This word is used in the computer language. It means that you take a file, a program, pictures, videos, sound (or more generally some data) from a computer somewhere, and via the transmission through the link of wires of a network (being internet or any other like the phone network, or some private mean), gets “down” to another computer, and “loaded” to it (hence the word download).
From one point to another of the network, depending on the direction fo the transfer, we can consider that we do a download or an upload from point A to point B, and then we are considered a client or a server (which answer to a request from the requester). Watch online or download an episode of your legally favorite TV series is becoming more common in the U.S. and worldwide. The American tv shows being appreciated in all countries.
The download is define above as a transfer of data. By data we mean software, program, video, picture, sound, and more generally a document. The download can be legal or not, depending on the country were the content is and where it is loaded from. It can be free of rights or accessible under certain conditions, or even can be a good traded for or sold for money. We can take as an example the download of government sites in 2005 on the europa.eu which was 1 395 344 600 page download. Download sites of free stuff like download.com are a reference in terms of free and have millions of software download per year.
Related Topics on the french guide : téléchargement