Article Computers Technology

A torrent file is the file that is transferred among users using the torrent technology. The file extension used by torrent files is .torrent. Torrent files
when added into a torrent application
can be distributed among numerous amounts of people without the need of any major hardware costs and server fees on a particular individual. This is because each user supplies bits of the full torrent file to users without those particular bits
while receiving bits that they do not yet have. Therefore
torrent files can also be shared relatively quickly.


History
Torrent technology was first planned and developed by Bram Cohen in April 2001. After months of development
it first went public in 2 July
2001
Today
Cohen’s technology is widely used. Although there are no specific measurements
it is considered as one of the most significantly used protocols in the Internet today.


Behind the Technology
The torrent technology is operated by a torrent client sending bits of the torrent file through a torrent protocol. A torrent client would be for example a personal computer while the torrent file can be of any file in the .torrent format.

For the sharing to begin
first a user must create a .torrent file (eg. File.torrent). A torrent file contains information
such as the tracker
the main computer distributing the file first
and the metadata
information about the files in the torrent file. People wishing to obtain the information must first download the torrent file (in this case
File.torrent)
run it with their torrent application
and then connect with the tracker
which will give orders on where to download what bits of the torrent file.


Torrent Files vs. HTTP Files
Although torrent files and its sharing are technically a transfer of files over the network
it has its strengths compared to the old-school HTTP downloading style. Firstly
when downloading files
web browsers will make one HTTP GET request through one TCP socket. However
torrent files make numerous amounts of small data requests over many TCP sockets. Also
HTTP will download in an order—what is first will be downloaded first; however torrents download in a random way—whatever is of high availability will be downloaded first.

This is exactly why the torrent files have its strengths; it doesn’t need much financial back
it has a higher redundancy
and a better resistance to potential abuse from flash crowds than what would be a frequent thing with HTTPs. However
as with everything
there is a downside. It takes a bit of time for downloads to be running in full throttle
as connecting to other peers can tae time. Also
becoming an effective uploader also takes time. Not to forget
while torrent file downloading will reach immensely high speeds
the speed will eventually fall near the end of the download as availability of the bits of the torrent file decrease.


Sharing Torrents and Files
First a user browses through the Internet looking for torrent files. Once a torrent file is obtained
the user will connect it through a torrent application and connect with the tracker. Then
the user will begin to download off of seeders and a group of peers known as the “swarm.” If there is one seeder
the user will directly connect to that seeder and begin to download
but eventually start to exchange files with other peers too
which lessens the burden on the seeder.


Applications of Torrent Files
Surprisingly
torrent files are widely used today by many individuals and some corporations.
 Some bands like “Ween” uses torrent files to distribute their free albums
 .torrent files are increasingly used by Podcasters to meet the high demands of these radio MP3s
 The game America’s Army uses torrent files to release their updates and patches for the games
 An immense number of open source and free softwares utilize torrent files to increase availability and awareness of the projects


Torrent Files’ Limitations
Although torrent files seem to be another great way to download and share files
it has some limitations such as security issues.
 IP Address Exposed: The use of torrent files can lead to anonymity issues
as all IP addresses of current and potentially previous swarm users can be found and abused
 Internet Speeds: It is best to use broadband when sharing torrent files
so dial-up users cannot take full advantage of the torrent technology
 Leeching Problem: While sharing torrent files is good
it doesn’t have many incentives behind it. Thus
there is no real reason to continue to seed after the download has finished. To fix this issue
some torrent sites have begun to limit the download speeds of users who do not upload often.


Free Torrent Applications to Download Torrent Files
In today’s market there are both quality free open source and paid products to download torrent files.
 BitTorrent: BitTorrent is the first and official torrent client made by Bram Cohen himself. It is supported in major operating systems such as Microsoft Windows
Apple
and Linux.
 Azuerus (Vuze): This is also a widely used torrent client first released in SourceForge in June 2003. Released under the GNU General Public License
Azuerus is a constantly developed
free client.
 ตTorrent (uTorrent): uTorrent
also known as microTorrent
is a torrent client written in C++. Because of its small size but a powerful interface
it is another widely used free torrent client. It was first released on December 7
2006
between BitTorrent
Inc. and Ludvig Strigeus
but was later fully acquired by BitTorrent
Inc. because of the application’s popularity
size
and power.