Internet Download Manager is a tool for increasing download speeds by up to 5 times, and for resuming, scheduling, and organizing downloads. The program will resume unfinished downloads due to network problems, or unexpected power outages. The program features a full-fledged site grabber that downloads files that are specified with filters, for example, all pictures from a Web site, different parts of web sites, or complete web sites for offline browsing. The program supports HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and MMS protocols, and has an adaptive download accelerator for MP3 audio and MPEG video files. Internet Download Manager can be used to download FLV videos from YouTube, Google Video, MySpaceTV, and other popular sites. It integrates into Opera, Mozilla, Internet Explorer, Firefox, MSN, AOL, and into any application that uses FTP, or HTTP protocols. Internet Download Manager fully supports Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7.

Version 5.11 build 9 adds a feature allowing to use patterns with wildcards (*) in the list of Internet addresses which IDM should not take over from browsers.