diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0fb5665..2d7d1d7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -48,5 +48,13 @@ ISO (for example `Win11_25H2_English_x64_v2.iso` →
 existing `*Win*11*x64*.qcow2` in `base-qcow2/` is used instead.
 
 Download URLs can be overridden with `DEBIAN_IMAGE_URL`, `ALMA_IMAGE_URL`,
-`FEDORA_IMAGE_URL`, and `VIRTIO_WIN_ISO_URL`. The Fedora checksum can be
+`FEDORA_IMAGE_URL`, and `VIRTIO_WIN_ISO_URL`. Each may list several mirrors of
+the same file, separated by whitespace; the Fedora image defaults to the TUNA,
+BFSU and NJU mirrors.
+
+When [aria2](https://aria2.github.io/) is installed (`aria2c`), an image is
+downloaded from all of its mirrors at once, with a single connection to each
+mirror. Without it, `curl` (or `wget`) tries the mirrors in order. A partial
+download is only resumed with the same downloader and mirror list; otherwise
+it starts over. The Fedora checksum can be
 overridden with `FEDORA_IMAGE_SHA256` when using a custom image.
diff --git a/download-images.sh b/download-images.sh
index 4a1f84e..048f995 100755
--- a/download-images.sh
+++ b/download-images.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ if [[ "$image_arch" == arm64 ]]; then
   fedora_image="${base_qcow2_dir}/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.aarch64.qcow2"
   debian_url_default="https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/trixie/20260810-2566/debian-13-generic-arm64-20260810-2566.qcow2"
   alma_url_default="https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/10/cloud/aarch64/images/AlmaLinux-10-GenericCloud-10.2-20260526.0.aarch64.qcow2"
-  fedora_url_default="https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/aarch64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.aarch64.qcow2"
+  fedora_url_default="https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/aarch64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.aarch64.qcow2
+    https://mirrors.bfsu.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/aarch64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.aarch64.qcow2
+    https://mirrors.nju.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/aarch64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.aarch64.qcow2"
   # TODO: these were pinned for the amd64/x86_64 builds; verification is
   # skipped (empty default) for the arm64/aarch64 builds until their
   # checksums are fetched and pinned via DEBIAN_IMAGE_SHA512 /
@@ -35,7 +37,9 @@ else
   fedora_image="${base_qcow2_dir}/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.x86_64.qcow2"
   debian_url_default="https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/trixie/20260810-2566/debian-13-generic-amd64-20260810-2566.qcow2"
   alma_url_default="https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/10/cloud/x86_64/images/AlmaLinux-10-GenericCloud-10.2-20260526.0.x86_64.qcow2"
-  fedora_url_default="https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/x86_64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.x86_64.qcow2"
+  fedora_url_default="https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/x86_64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.x86_64.qcow2
+    https://mirrors.bfsu.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/x86_64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.x86_64.qcow2
+    https://mirrors.nju.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/x86_64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.x86_64.qcow2"
   debian_sha512_default="f6978100d8031c266d55d7815ceea7fcdeacf28e1e5834fdb9c94ac96880a054a6e6f8681c2d3b0584e0057eaf3ef7353856b85212d04134744faa9b3bb1f24f"
   alma_sha256_default="47f2218668dd4776be140dd92fa3bea700be1766e2c7d88bdfd6a4b50f477b4d"
   fedora_sha256_default="28680fe5b371a5a82ebf43a31926e086a168e59949d03969c5093e7071f90b7f"
@@ -79,6 +83,9 @@ windows_qcow2_path() {
   fi
 }
 
+# Each *_url may list several mirrors of the same file, separated by
+# whitespace. aria2c downloads from all of them at once; curl and wget try
+# them in order.
 debian_url="${DEBIAN_IMAGE_URL:-$debian_url_default}"
 alma_url="${ALMA_IMAGE_URL:-$alma_url_default}"
 fedora_url="${FEDORA_IMAGE_URL:-$fedora_url_default}"
@@ -97,6 +104,10 @@ Download one or more shared VM images. With no arguments, all targets are
 processed. The Debian/AlmaLinux/Fedora image architecture (arm64 or amd64)
 is auto-detected from the host; override it with VM_IMAGE_ARCH.
 
+When aria2c is installed and an image has several mirrors, the image is
+downloaded from all of them at once, with one connection per mirror.
+Otherwise curl or wget downloads from the mirrors in order.
+
 --force removes existing files and partial downloads for the selected targets,
 then downloads them again from the beginning.
 --print-path prints only the absolute image path without downloading it.
@@ -201,19 +212,72 @@ verify_file() {
   printf 'Verified %s checksum for %s.\n' "${algorithm^^}" "$label"
 }
 
+# Download to $partial with curl or wget from one URL, resuming an existing
+# partial file and restarting from the beginning if resuming fails.
+download_single_source() {
+  local downloader="$1"
+  local url="$2"
+  local partial="$3"
+
+  if [[ "$downloader" == curl ]]; then
+    curl --fail --location --retry 3 --continue-at - --output "$partial" "$url" && return
+    [[ -s "$partial" ]] || return 1
+    printf 'Resume failed; restarting download from the beginning.\n'
+    rm -f -- "$partial"
+    curl --fail --location --retry 3 --output "$partial" "$url"
+  else
+    wget --tries=3 --continue --output-document="$partial" "$url" && return
+    [[ -s "$partial" ]] || return 1
+    printf 'Resume failed; restarting download from the beginning.\n'
+    rm -f -- "$partial"
+    wget --tries=3 --output-document="$partial" "$url"
+  fi
+}
+
+# Download to $partial with aria2c, splitting the file across all URLs with a
+# single connection to each server.
+download_multi_source() {
+  local partial="$1"
+  shift
+
+  aria2c \
+    --continue=true \
+    --split="$#" \
+    --max-connection-per-server=1 \
+    --file-allocation=none \
+    --auto-file-renaming=false \
+    --max-tries=5 \
+    --retry-wait=3 \
+    --summary-interval=0 \
+    --console-log-level=warn \
+    --dir="$(dirname -- "$partial")" \
+    --out="$(basename -- "$partial")" \
+    "$@"
+}
+
 download_file() {
   local label="$1"
-  local url="$2"
+  local urls
+  read -r -d '' -a urls <<<"$2" || true
   local destination="$3"
   local checksum_algorithm="${4:-}"
   local expected_checksum="${5:-}"
   local partial="${destination}.part"
+  # Records how the partial file was started, so that a partial download is
+  # only resumed with the same downloader and URLs.
   local partial_url="${partial}.url"
   local downloader
+  local download_state
+  local url
+
+  if ((${#urls[@]} == 0)); then
+    printf 'Error: no download URL for %s.\n' "$label" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
 
   if [[ "$force_download" == true ]]; then
     printf 'Forcing a fresh download of %s.\n' "$label"
-    rm -f -- "$destination" "$partial" "$partial_url"
+    rm -f -- "$destination" "$partial" "${partial}.aria2" "$partial_url"
   fi
 
   if [[ -s "$destination" ]]; then
@@ -224,48 +288,51 @@ download_file() {
     return
   fi
 
-  printf 'Downloading %s from:\n%s\n' "$label" "$url"
-  printf 'Download destination:\n%s\n' "$destination"
-
-  if [[ -e "$partial" ]]; then
-    if [[ ! -f "$partial_url" ]] || [[ "$(<"$partial_url")" != "$url" ]]; then
-      printf 'Download URL changed; restarting partial download.\n'
-      rm -f -- "$partial" "$partial_url"
-    else
-      printf 'Resuming partial download:\n%s\n' "$partial"
-    fi
-  fi
-  printf '%s' "$url" >"$partial_url"
-
-  if command -v curl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  if command -v aria2c >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    downloader=aria2c
+  elif command -v curl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     downloader=curl
   elif command -v wget >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     downloader=wget
   else
-    printf 'Error: curl or wget is required.\n' >&2
+    printf 'Error: aria2c, curl or wget is required.\n' >&2
     exit 1
   fi
 
-  if [[ "$downloader" == curl ]]; then
-    if ! curl --fail --location --retry 3 --continue-at - --output "$partial" "$url"; then
-      if [[ -s "$partial" ]]; then
-        printf 'Resume failed; restarting download from the beginning.\n'
-        rm -f -- "$partial"
-        curl --fail --location --retry 3 --output "$partial" "$url"
-      else
-        exit 1
-      fi
+  printf 'Downloading %s with %s from:\n' "$label" "$downloader"
+  printf '%s\n' "${urls[@]}"
+  printf 'Download destination:\n%s\n' "$destination"
+
+  # aria2c fills a partial file out of order, so it must not be resumed by
+  # curl or wget, and vice versa.
+  download_state="$(printf '%s\n' "$downloader" "${urls[@]}")"
+  if [[ -e "$partial" ]]; then
+    if [[ ! -f "$partial_url" ]] || [[ "$(<"$partial_url")" != "$download_state" ]]; then
+      printf 'Download source changed; restarting partial download.\n'
+      rm -f -- "$partial" "${partial}.aria2" "$partial_url"
+    else
+      printf 'Resuming partial download:\n%s\n' "$partial"
+    fi
+  fi
+  printf '%s\n' "$download_state" >"$partial_url"
+
+  if [[ "$downloader" == aria2c ]]; then
+    if ! download_multi_source "$partial" "${urls[@]}"; then
+      printf 'Error: failed to download %s.\n' "$label" >&2
+      exit 1
     fi
   else
-    if ! wget --tries=3 --continue --output-document="$partial" "$url"; then
-      if [[ -s "$partial" ]]; then
-        printf 'Resume failed; restarting download from the beginning.\n'
-        rm -f -- "$partial"
-        wget --tries=3 --output-document="$partial" "$url"
-      else
+    for url in "${urls[@]}"; do
+      # Some mirrors reject clients with an empty "200 OK" response.
+      if download_single_source "$downloader" "$url" "$partial" && [[ -s "$partial" ]]; then
+        break
+      fi
+      if [[ "$url" == "${urls[-1]}" ]]; then
+        printf 'Error: failed to download %s.\n' "$label" >&2
         exit 1
       fi
-    fi
+      printf 'Download from %s failed; trying the next mirror.\n' "$url" >&2
+    done
   fi
 
   if [[ ! -s "$partial" ]]; then
@@ -275,7 +342,7 @@ download_file() {
 
   if [[ -n "$expected_checksum" ]] && \
       ! verify_file "$label" "$partial" "$checksum_algorithm" "$expected_checksum"; then
-    rm -f -- "$partial" "$partial_url"
+    rm -f -- "$partial" "${partial}.aria2" "$partial_url"
     return 1
   fi