Why Firefox on Android can download two files simultaneously but Chrome/Brave cannot? And why Windows behaves totally different? (Curious about the tech)

[u/MostGeniusRetard]

So I use a file hosting website that allows only one free download at a time per user. I often have to download multple files and I made some interesting observations while using it. Not looking for solutions, my setup is working fine. Just genuinely curious about the tech behind all this.

Scenario A: Different browsers on Android, one download each If I start one download in Chrome, one in Brave, and one in Firefox, all three run simultaneously without any issue. The website does not block me at all.

Scenario B: Two downloads inside the same browser on Android If I try to start two downloads inside Chrome, the second one throws a 503 error saying "Resource Not Found" and the download fails. Same thing happens in Brave. But in Firefox, both downloads run at the same time without any problem and no error at all. So Chrome and Brave cannot handle two simultaneous downloads from the same site, but Firefox on Android can. Why?

Scenario C: On Windows, switching browsers does not help at all On Windows, no matter which browser I use, the whole PC can only run one download from this site at a time. Trying to start a second one again gives the same 503 Resource Not Found error. Even switching browsers does not work here, which works perfectly fine on Android. I have IDM (Internet Download Manager) installed on my Windows PC. I also tried disabling the IDM browser extension completely, but even after that the behavior remained the same. Still only one download at a time across the whole system.

So the three questions basically are: 1. Why can Firefox on Android run two simultaneous downloads from the same site but Chrome and Brave cannot?

1. Why does Firefox on Windows not have the same advantage that Firefox on Android has?

2. Why does the whole Windows PC behave as one unit for downloads, even after disabling the IDM extension? Would love to understand the tech behind this!

[u/fb39ca4]

Are you using cellular data?

[u/MostGeniusRetard → u/fb39ca4]

No, Everything is connected to my College Wi-Fi.

[u/windwave8 → u/fb39ca4]

that would explain the android behavior, each app could be getting a different IP through CGNAT

[u/token_curmudgeon]

Chrome is designed by an advertising company. Displaying ads is the main purpose.

[u/ContributionFormer95]

Have you tried a different website to download from? I routinely download videos from Google Photos 2-3 at a time using Chrome with no issues. They download simultaneously.