Why is Bittorrent protocol so popular

Question

I was wondering what made this protocol so useful as opposed to the other available protocols.

For example, Gnutella is not used at all anymore (according to my limited knowledge) while more and more companies/people are providing files over torrent.

Thanks

It's a very efficient protocol, but i'm not sure if it's the reason for it's popularity. — arthurprs, Feb 23 '11 at 00:31

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 23 '11 at 00:30

2

It is an open protocol, not only used by some proprietary client
It does not require central servers (with DHT etc. not even a tracker) which can be easily shutdown (when sharing copyrighted material).

answered Feb 23 '11 at 00:30

ThiefMaster

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I think you mean 'cannot be easily shutdown'. – threenplusone Feb 23 '11 at 00:33
maybe he mean if you don't wont be busted shotdown your computer! ;)) – Luca Filosofi Feb 23 '11 at 00:38
You should add efficiency to the list. – arthurprs Feb 23 '11 at 00:46

Nikolai Gorchilov · Answer 2 · 2011-03-07T12:35:58.090

Bittorrent was the first p2p technology that gave copyright holders the ability to put their content on their own website (in the form of publishing a .torrent file), instead of doing it on third party sites/applications, thus sending their "customers" away from their web property.

Due to that many software vendors (including some major Linux distros) adopted bittorrent as a distribution mechanism, giving it enough credibility.

All other p2p technologies failed to show enough non-infringing activity on their networks, which gave authorities legal grounds to shut them down.

Why is Bittorrent protocol so popular

2 Answers2