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Why are My iTunes Downloads so Slow?

I have a 30 Mbps internet connection. When I run a speed test against my connection I almost always hit 30 Mbps. However, when I download podcasts and other files from iTunes my download speeds max out at just over 7 Mbps. I ran the diagnostics in iTunes and everything checked out fine. Any ideas on why I getting such a slow download speed?

Windows 7

Posted on Apr 17, 2012 5:18 PM

Reply
266 replies

Apr 14, 2017 2:59 PM in response to Griff1324

Hello, if you are facing a problem with your download speed on iTunes and running on WINDOWS OS, I suggest the following steps :


-Check if you are running the last iTunes version

-Go into firewall settings

-Check if "Bonjour" app is checked for both private and public networks

-Then check if iTunes is checked too for both private and public networks

-Restart your machine


Hit helpful if problem disappears 😉

Mar 7, 2017 1:43 PM in response to Griff1324

I experience this nearly every single day. I support hundreds of laptops and they all use iTunes. Apple seems to come out with a new version of iTunes every other day...and the updates take forever. Today (03-07-17) I'm simply trying to download the iTunes 64 bit installer and it's telling me it will take 2 hours to download 169MB. I've worked in IT for 18 years I know when my internet speed is low...and it isn't low. Even worse today, using Chrome i keep getting "download failed - network error". I've had to click "resume" about 20 times now. I never use iTunes myself for media...tried to download a movie once while at home...on 100MBps connection....of course it would not stream and never did finish downloading. It reported 4-6 hours to download and I let it run for nearly 24 hours...it never finished. Apple has wonderful toys but their service is less than impressive.

May 19, 2017 10:01 AM in response to Griff1324

It seems apple is capping downloads to around 700KB/s. 😟


Even iTunes updates. Total crap.

This is on my 100Mbps connection at home with TWC (now Spectrum) and even at work when I tried on Gov network sitting on 40Gbps fiber connection.

FYI: At least for me and at the moment it's downloading updates from 23.196.206.135 (a23-196-205-135.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com) which is in LA, when I'm in SC. *** is it downloads updates from the west coast when I'm on the east coast. No wonder it's so slow!

See: https://whoisip.ovh/23.196.205.135

Jun 14, 2017 12:51 PM in response to Griff1324

5 years later (based on the other posts here) and it still takes hours just to download 15 app updates. Updates. I am on a 100MB connection wired in. I have been downloading the app updates for one hour and I am still waiting for 8 others to download. This can't be real. But it is. Does Apple slow this down at the source? They must because I can download anything else pretty fast right now, even while the App updates download.

Jun 22, 2017 1:09 PM in response to Griff1324

I really don't get this. My Laptop, my wife's laptop, her PC - all tried on the cable link to my 1GB up/down router.


App updates crawl in whereas anything else I download is amazingly fast.


Then I plug my Macbook Pro onto the same cable and the downloads (which took the best part of an hour on the Windows machines) came down in under a minute on the Mac.


It's not the router or link. I can't believe it's Windows as everything else is as quick as I'd expect.


So is Apple deliberately strangling iTunes on Windows machines to try to get us to move to Mac?


Incidentally, I also have Windows 10 Pro as a dual boot on my Mac and that's just as slow so it's obviously not a hardware issue.


Is this Apple's policy or is there a hidden setting somewhere that we don't know about?

Apr 18, 2012 1:19 PM in response to StumpyBloke

I can't help, but by way of confirmation, I typically get a 12 hour forecast for downloading a SD movie on a PC.

This is not your system.


I have to stay up tending the computer- it may speed up overnite. Sometimes it loses even that which it had and starts over.

It's not my system. Netflix streams away with never a buffering moment, reliably, any time of day.


I wish, when the issue is clearly Itunes/apple only issue , they would stop dishing out the usual suspects which a savvy user will haved tried a million times already. It's a terrible time waster.

I'd fell much better if they said " We have server and distributor issues, we're sorry and we are fixing it."

Apr 18, 2012 1:43 PM in response to Griff1324

From what I understand, this entirely has to do with a few factors:


1) The time you are trying to download items. Peak times mean more people, which means the servers have a bunch of people accessing them.


2) Your location. You could either be close to an accessible server for data, or you could be far away. The further away to the server you are having to download from, or the bounces it takes to get you to it, the slower the download is going to be.


3) It really still could be something with your network or anti-virus/etc on your computer. Try, perhaps if you have a firewall or router, to ensure that it is not blocking or slowing down iTunes in any way.


This article may be useful:


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3204


Some others that may help:


http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1379

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1490

Apr 19, 2012 10:31 AM in response to Griff1324

I did some more testing. The iTunes installation with the slow (7 Mbps) connection is hard wired to my router. This PC is running Windows Server 2008 and has the roles as a primary domain controller, DNS server, and DHCP server. When I run the diagnostics within iTunes it states:


- WebKit accelerated compositing is disabled

- Core Media is not supported. (16002)


When I tested my other installation of iTunes (running the save version) on another PC I was able to pretty much max out my download connection of 30 Mbps. This PC runs Win 7 and is connected to my domain, using the above mentioned computer as its DHCP and DNS server. When I run the diagnostics it states taht the Webkit accelerated composting is enabled and the core media is supported.


Why is Webkit accelerated enabled on one and not on the other PC that is giving me trouble? Why isn't core media supported on my troubled PC?


These are the only two differences that I can see between the installations on my Win 7 PC and my Windows Server 2008 PC that could be leading to my problem.

Apr 19, 2012 12:00 PM in response to StumpyBloke

On the PC in my office (the Windows 7 box joined to my domain) I was able to achieve downloads within the 25-30 Mbps range within iTunes. When I use my server to download via iTunes, the downloads will start off around 15 Mbps and quickly drop to 7 Mbps.


When I run a test on speednet.com on either PC, I max out my download speed at around 30 Mbps. My server is hard wired and my office pc is connected via wireless.


I am getting extemely frustrated on why my server is giving me problems downloading via iTunes but my office pc is not.

Why are My iTunes Downloads so Slow?

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