diff --git a/legendary/downloader/mp/workers.py b/legendary/downloader/mp/workers.py
index 927e86b..74e34e4 100644
--- a/legendary/downloader/mp/workers.py
+++ b/legendary/downloader/mp/workers.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ from legendary.models.downloading import (
 
 
 class DLWorker(Process):
-    def __init__(self, name, queue, out_queue, shm, max_retries=5,
+    def __init__(self, name, queue, out_queue, shm, max_retries=7,
                  logging_queue=None, dl_timeout=10):
         super().__init__(name=name)
         self.q = queue
@@ -65,6 +65,12 @@ class DLWorker(Process):
 
             try:
                 while tries < self.max_retries:
+                    # retry once immediately, otherwise do exponential backoff
+                    if tries > 1:
+                        sleep_time = 2**(tries+1)
+                        logger.debug(f'Sleeping {sleep_time} seconds before retrying...')
+                        time.sleep(sleep_time)
+
                     # print('Downloading', job.url)
                     logger.debug(f'Downloading {job.url}')