This article is about the file sharing protocol. For other uses, see BitTorrent (disambiguation).
BitTorrent
Original author(s)
Bram Cohen
Developer(s)
Rainberry, Inc.
Initial release
2001; 23 years ago (2001)
Repository
github.com/bittorrent/bittorrent.org
Standard(s)
The BitTorrent Protocol Specification[1]
Type
peer-to-peer file sharing
Website
www.bittorrent.org
Part of a series on
File sharing
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Development and societal aspects
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By country or region
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Comparisons
Comparison of BitTorrent clients
Comparison of BitTorrent sites
Comparison of eDonkey software
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Comparison of Usenet newsreaders
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BitTorrent, also referred to as simply torrent, is a communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a decentralized manner. The protocol is developed and maintained by Rainberry, Inc., and was first released in 2001.[2]
To send or receive files, users use a BitTorrent client on their Internet-connected computer, which are available for a variety of computing platforms and operating systems, including an official client. BitTorrent trackers provide a list of files available for transfer and allow the client to find peer users, known as "seeds", who may transfer the files. BitTorrent downloading is considered to be faster than HTTP ("direct downloading") and FTP due to the lack of a central server that could limit bandwidth.[3][4]
BitTorrent is one of the most common protocols for transferring large files, such as digital video files containing TV shows and video clips, or digital audio files containing songs. BitTorrent accounted for a third of all internet traffic in 2004, according to a study by Cachelogic.[5] As recently as 2019 BitTorrent remained a significant file sharing protocol according to Sandvine, generating a substantial amount of Internet traffic, with 2.46% of downstream, and 27.58% of upstream traffic,[6] although this share has declined significantly since then.[7]
^Cohen, Bram (October 2002). "BitTorrent Protocol 1.0". BitTorrent.org. Archived from the original on 8 February 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
^Cohen, Bram (2 July 2001). "BitTorrent – a new P2P app". Yahoo eGroups. Archived from the original on 29 January 2008. Retrieved 15 April 2007.
^"What Is BitTorrent and Is It Safe?". www.kaspersky.com. 19 April 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
^"bittorrent vs HTTP". 13 June 2009. Archived from the original on 13 June 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
^Marozzo, Fabrizio; Talia, Domenico; Trunfio, Paolo (2020). "A Sleep-and-Wake technique for reducing energy consumption in BitTorrent networks". Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience. 32 (14). doi:10.1002/cpe.5723. ISSN 1532-0634. S2CID 215841734.
^"BitTorrent is No Longer the 'King' of Upstream Internet Traffic * TorrentFreak". Retrieved 19 March 2024.
The official BitTorrent client, μTorrent, qBittorrent, Transmission, Vuze, and BitComet are some of the most popular clients. Some BitTorrent implementations...
the biggest BitTorrent trackers, The Pirate Bay tracker. qBittorrent is an open source BitTorrent client with a built-in tracker support. BitTorious is...
Downloads". μTorrent® (uTorrent) - a (very) tiny BitTorrent client. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2017. "qBittorrent Official...
In the BitTorrent file distribution system, a torrent file or meta-info file is a computer file that contains metadata about files and folders to be distributed...
is a comparison of BitTorrent websites that includes most of the most popular sites. These sites typically contain multiple torrent files and an index...
'availability' calculated in BitTorrent?". Super User. Retrieved 2023-06-30. "BEP-0003: The BitTorrent Protocol Specification". Bittorrent.org. Archived from the...
and contribute magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing among users of the BitTorrent protocol. The Pirate Bay has sparked...
file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol. It was founded in 2008 and by November 2014, KAT became the most visited BitTorrent directory in the world...
(P2P) communications protocol Torrent file, stores metadata used for BitTorrent μTorrent, a BitTorrent client Torrent Group, an Indian business house...
at WebTorrent and on GitHub, for use in web browsers, as well as a WebTorrent Desktop stand alone version able to bridge WebTorrent and BitTorrent serverless...
BitTorrent Inc. as an independent company, Resilio Inc. which will continue development of the product under the name Resilio Sync. Former Bittorrent...
directory of torrent files and magnet links used for peer-to-peer file sharing through the BitTorrent protocol. According to the TorrentFreak news blog...
OpenBitTorrent (commonly abbreviated OBT) is an open BitTorrent tracker project for the BitTorrent protocol. OpenBitTorrent's initiative to provide a...
was a website that provided torrent files and magnet links to facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol. From 2014 to 2023,...
was among the top 5 BitTorrent indexes in the world, where visitors could search, download and contribute magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate...
YggTorrent (sometimes abbreviated as Ygg) is a French semi-private torrent directory and BitTorrent tracker created in 2017. According to Alexa Internet...
Demonoid is a BitTorrent tracker and website founded in 2003 to facilitate file-sharing related discussion and provide a searchable index of torrent files. The...
YIFY Torrents or YTS was a peer-to-peer release group known for distributing large numbers of movies as free downloads through BitTorrent. YIFY releases...
implemented in BitComet, BitTornado, Deluge, Flashget, KTorrent, libtorrent (used by various BitTorrent clients, including qBittorrent), Mainline, μTorrent, qBittorrent...
The use of the BitTorrent protocol for the unauthorized sharing of copyrighted content generated a variety of novel legal issues. While the technology...
weblog, took a survey of 13,823 readers' preferred BitTorrent clients in May 2015. It showed that μTorrent still maintains a sizable lead over competitors...
Nyaa Torrents (named for the Japanese onomatopoeia for a cat's meow) is a BitTorrent website focused on East Asian (Japanese, Chinese, and Korean) media...
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