Speeding up file downloads from web server

How do I optimize my server for server file downloads, apart from buying a faster network plan? The files are static and stored in a folder as is. An .htaccess file ensures files are forced to download rather than attempt to 开发者_如何学JAVAopen in browser. Is it recommended to use a CDN?

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A CDN is definitely a way to get good performance, but the price only makes sense for quite large volumes.

What kind of files are you serving? If they're compressible (eg HTML, word processor documents, PDFs; not JPEGs), then make sure compression is enabled - use mod_deflate.