Download Torrent Files

A P2P (peer to peer) program is software that allows the transfer of files from one person to another on the Internet in an effective, fast, and reliable way, “Torrent” files are a type of P2P files.

Torrent sharing is different from other types of P2P services, for example, with Limewire you search for other users within the P2P application to see which files that you want are being shared. With torrent files, you go to an index web site where you download this files that contain the information required for a torrent client to find, manage and download the file you want.

Important terms about Torrent Files and Torrent Clients

It is helpful to learn the terminology associated with torrent files:

Client – A client is the actual P2P software that is downloaded and installed on the computer that you would like to use for sharing and downloading files. Two popular P2P clients are Azureus and UTorrent.

Tracker – A tracker is a central server that manages the sharing of files among its many users. Most clients have built in trackers; there are also specific tracking programs such as BNBT and CBTT.

Seeder – A seeder is the user/computer that has a complete copy of a file you are requesting. If you cant find a seeder, then you wont be able to download the file.

Leeches – A leech is a person that is downloading a file or files from other computers, but is not sharing any files of his or her own. This is bad P2P etiquette.

Swarm – Most clients allow a computer to download a file and then upload to others the parts that already have been downloaded. When you are both seeding and downloading, that’s a swarm.

.torrent – a torrent is a file that is downloaded from an index web site and sometimes referred to as an archive. It is a very small file usually less than 25bits, that is necessary for your client to start and manage the file transfer process so you can download the file.

Download a Torrent File

The first thing to do is download and install a torrent client if you don’t have one already. This torrent software is the command center for your P2P file sharing.

Then you should search for files that you would like to download. Visit many index web sites such as Pirate bay and Torrent Spy, search for the file and locate it.

After you enter the name of your desired file, your index web site should return a list of available torrent files. Find the one with the most the most seeders, since these will probably download faster and have a better quality. Then click the download link and save it onto your computer. These files are usually less than 25kbits.

When you double click on the file you saved, your torrent client should open and will start to manage and download your file. You will be able to see how many people are downloading the file, seeding and sharing or leeching. You should also see the progress of your download and the amount of time you’ll have to wait until the file is finished downloading.

The most popular P2P Torrent Clients

There are many Torrent clients, but these are some of the best and most popular:

UTorrent

UTorrent is a freeware Bit Torrent client that works great on the Windows OS. The entire program is only 173 Kb, because it was developed to require the least amount of computer resources and give as much functionality as possible. Despite its small size it has a lot of features including Unicode support, protocol encryption, peer exchange with other UTorrent users and Azureus users (this feature goes above and beyond normal P2P, similar to chat), configurable bandwidth settings, Customizable user interface, initial seeding. On top of all this, it is available in 38 languages.

Azureus

Another great P2P Torrent Client is Azureus, it is also free and its available for many Operating Systems including windows, mac, and Linux.

It is based on Java (a programming language) and supports many different anonymous protocols such as I2P and Tor.

It allows multiple download files, has a GUI interface and many useful configurable settings such the ability to determine your maximum upload and download speeds and informative statistics.

You can preview files that are still downloading to check the quality of the file before you spend more time downloading it.

All this wealth of features have a prize however and it is that Azureus may use more computer resources, but its still one of the best Torrent clients and has many amazing features.

Advantages of Torrent Clients over other P2P systems.

Bit Torrent Clients have better speed, are more affordable and are proved to be some of the easiest ways to share files with other people. Files are easy to locate and download, and broadband connections allow you to download even the larger files with ease.

Disadvantages of Torrent Clients

The most complex of these clients use a lot of resources in your computer, if you don’t have a really powerful machine you might find yourself unable to do much else while downloading. The might also come bundled with spyware and adware, so check the EULA (end user licensing agreement) to make sure this is not the case.

The Legal Issues of Bit Torrents

Using a Bit Torrent client is perfectly legal, but certain files (i.e. copyrighted material) may not be legal to download in certain regions. Make sure the files that you download are legal because the use of Bit Torrents is not anonymous and can be traced back to your computer using your IP address.