BitTorrent Offical Client

BitTorrent – The bittorrent protocol breaks the file(s) down into smaller fragments, typically a quarter of a megabyte (256KB) in size. Peers download missing fragments from each other and upload those that they already have to peers that request them. The protocol is 'smart' enough to choose the peer with the best network connections for the fragments that it's requesting. To increase the overall efficiency of the swarm (the ad-hoc P2P network temporarily created to distribute a particular file), the BitTorrent clients request from their peers the fragments that are most rare; in other words, the fragments that are available on the least number of peers, making most fragments available widely across many machines and avoiding bottlenecks.

The file fragments are not usually downloaded in sequential order and need to be reassembled by the receiving machine. It is important to note that clients start uploading fragments to their peers before the entire file is downloaded. Sharing by each peer therefore begins when the first complete segment is downloaded and can begin to be uploaded if another peer requests it. Click to view torrent tracker sites. Torrent tracker sites are websites you can visit that provide you with downloads.

This scheme is particularly useful for trading large files such as videos and operating systems. This is contrasted with conventional file serving where high demand can lead to saturation of the host's resources as the consumption of bandwidth to transfer the file to many requesting downloaders surges. With BitTorrent, high demand can actually increase throughput as more bandwidth and additional “seeds” of the file become available to the group. Cohen claims that for very popular files, BitTorrent can support about a thousand times as many downloads as HTTP.

In contrast to other file-transfer protocols, BitTorrent is designed to work better as the number of people interested in a certain file increases. BitTorrent was started by Bram Cohen, who developed the foundations of BitTorrent whilst studying effective and efficient distribution of data.

Some Important BitTorrent Points

• Users do not have a shared folder.
• To download a file, or a group of files, you must find and download a torrent file.
• A torrent file tells the client what tracker to connect to and what to download.
• Torrent files are found at torrent websites.
• Whilst downloading, you upload parts of the file you have already downloaded.
• When finished downloading, it is important for the network that users continue to upload.

Features of the BitTorrent Official Client:

• Lightweight
• Local peer discovery
• Configurable bandwidth scheduler
• Global and per-torrent speed limiting
• RSS Downloader
• Always Spyware-Free

What is BitTorrent? A Beginner's Guide

Check out our easy, step-by-step guide for those wanting to learn more about what BitTorrent is and how it functions.

Improving BitTorrent Download Speeds

How to make sure that you're getting the most from your connection speeds.

BitTorrent torrent sites & search engines

Comprehensive list of places where you can find anything you wish to downlaod.