BitTorrent
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.
| Original author(s) | Bram Cohen |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Rainberry, Inc. |
| Initial release | 2001 |
| Repository | github |
| Standard(s) | The BitTorrent Protocol Specification |
| Type | peer-to-peer file sharing |
| Website | www |
| Part of a series on |
| File sharing |
|---|
| File hosts |
| Video sharing sites |
| BitTorrent sites |
| Media servers |
| Technologies |
| File sharing networks |
| Academic |
| P2P clients |
| Anonymous file sharing |
| History and societal aspects |
| By country or region |
| Comparisons |
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.
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. In 2019, BitTorrent was a dominant file sharing protocol and generated a substantial amount of Internet traffic, with 2.46% of downstream, and 27.58% of upstream traffic.