BitTorrent
Contents
Definition
BitTorrent is a file transferring protocol used to distribute large amounts of data. It is peer-to-peer in nature, as users connect to each other directly to send and receive portions of the file. The initial distributor of the complete file or collection acts as the first seed. Each peer who downloads the data also uploads them to other peers. Because of this, BitTorrent is extremely efficient. A minimum of one seed is needed to begin spreading files between thousands of peers.
A BitTorrent client is any program that implements the BitTorrent protocol. Each client is capable of preparing, requesting, and transmitting any type of computer file over a network, using the protocol. A peer is any computer running an instance of a client.
To share a file or group of files, a peer first creates a small file called a "torrent" containing metadata about the files to be shared and about a tracker.
There are central servers called trackers which coordinate the activity of peers. Distributed trackers may be used in combination with Peer exchange and a distributed hash table.
Security
BitTorrent does not offer its users anonymity. It is possible to obtain the IP addresses of all current, and possibly previous, participants in a swarm from the tracker. This may expose users running a BitTorrent client.
There are "cheating" clients like BitThief which claim to be able to download without uploading. Such exploitation negatively affects the cooperative nature of the BitTorrent protocol, although it might prove useful for people in countries where uploading copyrighted material is illegal, but downloading is not.
Popular BitTorrent Portals
Some Movie Torrent Sites (11/2016)
- http://thepiratebay.org thepiratebay.org
- http://extratorrent.cc extratorrent.cc
- http://1337x.to 1337x.to
- http://rarbg.to rarbg.to
- http://torrentdownloads.me torrentdownloads.me
- http://yourbittorrent.com yourbittorrent.com
- http://torrentproject.se torrentproject.se
See also: Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2016
Public Domain Misc
- MVGroup - Educational video. (registration required)
Popular BitTorrent Clients
One has to be careful when selecting and installing a bittorrent client. The trend is towards spyware, or installers with PUP addons. Many once trustworthy streamlined lightweight bittorrent clients, such as uTorrent, have become bloatware with PUP addons in the installer.
For Microsoft Windows
- uTorrent - A popular bittorrent client that once was very lightweight, however, has declined in quality and the most recent installer tested contained PUP addon software.
- Tixati - Free, lightweight, and no spyware, addware, or PUP addons. Recommended.
- qBittorrent - cross platform, Low and stable RAM and CPU.
For Linux
- qBittorrent - cross platform, Low and stable RAM and CPU. A great alternative to Deluge.
For Macintosh
- qBittorrent - cross platform, Low and stable RAM and CPU.
Android
- uTorrent - Android version
- aTorrent - Free
External Links and References
Other Online Resources
