penny if you happen to download images regularly, especially if that happens in bulk, as it will save you lots of time doing so.
The licensing is one of the best in the industry though: you may use it on all of your PCs, and licenses get you one year free of upgrades to any version that gets released in the meantime (and there are plenty, check the release history).
Bulk Image Downloader 5.0
The interface has not changed in the latest version of the program. You may still paste or enter URLs that display images to have the program analyze the page for images.
Bulk Image Downloader hides certain images automatically and gets it right usually to display only large image versions. It hides page navigational images for instance or avatars.
You may display those as well with a single click in the interface though.
Downloads happen automatically once you make a selection. You may add all to a queue by checking the “append to existing link” option in the interface. This allows you to get Bulk Image Downloader 5.0 to crawl multiple pages instead of just one.
You may find the variables that the program supports useful as well. You may use [n-m] in the url to replace a single number to have the program crawl all pages of that range. This is mighty useful if a website offers different galleries that are all numbered in order (page1.htm, page2.html, page3.htm).
You are probably wondering what is new in Bulk Image Downloader 5.0. The following list offers a short selection of improvements from Bulk Image Downloader 4.65 onward.
- Support for various websites updated. Websites include Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Deviant Art, Google Image Search, Google Plus, Vk.com, Flickr, 500px and many more.
- Internal web browser memory handling improved greatly. Also, memory handling improved on 64-bit versions of Windows.
- Chrome cookie handling improved (Bulk Image Downloader can read cookies from Chrome to make sites that require logins work).
- Improved HTTPs cookie handling.
- Support for windows 10.
- Improved redirection handling.
- Option to enable or disable JavaScript.
- You may log in to sites directly from the program using Ctrl-Alt-F while its window is active, or selecting BID > Bid Site Login from the menu.
- Updated extension to work with Opera browser as well.
The program is compatible with the bulk of sites you could possibly want to download images from. The developer of the program is very responsive, and there is a good chance that he will add support for sites, especially if paying customers ask for integration.
Closing Words
Bulk Image Downloader gets better with every release. The developer makes sure that support for downloading media from popular sites is guaranteed by releasing regular updates that fix issues (for instance when sites change code that blocks the program’s downloading or scanning from working properly).
Now You: Do you download images from the Internet?