Torrent sometimes creates a negative impression in people’s minds. This is because of its widespread use in piracy. The term torrent is familiar to almost all of us who use the Internet today. You may have become introduced with torrent while downloading pirated movies or software.
However, Torrent is a unique addition to modern technology. It was not born for piracy. It’s born to avoid the limitations of conventional technology and the need for a different dimension of file sharing technology.
This technology works very subtly and skillfully – Just like a story. Let’s find out in detail what Torrent is?, How did it come about?, How Does BitTorrent Work?, Is it legal or illegal?, And how do we use it?
Through this, we will know everything necessary to use the torrent, including the upload and download how to download movies, songs, dramas, TV series with the torrent.
To understand the details of torrent sharing, you must first understand the ancient method of downloading and uploading, which has been ongoing since the beginning of computer use.
Traditional Method for Downloading
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If you want to share files without internet by connecting two computers via cable, you need to use this method. In that case, you have to provide a link from the sender computer to the recipient. The link will tell you where the file is on the sender’s computer. Then the file can be easily downloaded.
There is no complication in sharing files from one computer to another. But what if you need to share files from one computer to hundreds of computers? All the computers need to be connected via cable. Then the speed of sharing will be divided into those computers. An ordinary computer can never carry such a load of a hundred computers.
This is where a server computer is needed. Servers have the ability to receive requests from many computers.
In this case, the server is connected to the Internet. At this stage, the file owner puts his file on a server computer and publishes his address through a website or some other medium. Then those who will need the file, they use that address to download the file. The server computer then responds to the download and starts sending the file.
As the downloader grows, the server computer will begin to split the speed between the downloaders.
One of the major problems with this system is bandwidth. All files on the server have a fixed bandwidth. The server displays bandwidth errors when the bandwidth runs out. As a result, the file can not be downloaded. The uploader, therefore, has to adjust the bandwidth, keeping in mind the number of users.
This ancient method of file sharing has been around since the beginning. The technology sector has improved over time, while the file size has also increased. The size of the file has increased, but the sharing has not decreased but has increased.
However, the availability of broadband and file size is encouraging people to use torrents these days. Because, with the increased file size, the limitations of the old method have also increased.
So there was a need for a new method of file sharing. From that urge, sharing technology has advanced, and this upgraded version is Bittorrent or torrent technology.
peer-to-peer sharing
BitTorrent works basically through peer-to-peer sharing. This is the interesting aspect of this technology that sharing will be peer-to-peer, which is between downloader to downloader. In a BitTorrent system, a downloader is called a peer, not a downloader.
The inventor of BitTorrent technology is Bram Cohen, who studied computer engineering from the University of Buffalo. Another interesting fact about him is that he was the first inventor of computer virus! That’s another story. Let’s come back to the main topic.
So, Bram thought, What if all users do not collect files from a single server, each can act as a single server? This means that whose download is complete will start responding to others’ requests again. This was the basic idea on which Bram began to develop this technology.
It’s a simple idea, but it has a lot of complexity. Many questions came up in the implementation of this technology. For example, how does a normal computer handle requests like a server? Because there will be a possibility of losing data.
Again, how will another partially downloaded computer download the rest from a completed full file? The computer does not know how much can be found. Moreover, to work like a server, a computer has to complete the download, which is also time-consuming. Besides, if a computer has completed the download, how will it know other downloaders’ computers?
Nice idea, but the problem is quite complex. This is because of the protocol of the traditional sharing system.
protocol
Let us know about the protocol.
The protocol can be called the law of file sharing. The rules of file sharing and web browsing are written in it. Servers and browsers comply with it.
Some of the protocols are FTP (File Transfer Protocol), HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secured), etc.
Although we use HTTPS or HTTP when browsing the web, the word FTP is also familiar to us. FTP Server is especially familiar to those who use broadband lines.
Your broadband service provider is directly connected to your computer via cable, so you can download files of your choice from any of their specific files from the FTP server.
Internet bandwidth is not used here, as it is directly connected to your computer server via cable. So you can download files from their servers at much higher speeds than specified without using any bandwidth.
BitTorrent Software
For the first time, Bram has started writing a new protocol to solve peer-to-peer sharing problems. This sharing system divides a file into Bit by Bit. That is why BitTorrent became the name of this technology.
Bram also needed to create a browser that will support the protocol because all web browsers work on HTTPS, HTTP, or FTP protocol.
A new browser, known as “BitTorrent Software,” has been developed that will comply with this new protocol.
Those who do not recognize Bittorrent Software may be familiar with ‘µTorrent’ software. You may be used to calling it ‘utorrent,’ which is very famous in BitTorrent technology. The symbol looks like ‘u,’ used to mean micro ‘µ’ in scientific terms.
Currently, both µTorrent and BitTorrent browsers are under BitTorrent Corporation. Deluge and BitLord are also well-known torrent browsers as client software.
Tracker
Another term for bittorrent technology is ‘tracker.’ Its job is to introduce the server, client, and peer to each other. The browser is instructed to download any file via a specific file. The extension or format of that file is .torrent. From here, the word ‘torrent download’ has come to everyone’s lips. All torrent files have trackers.
Magnet Link
Downloading can be requested in another way, via the magnet link. Torrent files and magnets work the same way. As the magnet attracts the iron, the browser uses the magnet to download and assemble the desired file. This torrent can take a small portion of files from thousands of devices. That’s why torrent sharing is convenient in all situations.
[A bar like this appears in torrent browser, from which you can see which parts of file have been downloaded. When the tracker finds the part, it will download it]
Let’s talk about two more terminology, Seeders and Leechers. Regular torrent users will notice that while we go to download the torrent file on the website, Seeders and Leechers’ information is given in front of the file.
Seeders
The file you want to download is called a seed. Other computers that have downloaded the file, And since the upload has started, they all are uploaders now. The total number of them all appears as Seeder.
This is why the number of Seeders in the old file is zero. Because as it gets older, no computer seeds anymore. If the original uploader seeds alone, the file is expected to be downloaded. However, the speed will be slow, and it may take weeks.
In that case, see Active Seeder and download. The higher the seeder, the better and faster you can download the file.
Leechers
Leecher is a user who has partially downloaded a file. And before the download is complete, he starts uploading as much as he has. Anyone can download a part of a file from here, but not completely.
Since it is divided into many parts, there is no problem in downloading the parts. The rest of the torrent will be downloaded from any other Seeder.
Sharing is Caring!
There are many who reduce the upload speed to 0 kbps or, 1 kbps. Some people delete the file from the browser without allowing being Seed after completing the file download.
Doing their own thing like selfish, they don’t help others. If no one seeds, it will no longer be possible to keep the torrent file usable. That is why we have to change our mentality.
Is Torrent Legal or Illegal?
The BitTorrent itself protocol is not illegal or unsafe. It is just the technology to share any type of file easily. As it is used for piracy, people have a slightly illegal attitude towards it. You can use this technology to share large files if you want. You can do it with your ordinary computer, where you need a server.
BitTorrent technology is much upgraded, not getting old soon.
Game developers use this BitTorrent technology to release new updates or open-source operating system distributors to release their latest versions. It is also possible to use this technology in many more ways.
No creative work has come out of here yet as people know less about this technology!
