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BitTorrent, also referred to simply as 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. [2]
Together, all peers (including seeds) sharing a torrent are called a swarm. [2] For example, six ordinary peers and two seeds make a swarm of eight. This is a holdover from the predecessor to BitTorrent, a program called Swarmcast, originally from OpenCola.
In the BitTorrent file distribution system, a torrent file or meta-info file is a computer file that contains metadata about files and folders to be distributed, and usually also a list of the network locations of trackers, which are computers that help participants in the system find each other and form efficient distribution groups called swarms. [1]
Peer-to-peer file sharing is the distribution and sharing of digital media using peer-to-peer (P2P) networking technology. P2P file sharing allows users to access media files such as books, music, movies, and games using a P2P software program that searches for other connected computers on a P2P network to locate the desired content. [1]
qBittorrent is one of the most widely used torrenting programs due to its free and open-source nature. Online piracy or software piracy is the practice of downloading and distributing copyrighted works digitally without permission, such as music , movies or software .
A BitTorrent tracker is a special type of server that assists in the communication between peers using the BitTorrent protocol.. In peer-to-peer file sharing, a software client on an end-user PC requests a file, and portions of the requested file residing on peer machines are sent to the client, and then reassembled into a full copy of the requested file.
In file sharing, super-seeding is an algorithm developed by John Hoffman for the BitTorrent communications protocol that helps downloaders become uploaders more quickly, but it introduces the danger of total seeding failure if there is only one downloader. [citation needed] The algorithm applies when there is only one seed in the swarm.
Towards the end of the 2000s, BitTorrent became subject to a "man in the middle" attack in TCP mode – and this has led most file sharing protocols to move to UDP towards the very end of the decade. Client and tracker software in this era was in development as much as the transmission protocols, so the file trading software was not always as ...