Everything about Torrents

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Article Source: Howtogeek.com & other sources

What is Torrent ?

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While most of us have used Torrents at one point of time or the other, many do not know what it is and how exactly it works.

The peer to peer or P2P file sharing system was started by likes of Kazaa, Limewire, eDonkey where users could download large files in less time. The idea was revolutionized around 2005 with the introduction of Bittorent protocol which is a much improved P2P file sharing system. Files can be directly downloaded in parts from different users or peers with speeds reaching 1.5 MB/second. The system uses something called torrent file to track the locations of the content and help the Bittorrent client on your computer to download the file.


Torrent Files
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Torrent files are small pieces of computer files that contain metadata holding information about the files and content to be distributed. It also contains a list of network location of trackers which helps downloaders connect easily with fellow peers. Torrent files are generally hosted on Indexers or torrent listing websites and works with the installed Bittorent client to achieve the download.



How does a Torrenting work?
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When you download a web page like this one, your computer connects to the web server and downloads the data directly from that server. Each computer that downloads the data downloads it from the web page’s central server. This is how much of the traffic on the web works.

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer protocol, which means that the computers in a BitTorrent “swarm” (a group of computers downloading and uploading the same torrent) transfer data between each other without the need for a central server.

Traditionally, a computer joins a BitTorrent swarm by loading a .torrent file into a BitTorrent client. The BitTorrent client contacts a “tracker” specified in the .torrent file. The tracker is a special server that keeps track of the connected computers. The tracker shares their IP addresses with other BitTorrent clients in the swarm, allowing them to connect to each other.

Once connected, a BitTorrent client downloads bits of the files in the torrent in small pieces, downloading all the data it can get. Once the BitTorrent client has some data, it can then begin to upload that data to other BitTorrent clients in the swarm. In this way, everyone downloading a torrent is also uploading the same torrent. This speeds up everyone’s download speed. If 10,000 people are downloading the same file, it doesn’t put a lot of stress on a central server. Instead, each downloader contributes upload bandwidth to other downloaders, ensuring the torrent stays fast.

Importantly, BitTorrent clients never actually download files from the tracker itself. The tracker participates in the torrent only by keeping track of the BitTorrent clients connected to the swarm, not actually by downloading or uploading data.

Leechers and Seeders
Users downloading from a BitTorrent swarm are commonly referred to as “leechers” or “peers”. Users that remain connected to a BitTorrent swarm even after they’ve downloaded the complete file, contributing more of their upload bandwidth so other people can continue to download the file, are referred to as “seeders”. For a torrent to be downloadable, one seeder – who has a complete copy of all the files in the torrent – must initially join the swarm so other users can download the data. If a torrent has no seeders, it won’t be possible to download – no connected user has the complete file.

BitTorrent clients reward other clients who upload, preferring to send data to clients who contribute more upload bandwidth rather than sending data to clients who upload at a very slow speed. This speeds up download times for the swarm as a whole and rewards users who contribute more upload bandwidth.

Torrent Trackers and Trackerless Torrents
In recent times, a decentralized “trackerless” torrent system allows BitTorrent clients to communicate among each other without the need for any central servers. BitTorrent clients use distributed hash table (DHT) technology for this, with each BitTorrent client functioning as a DHT node. When you add a torrent using a “magnet link”, the DHT node contacts nearby nodes and those other nodes contact other nodes until they locate the information about the torrent.

As the DHT protocol specification says, “In effect, each peer becomes a tracker.” This means that BitTorrent clients no longer need a central server managing a swarm. Instead, BitTorrent becomes a fully decentralized peer-to-peer file transfer system.

DHT can also work alongside traditional trackers. For example, a torrent can use both DHT and a traditional tracker, which will provide redundancy in case the tracker fails.


How to Download through a Bittorrent Client?

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The first thing you need to do is get yourself a Bittorrent client. There are many free clients but you can go for uTorrent which is very simple and fast to use. Then follow the steps below:


Step 1:
Access the Torrent File

Liked discussed above, you need to visit the torrent Indexing website to get the torrent file. Then locate the file you want to download by browsing or searching the website. The torrent file will be located on the torrent file page. You can use it in 3 ways

– Directly download the file on your computer and then double click on the saved torrent file which will open the Bittorrent client.

– Click on the magnet link on the torrent website which launches the Bittorrent client to begin the download.


Step 2:
Initiating the Download

Other than the ways discussed above, you can also launch your client and then access the torrent file from the program itself by browsing your computer. Before the download begins, you have to select the download location on your computer. You can also choose which files to download if it is multi file content.


Step 3:
Tracking Download Details

After you begin downloading, you will be able to see the progress and other details about the download like download and upload speed, number of peers connected, total number of seeders and leechers, etc. These things are not so important for a general user though they can throw the picture on slow downloads and other issues.

You will also be able to see how much time is remaining for the download to finish. You can also pause the download and resume it any time you like.

Torrent Clients
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uTorrent
http://www.utorrent.com

BitTorrent
http://www.bittorrent.com

qBittorrent
https://www.qbittorrent.org

Vuze
http://www.vuze.com

Frostwire
http://www.frostwire.com

Deluge
http://deluge-torrent.org

Tixati
https://www.tixati.com

Torrent Harvester
https://torrent-harvester.en.softonic.com

Transmission [only for Linux and Mac]
https://transmissionbt.com

Transmission-Qt [For WIndows users]
http://downloads.techradar.com/downloads/transmission

Bitlord
http://www.bitlord.com

Bitcomet
https://www.bitcomet.com/en

Torrentum
https://torrentum.en.softonic.com

Torrent2exe
http://torrent2exe.com

Bare Torrent
https://baretorrent-64-bit.en.softonic.com

Torrid
https://torrid.en.softonic.com

One Swarm [SSL encryption for torrent downloads]
https://oneswarm.en.softonic.com

Artic Torrent
https://arctic-torrent.en.softonic.com


Torrent Sites
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Torrentz2
https://torrentz2.eu

Extra Torrent
https://extratorrent.cc
https://torrentunblock.com/unblock/extratorrent.cc/
https://proxyof.com/extratorrent-proxy/

Piratebay
https://thepiratebay.org
https://proxyof.com/the-piratebay-proxy/

Kickass Torrents
https://katcr.co/new/

Rabrg
https://rarbg.to/index8.php

1337x
https://1337x.to

Iso Hunt
https://isohunt.to

TorrentProject
https://torrentproject.se

Torrent Downloads
https://www.torrentdownloads.me

Lime Torrents
https://www.limetorrents.cc

Yify Torrents
https://yts.ag

Torrent Hounds
https://www.torrenthounds.com

Demonoid
https://www.dnoid.me

Torlock
https://www.torlock.com

Seedpeer
https://www.seedpeer.eu

Idope
https://idope.se

Torrent Funk
https://www.torrentfunk.com

Torrents
https://torrents.me

Bitsnoop
https://bitsnoop.com

Monova
https://monova.org

YourBitTorrent
https://yourbittorrent.com

Fenopy
https://fenopy.eu
 
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