diff --git a/examples/yolov3/README.md b/examples/yolov3/README.md
index a8784ac88a4cb1dd3d72424ff749c1b239faa87f..9a0d2cc15c4390f1fe666b776dfeadd9c1af558a 100644
--- a/examples/yolov3/README.md
+++ b/examples/yolov3/README.md
@@ -99,20 +99,17 @@ YOLOv3 的网络结构由基础特征提取网络、multi-scale特征融合层
   |   ...
   ```
 
-### 预训练权重下载
-
-YOLOv3模型训练需下载骨干网络DarkNet53的预训练权重，可通过如下方式下载。
-
 ```bash
 sh pretrain_weights/download.sh
 ```
 
 ### 模型训练
 
-数据和预训练权重下载完成后，可使用`main.py`脚本启动训练和评估，如下脚本会自动每epoch交替进行训练和模型评估，并将checkpoint默认保存在`yolo_checkpoint`目录下。
+数据准备完成后，可使用`main.py`脚本启动训练和评估，如下脚本会自动每epoch交替进行训练和模型评估，并将checkpoint默认保存在`yolo_checkpoint`目录下。
 
 YOLOv3模型训练总batch_size为64训练，以下以使用4卡Tesla P40每卡batch_size为16训练介绍训练方式。对于静态图和动态图，多卡训练中`--batch_size`为每卡上的batch_size，即总batch_size为`--batch_size`乘以卡数。
 
+YOLOv3模型训练须加载骨干网络[DarkNet53]()的预训练权重，可在训练时通过`--pretrain_weights`指定，若指定为URL，将自动下载权重至`~/.cache/paddle/weights`目录并加载。
 
 `main.py`脚本参数可通过如下命令查询
 
@@ -125,7 +122,7 @@ python main.py --help
 使用如下方式进行多卡训练:
 
 ```bash
-CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0,1,2,3 python -m paddle.distributed.launch main.py --data=<path/to/dataset> --batch_size=16 --pretrain_weights=./pretrain_weights/darknet53_pretrained
+CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0,1,2,3 python -m paddle.distributed.launch main.py --data=<path/to/dataset> --batch_size=16 --pretrain_weights=https://paddlemodels.bj.bcebos.com/hapi/darknet53_pretrained.pdparams
 ```
 
 #### 动态图训练
@@ -135,7 +132,7 @@ CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0,1,2,3 python -m paddle.distributed.launch main.py --data=
 使用如下方式进行多卡训练:
 
 ```bash
-CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0,1,2,3 python main.py -m paddle.distributed.launch --data=<path/to/dataset> --batch_size=16 -d --pretrain_weights=./pretrain_weights/darknet53_pretrained
+CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0,1,2,3 python main.py -m paddle.distributed.launch --data=<path/to/dataset> --batch_size=16 -d --pretrain_weights=https://paddlemodels.bj.bcebos.com/hapi/darknet53_pretrained.pdparams
 ```
 
 
diff --git a/examples/yolov3/main.py b/examples/yolov3/main.py
index 6e0595512f5600cf4cbb16edae57bd59a859833e..7203329c7f75c97c1646b25320a44adadbcfc5ac 100644
--- a/examples/yolov3/main.py
+++ b/examples/yolov3/main.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ from paddle.io import DataLoader
 
 from hapi.model import Model, Input, set_device
 from hapi.distributed import DistributedBatchSampler
+from hapi.download import is_url, get_weights_path
 from hapi.datasets import COCODataset
 from hapi.vision.transforms import *
 from hapi.vision.models import yolov3_darknet53, YoloLoss
@@ -125,7 +126,10 @@ def main():
                    pretrained=pretrained)
 
     if FLAGS.pretrain_weights and not FLAGS.eval_only:
-        model.load(FLAGS.pretrain_weights, skip_mismatch=True, reset_optimizer=True)
+        pretrain_weights = FLAGS.pretrain_weights
+        if is_url(pretrain_weights):
+            pretrain_weights = get_weights_path(pretrain_weights)
+        model.load(pretrain_weights, skip_mismatch=True, reset_optimizer=True)
 
     optim = make_optimizer(len(batch_sampler), parameter_list=model.parameters())
 
diff --git a/examples/yolov3/pretrain_weights/download.sh b/examples/yolov3/pretrain_weights/download.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 6982f441969069ea2b53de5242fa455161119573..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/examples/yolov3/pretrain_weights/download.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-DIR="$( cd "$(dirname "$0")" ; pwd -P   )"
-cd "$DIR"
-
-echo "Downloading https://paddlemodels.bj.bcebos.com/hapi/darknet53_pretrained.pdparams"
-wget https://paddlemodels.bj.bcebos.com/hapi/darknet53_pretrained.pdparams
diff --git a/hapi/download.py b/hapi/download.py
index 10d3fba390647c494448b83295901a8973d2aba8..e9a89ba53bc3bc74f03977659156121bce6db577 100644
--- a/hapi/download.py
+++ b/hapi/download.py
@@ -29,13 +29,22 @@ from paddle.fluid.dygraph.parallel import ParallelEnv
 import logging
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-__all__ = ['get_weights_path']
+__all__ = ['get_weights_path', 'is_url']
 
 WEIGHTS_HOME = osp.expanduser("~/.cache/paddle/hapi/weights")
 
 DOWNLOAD_RETRY_LIMIT = 3
 
 
+def is_url(path):
+    """
+    Whether path is URL.
+    Args:
+        path (string): URL string or not.
+    """
+    return path.startswith('http://') or path.startswith('https://')
+
+
 def get_weights_path(url, md5sum=None):
     """Get weights path from WEIGHT_HOME, if not exists,
     download it from url.
@@ -62,6 +71,7 @@ def get_path(url, root_dir, md5sum=None, check_exist=True):
                     WEIGHTS_HOME or DATASET_HOME
     md5sum (str): md5 sum of download package
     """
+    assert is_url(url), "downloading from {} not a url".format(url)
     # parse path after download to decompress under root_dir
     fullpath = map_path(url, root_dir)