diff --git a/wfdb/io/download.py b/wfdb/io/download.py
index 06953495..57560e36 100644
--- a/wfdb/io/download.py
+++ b/wfdb/io/download.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import json
-import multiprocessing
+import multiprocessing.dummy
 import os
 import posixpath
 
@@ -566,7 +566,7 @@ def dl_files(db, dl_dir, files, keep_subdirs=True, overwrite=False):
     print("Downloading files...")
     # Create multiple processes to download files.
     # Limit to 2 connections to avoid overloading the server
-    pool = multiprocessing.Pool(processes=2)
+    pool = multiprocessing.dummy.Pool(processes=2)
     pool.map(dl_pn_file, dl_inputs)
     print("Finished downloading files")
 
diff --git a/wfdb/io/record.py b/wfdb/io/record.py
index 290987a4..e44eed30 100644
--- a/wfdb/io/record.py
+++ b/wfdb/io/record.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import datetime
-import multiprocessing
+import multiprocessing.dummy
 import posixpath
 import re
 
@@ -3090,7 +3090,7 @@ def dl_database(
     print("Downloading files...")
     # Create multiple processes to download files.
     # Limit to 2 connections to avoid overloading the server
-    pool = multiprocessing.Pool(processes=2)
+    pool = multiprocessing.dummy.Pool(processes=2)
     pool.map(download.dl_pn_file, dl_inputs)
     print("Finished downloading files")