[Android] Effective way to download files

Question

Hi. In my app I need to download a lot of small files (0.1 - 5MB). For example now I have got 50 files and I download them by using this code foreach:

FileOutputStream fOut = null;
File file = new File(localPATH, localName);
if (file.exists())
      file.delete();
file.createNewFile();
fOut = new FileOutputStream(file);
dbxClient.files().downloadBuilder(remotePATH).start().download(fOut);
fOut.flush();
fOut.close();

But I think this way isn't good. Download process take from 1 to 2.5 minutes (size of all files = 8MB, my internet speed = 40Mbps).

Can someone tell me what should I use for increase download speed?

Thanks for answers.

Greg-DB · Accepted Answer

Your connection speed to Dropbox depends on the routing you get between your ISP and our servers, and may be slower than your ISP's rated speeds. Sometimes resetting or retrying your connection gets you a different route and better speeds, but that is outside of our control. Some ISPs also throttle sustained connections so if you see an initial high connection speed followed by lower speeds, that could be the reason. The API can't offer a way to control that unfortunately.

That said, in your case, the effective speed you're seeing may be due to the fact that you're trying to download many smaller files. In this example, you need to make 50 distinct API calls, each of which comes with some amount of overhead, reducing the overall speed. Unfortunately, the API doesn't offer a good solution to that, but I'll be sure to pass this along as a feature request for a batch download call.