How to download Wikipedia to read offline?

Have you ever wanted to download the whole Wikipedia and keep a copy for yourself? There are many ways to do this. All you need is a third-party program and about 150 gigabytes of storage.
You will need some disk space

If you want to download and install your own local version of Wikipedia, you need to know that you will need some extra disk space: Extra disk space, especially if you also want to have images. Copy of text only requires 50 gigabytes, and 100 gigabytes if you want all images. Fortunately, storage is cheaper than ever – now it is much easier to buy storage for less than $ 20 per terabyte.

It is possible Manually download Wikipedia, Without the use of third-party tools, but the process is more complicated. If you are not very tech savvy, you should try one of the third party options.

Download Wikipedia using Kiwix

Kiwix is ​​an open source application that allows you to download the entire Wikipedia, including images, in just a few clicks. It can download almost any wiki based website and provides a tool to get other websites you want to save offline. Kiwix works on Windows, MacOS, most Linux distributions, Android and iOS.

Kiwis on Windows 11

The installation process varies between operating systems – fortunately, most of them require only one click. This example is for the full version of Kiwix in Windows 11.

To get started, download Kiwix from the Kiwix website. The application comes in the form of a ZIP file. When the download is complete, right-click on the file and click “Extract All”.

Right-click on the ZIP file and then click “Extract All”.

The ZIP file will have a folder with the same name; Open it and all the subfolders until you see a lot of files. Scroll down the list until you find the name “kiwix-desktop” and double-click it.

The user interface is very simple. When the program starts, it shows everything you have already downloaded. Click “All Files” in the top left corner to see the full list of available content. If you want to find wikis written in a specific language, you can click “Browse by Language”.

Click “All Files”.

There are already several wikis (including Wikipedia) by Kiwiks. You can scroll through the list until you find what you want or use the search function. The entire Wikipedia is available in two files. One is text, the other is pictures.

Related Wikipedia archives are available at Kiwix.

Displays the size of the Kiwix archive, when it was last updated, and the type of content. Note the size of the infected files – they are very large. If you want to change your download directory, click the three dots in the upper right corner and click “Settings” or press the F12 key.

Click on the three dots and then on “Settings”.

The Settings menu is very simple – just click ‘Browse’ to change where the files are stored on your device, then close the Settings tab by clicking ‘X’.

Click “Browse” and go to the location where you want to save the files.

When you return to the list of available files, download the archives by clicking “Download” on the right.

Click “Download”.

Progress will be displayed. You have to wait a bit – even with a gigabit internet connection, the full download takes at least 20 minutes. This will probably take longer.

Kiwix Download Progress Indicator.

When the download is complete, click “Local Files” on the left side of the window, then “All Files” below; You will see the content you downloaded. Click “Open” on the right to see them.

Top 100 Wikipedia articles. Click “Open” to display them.

That’s it – you’re now downloading Wikipedia on your device!

Great alternatives to Wikipedia

Kiwix on other operating systems

Kiwix supports most current operating systems. The user interface varies slightly between versions, but fortunately in all versions the user interface is simple: search Wikipedia, find archives for text and images, and download them.

Here are some links to installers for other operating systems:

Android (Google Playstore)
Android (F-Droid)
iOS
MacOS (App Store)
MacOS (fichier DMG)
Linux Flatpack

If you have not used Flatpak before, you can learn more about using one with your specific Dystro on the Flatpak page.

If you use MacOS and are unfamiliar with DMG files, we have an article on how to use them.
Download Wikipedia with XOWA

XOWA should work on any computer such as Windows, MacOS, Linux and Android. No client for iPhone or iPad. The only prerequisite for using XOWA is that you must have Java installed and running.

To get started, go to the XOWA download page and grab the binary that fits your computer.

If you are not sure which version you are using, it is very easy to check. If you have a 32-bit version of Java installed on your 64-bit Windows system and you try to run 64-bit XOWA, you’ll get an error message that the application is not compatible with the Java version.

The safest way to fix this problem is to make sure your Java installation is compatible with your operating system version and then download the appropriate XOWA version. If you use MacOS, it does not matter.

We will show you how to do this process on Windows system. Extracting binary will be different on every operating system, but it will be the same when running XOWA.

Double-click the XOWA ZIP file and extract the files somewhere on your hard drive. Then double click on “xowa.exe” to get started.

Contents of XOWA zip and XOWA enabled.

If your operating system uses some kind of operating security, such as SmartScreen, such as Windows, you will not be able to run it until you have XOWA permission to run it. In Windows, you need to click on “More Info” in the following message.

Windows prevents XOWA implementation.

Then click “Run Anyway”.

Click “Run Anyway”.

When XOWA is installed and running, it opens in its own specialized offline wiki application, just like any other browser you normally use.

The main page of XOWA.

XOWA has a simple and streamlined download page that takes guesses from downloading wikis. Click on the “Tools” menu and then on “Download Center”.

Click “Tools” and then “Download Center”.

The download central page is very easy to handle. We will discuss the basics and upload your own wikis soon.

List of downloadable wikis

You can download various wikis from the Central Downloads page, including Wikipedia, Wiktionary and Wikiquote. In addition to the English versions of these wikis, other languages ​​are also available.

There are some Wikipedia archives.

If you only want to download the simplest version of Wikipedia with less than 122,000 articles, it will take up 420MB of disk space. If you add pictures, this represents an additional 2GB. The full version of Wikipedia in English will cost you 45GB, while adding images will require an additional 99GB or almost 150GB of disk space once downloaded and installed.

To sort a wiki, click the ‘+’ sign and then the Play icon to start the download.

Interface buttons and description of their use.

Once you have sorted something, you have additional options. You can select a custom download location, remove an item from the queue, pause the queue, and retry the failed task.

Additional button descriptions, including options available when your download is active or if you encounter an error in your work.

Once you have uploaded your wikis, you can access them in the upper left corner of the browser window.

Downloaded wikis are on the left.

In addition to versions for different computer operating systems, you can install Wikipedia on your Android smartphone or tablet, however you must load the XOWA application to do so.

Once you’re done, the Android version of XOWA works just like the desktop version.

Mobile version of XOWA.

Obviously, you may not have 150GB of space on your tablet or phone, but you can download and install the simpler version of Wikipedia.

Since XOWA requires Java, there will be some issues from time to time, which has almost no global user experience. In other words, what you see on Windows or Mac is the same as on Linux or Android.

If you live in a place with good internet infrastructure, downloading Wikipedia may seem strange. The information available on the Internet is easy to take for granted, but billions of people around the world do not have reliable access. It is valuable to have a copy of Wikipedia that can be hosted on a low power device. And it might be funny to say, “I downloaded the whole Wikipedia on my smartphone.”