BitTorrent

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 release2001; 23 years ago (2001)
Standard(s)The BitTorrent Protocol Specification[1]
Typepeer-to-peer file sharing
Websitebittorrent.org
Part of a series on
File sharing
Technologies
Video on demand sites
BitTorrent sites
Academic/scholarly
File sharing networks
P2P clients
Streaming programs
Anonymous file sharing
Development and societal aspects
By country or region
Comparisons

BitTorrent, also referred to simply as 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. 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]

  1. ^ Cohen, Bram (October 2002). "BitTorrent Protocol 1.0". BitTorrent.org. Archived from the original on 8 February 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  2. ^ Cohen, Bram (2 July 2001). "BitTorrent – a new P2P app". Yahoo eGroups. Archived from the original on 29 January 2008. Retrieved 15 April 2007.
  3. ^ "What Is BitTorrent and Is It Safe?". www.kaspersky.com. 19 April 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  4. ^ "bittorrent vs HTTP". 13 June 2009. Archived from the original on 13 June 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  5. ^ "BitTorrent: The "one third of all Internet traffic" Myth * TorrentFreak".
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ "BitTorrent is No Longer the 'King' of Upstream Internet Traffic * TorrentFreak". Retrieved 19 March 2024.