What is a torrent?

A torrent file stores data about files for use with BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer f ile-sharing protocol that enables users to send and receive files in small piece s to and from computers across the Internet. Hundreds of millions of people use BitTorrent globally, as of January 2012, according to the protocol's creator. Be cause of the distributed nature of BitTorrent sharing, and the fact that small p ieces of the files are downloaded and then reassembled by the software, BitTorre nt uses less resources than direct downloading of files, resulting in faster spe eds for the downloader and lower bandwidth costs for the file provider. For this reason, companies such as Blizzard, makers of World of Warcraft, and Canonical, makers of Ubuntu Linux, use BitTorrent to distribute their software, as of Febr uary 2012. How torrenting works All torrenting takes place using a torrent program. Examples of torrenting progr ams include uTorrent, Azureus and the original BitTorrent. These programs enable your computer to send and receive pieces of files on a specific port and interp ret the data from torrent files. The torrent files contain all of the informatio n about a specific torrent: who started it, what the torrent contains, and how t o download and upload information corresponding to that torrent. When the torren t file is opened by a torrent program, the torrent program connects to other use rs who have portions of the file and downloads those pieces from them. Once it r eceives portions of the file, your computer becomes able to "seed," or upload, t he file to other users. Once the torrent program has received all portions of th e file, it assembles them into a usable file using the instructions found in the original torrent file. What is a .torrent file? This is a small metadata file. Metadata here means that the file contains inform ation about the data you want to download, not the data itself. Your BitTorrent client needs the .torrent file to connect to the tracker (see below) and downloa d the actual data you're interested in. What are seeds? A seed is a client that has a complete copy of the data of a certain torrent. On ce your BitTorrent client finishes downloading, it will remain open until you cl ick the Finish button (or otherwise close it). This is known as being a seed or seeding. What are leechers? A leecher is a client that is currently downloading the data of a torrent. A lee cher does not have the complete file, otherwise it would be called a seed. What is a tracker? A BitTorrent tracker is a service on the internet that assists in the communicat ion between BitTorrent clients. When you open a torrent file, your machine conta cts the tracker and asks for a list of seeds and leechers to connect to.