Torrent
Many of you already used torrents to download things from the internet and know something about torrents. Torrent files do not hold actual data but store data related to where it is stored. To download a file using torrent you need a program that can understand torrent files and download actual data using the torrent files.
Is using torrent is illegal
People believe that the use of torrents is illegal. But using torrents to download files is not entirely illegal. But it depends on what you download. If you download illegal things like pirated games and software then only, torrent is illegal.
Even some legal websites use torrents to allow their users to download things from them.
Is using torrent is Dangerous
Downloading pirate games and software can be dangerous to your computer. Before pirating games and software, hacker modifies software code and can easily inject any type of malicious code into it. Thus it becomes very dangerous for your computer. So don’t download any pirated games and software.
Some ISPs regularly decrease the internet speed of users who are found to be sharing torrents. Because large files take a lot of bandwidth. To avoid this you can use VPN(Virtual Private Network) which helps in hiding your activity.
Working of torrent
The peer-to-peer protocol is used in the working of torrents. A group of computers is used in the process of downloading and uploading the same torrent. The central server is not required in the case of torrents. In torrent, every user is involved in downloading files and uploading files.
- A user’s computer joins a torrent network by opening the torrent file in supporting Torrent applications like BitTorrent and Utorrent.
- Then, the application network contact tracker is included in the torrent file. Tracker has information about all the connected computer which has the requested file or piece of it.
- Then, the application starts downloading the files in bits.
- Then, the application also starts uploading that data to other torrent users.
Advantage of torrent
- Torrent is very helpful in downloading very big-size files.
- There is no time limit to downloading the files. Download links never expire within a particular period.
- In torrent downloading, the Peer-to-Peer protocol is used. Thus Central server is not required.
- If the download stops in mid due to any unavoidable condition, the Download can resume easily and won’t start from starting.
- Torrents provide fast speed in downloading files.
- The majority of torrents maintain quality standards as they filter out corrupted files.
Disadvantage of torrent
- You can’t be sure what you are downloading because the file name can be changed easily.
- You cannot ensure the quality of files before downloading the files.
- Torrent exposes our IP to other people in the swarm which is not good for privacy reasons.
Common terms used in Torrent
Seeders
Seeders are users who fully download the files. And now allow others to download the file by uploading the file.
Peers
A peer is a user in a Peer-to-peer network who is involved in downloading and uploading files.
Leechers
A leecher is a user that doesn’t full file and is downloading the file.
Swarm
A swarm is a group of computers that own files or small pieces of files.
Trackers
A tracker is a server containing information about the location of the file requested for download.
Client
Clients are applications that act as requirements for downloading torrent files.