Limit bandwidth usage

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Aspera® for desktop always tries to transfer at the maximum transfer rate available. However, the application can limit the overall bandwidth that is used across all its initiated transfers.

Create a bandwidth limit

In the navigation bar, go to Settings > Transfers.
Enable Limit downloads by selecting the checkbox, and set the limit for all downloads. If you want to disable this option, clear the checkbox.
Enable Limit uploads by selecting the checkbox, and set the limit for all uploads. If you want to disable this option, clear the checkbox.
Note: These values specify the aggregate bandwidth limit. Transfer sessions dynamically adjust their transfer rates so that the aggregate bandwidth that is used across all running sessions remains below the configured limit. As transfer sessions complete, the remaining sessions use the newly available bandwidth.

Restrict the bandwidth limit

As an administrator, you can enforce a bandwidth restriction that disables the option to change it from the UI. Add specific fields to the defaults.json file and then load it into the application:

Close the application.
Go to the application configuration directory, which varies by platform.
If you added default settings, you already created the defaults.json file and is in the correct location. If not, create the file, name it defaults.json, and save it in the configuration directory:
macOS:
```
$HOME/Library/Application Support/com.ibm.software.aspera.desktop
```
Windows™^TM:
```
%APPDATA%/com.ibm.software.aspera.desktop
```
Linux®:
```
$XDG_DATA_HOME/com.ibm.software.aspera.desktop
```
Or
```
$HOME/.config/com.ibm.software.aspera.desktop
```
Add the "enforced" section to the defaults.json file.
Within the "enforced" section, add the "bandwidth" section.
Under "bandwidth", add "upload_limit_enabled" and "download_limit_enabled", and set their values to true. Save the file.
Open the application and verify that the Limit downloads and Limit uploads options are locked in the UI, with the message This setting has been locked by an administrator. This setting persists after you close the application.

The following example shows the defaults.json file syntax:

{
  "enforced": {
    "bandwidth": {
      "upload_limit_enabled": true,
      "download_limit_enabled": true
    }
  }
}