However, in terms of downloading files, there is nothing special with Chrome. However, in order to keep the work from being interrupted, it is a great idea to first create a separate Chrome profile to download files through it when one needs to limit the download speed of the browser. It slows down the entire network stack, so you can't throttle on a per app basis without doing things like install lion in a virtual machine and set that VM with a throttled stack. Google Chrome is among the fastest browsers available today. There are no side-effects of this method and nothing would be permanent.

If you need other limits, you can also use ipfw yourself as described in Craig Hockenberry's article slow ride, make it easy It also mentions the Speed Limit panel by Mike Schrag that is a smaller download than Xcode, but has fewer options than Apple's tool. There are 11 built in profiles from a Lossy Edge network with 400ms delay to a cable modem. Now, you use Xcode to download it directly in a similar manner to the iOS simulators and developer documentation. Most older versions of Xcode before version 4.3.2 embedded a copy of this tool. It's called the Network Link Conditioner and it's a free download of Xcode for Lion users. Apple has made a very handy official tool to slow down the network on the mac for testing.

Limit speed chrome