diff --git a/doc/xmlConfigFile.md b/doc/xmlConfigFile.md
index 0caf0e0..aebd65d 100644
--- a/doc/xmlConfigFile.md
+++ b/doc/xmlConfigFile.md
@@ -186,6 +186,10 @@ For target servers using the HTTPS transfer protocol it is necessary, that the C
 By default, the `download` command does not fail the service startup if the operation fails (e.g. `from` is not available).
 In order to force the download failure in such case, it is possible to specify the `failOnError` boolean attribute.
 
+To specify a custom proxy use the parameter `proxy` with the following formats:
+- With credentials: `http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT/`.
+- Without credentials: `http://HOST:PORT/`.
+
 Examples:
 
 ```xml
@@ -193,12 +197,15 @@ Examples:
 
 <download from="http://example.com/some.dat" to="%BASE%\some.dat" failOnError="true"/>
 
+<download from="http://example.com/some.dat" to="%BASE%\some.dat" proxy="http://192.168.1.5:80/"/>
+
 <download from="https://example.com/some.dat" to="%BASE%\some.dat" auth="sspi" />
 
 <download from="https://example.com/some.dat" to="%BASE%\some.dat" failOnError="true"
           auth="basic" user="aUser" password="aPassw0rd" />
 
 <download from="http://example.com/some.dat" to="%BASE%\some.dat"
+	  proxy="http://aUser:aPassw0rd@192.168.1.5:80/"
           auth="basic" unsecureAuth="true"
           user="aUser" password="aPassw0rd" />
 ```
diff --git a/src/Core/WinSWCore/Download.cs b/src/Core/WinSWCore/Download.cs
index 0791d4e..f0d2c22 100755
--- a/src/Core/WinSWCore/Download.cs
+++ b/src/Core/WinSWCore/Download.cs
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ namespace winsw
         public readonly string? Password;
         public readonly bool UnsecureAuth;
         public readonly bool FailOnError;
+        public readonly string? Proxy;
 
         public string ShortId => $"(download from {From})";
 
@@ -75,11 +76,13 @@ namespace winsw
             AuthType auth = AuthType.none,
             string? username = null,
             string? password = null,
-            bool unsecureAuth = false)
+            bool unsecureAuth = false,
+            string? proxy = null)
         {
             From = from;
             To = to;
             FailOnError = failOnError;
+            Proxy = proxy;
             Auth = auth;
             Username = username;
             Password = password;
@@ -98,6 +101,7 @@ namespace winsw
 
             // All arguments below are optional
             FailOnError = XmlHelper.SingleAttribute(n, "failOnError", false);
+            Proxy = XmlHelper.SingleAttribute<string>(n, "proxy", null);
 
             Auth = XmlHelper.EnumAttribute(n, "auth", AuthType.none);
             Username = XmlHelper.SingleAttribute<string>(n, "user", null);
@@ -147,6 +151,18 @@ namespace winsw
 #endif
         {
             WebRequest request = WebRequest.Create(From);
+            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Proxy))
+            {
+                CustomProxyInformation proxyInformation = new CustomProxyInformation(Proxy);
+                if (proxyInformation.Credentials != null)
+                {
+                    request.Proxy = new WebProxy(proxyInformation.ServerAddress, false, null, proxyInformation.Credentials);
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    request.Proxy = new WebProxy(proxyInformation.ServerAddress);
+                }
+            }
 
             switch (Auth)
             {
@@ -220,8 +236,8 @@ namespace winsw
                 }
             }
         }
-#if NET20
 
+#if NET20
         private static void CopyStream(Stream source, Stream destination)
         {
             byte[] buffer = new byte[8192];
@@ -233,4 +249,31 @@ namespace winsw
         }
 #endif
     }
+
+    public class CustomProxyInformation
+    {
+        public string ServerAddress { get; set; }
+        public NetworkCredential? Credentials { get; set; }
+
+        public CustomProxyInformation(string proxy)
+        {
+            if (proxy.Contains("@"))
+            {
+                // Extract proxy credentials
+                int credsFrom = proxy.IndexOf("://") + 3;
+                int credsTo = proxy.LastIndexOf("@");
+                string completeCredsStr = proxy.Substring(credsFrom, credsTo - credsFrom);
+                int credsSeparator = completeCredsStr.IndexOf(":");
+
+                string username = completeCredsStr.Substring(0, credsSeparator);
+                string password = completeCredsStr.Substring(credsSeparator + 1);
+                Credentials = new NetworkCredential(username, password);
+                ServerAddress = proxy.Replace(completeCredsStr + "@", "");
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                ServerAddress = proxy;
+            }
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/Test/winswTests/DownloadTest.cs b/src/Test/winswTests/DownloadTest.cs
index 9477c1f..3dceba0 100644
--- a/src/Test/winswTests/DownloadTest.cs
+++ b/src/Test/winswTests/DownloadTest.cs
@@ -202,6 +202,35 @@ namespace winswTests
             Assert.That(() => GetSingleEntry(sd), Throws.TypeOf<InvalidDataException>().With.Message.StartsWith("Cannot parse <auth> Enum value from string 'digest'"));
         }
 
+        [TestCase("http://", "127.0.0.1:80", "egarcia", "Passw0rd")]
+        [TestCase("https://", "myurl.com.co:2298", "MyUsername", "P@ssw:rd")]
+        [TestCase("http://", "192.168.0.8:3030")]
+        public void Proxy_Credentials(string protocol, string address, string username = null, string password = null)
+        {
+            CustomProxyInformation cpi;
+            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(username))
+            {
+                cpi = new CustomProxyInformation(protocol + address + "/");
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                cpi = new CustomProxyInformation(protocol + username + ":" + password + "@" + address + "/");
+            }
+
+            Assert.That(cpi.ServerAddress, Is.EqualTo(protocol + address + "/"));
+
+            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(username))
+            {
+                Assert.IsNull(cpi.Credentials);
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                Assert.IsNotNull(cpi.Credentials);
+                Assert.That(cpi.Credentials.UserName, Is.EqualTo(username));
+                Assert.That(cpi.Credentials.Password, Is.EqualTo(password));
+            }
+        }
+
         private Download GetSingleEntry(ServiceDescriptor sd)
         {
             var downloads = sd.Downloads.ToArray();