Intro: you must have heard about the free-to-download, unlimited resource that allows you to get all the movies and series at the click of your mouse: Torrent is the pool of files that you must choose yours from to enjoy the movie or series at your pace. Torrents are files that allow people to download and upload data quickly. You can use torrents for both legal and illegal purposes, but most users who use torrents do so for downloading media like music or videos. If you want to know more about torrents, keep on reading:
What is a Torrent?
Torrent is a method of sharing large amounts of data over the internet using peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing. Files exchanged using torrents are saved into small parts called “blocks” and then reassembled by the receiving side before you can use them, which helps to reduce file transfer time and allows for simultaneous downloads. Files that are shared using torrents are sometimes called torrent files, but the more general term “torrent” also refers to the software used for sharing and downloading.
What is a Swarm?
Torrents such as RARBG and RARBG proxy works by exchanging data between users rather than from a central server to clients. Clients connect in “swarms” with other clients whom they know nothing about except their IP address. Torrent uses an algorithm called tit-for-tat to randomly choose two endpoint peers from those who share a particular file. Then, it exchanges ‘hello’ messages among those peers to establish a connection. This process of finding peers on the network is known as ‘scraping.’ This initial information exchange proves that both endpoints are still present and connected to the network. However, finding peers on the web is only for one file between two specific users.
How does the Torrent work?
Theoretically, if each user downloaded a separate copy of the file, once they all had it, there would be no point in continuing to download from other participants as you have what you need. In practice, this does not happen because people leave and rejoin swarms frequently. Torrent clients track which pieces they have already received from others to prevent duplication when adding sourced chunks to their personal data buffer. a media file is divided into smaller, discrete units for download called “pieces.” Torrent clients are responsible for assembling the pieces in the correct order after downloading them from other users.
A torrent client tracks where a particular torrent has been seeded by monitoring how many times a chunk has been sent out from the swarm. If too much time passes without receiving an updated list of sources for a piece, or if you rely on an older list and miss out on a newer list containing more references, the torrent client will ask the swarm for that piece again. It is called a refresh and allows your µTorrent to download from multiple seeds in the swarm for optimal speeds.
What are the four main components of a torrent are:
- Seeds: a computer that already has a complete copy of your file, with the ‘get as much as you give’ philosophy. Seeders are users of a torrent that have already downloaded the file and share it with everyone that wants to download it. a computer that already has a complete copy of your file, with the ‘get as much as you put in’ philosophy, can share parts of the file with other users (upload)
- Leechers: a computer that does not have a complete copy of the file but is downloading it. A leecher has not yet completed the download but receives pieces of the file from another seeder.
- The tracker manages the Torrent and sends data to the leechers, telling them where they are looking for a file. The tracker is an index of all the files uploaded and where they are situated on the host computer. It is the torrent file that makes the connection between users and files.
- The torrent file: search for the file that you need to download a particular torrent of. It holds all the information about the file being downloaded, where it is situated, leechers or seeds, etc.
- A trackless torrent is a good solution for those who want to use the BitTorrent protocol without using trackers. It allows you to get rid of a tracker and connect users by using magnets, but it comes with a disadvantage: the files will be slower to download.
What are the advantages of using torrents?
- A single item can be downloaded from multiple sources from the swarm, increasing speed.
- Sharing data via torrents relies on the fact that you have some unused upload capacity, so uploading is effectively “free” for the user. In many cases, ISPs will also choose to avoid interrupting a user’s connection speeds by allowing them to continue uploading, even if their download rate is throttled or they reach their monthly quota.
- Magnet links are becoming increasingly popular, as they allow you to download torrents without trackers. If the tracker is taken down or compromised, you won’t download the torrent file.
- The advantage of torrents is that they are “peer-to-peer.” Instead of downloading your file from one service provider (the one who sent you the Torrent), you download it simultaneously from many seeds (all the people currently uploading pieces of your file to other peers).
- It allows you to get bits and pieces of your file at maximum speeds because even though there may only be five seeders instead of 100 leechers, each still has some piece(s), if not all of your files.
Conclusion
After knowing the components and how Torrent works, you can better use Torrent to download content from the internet. It is as safe as you make it to be. Make sure you use a VPN service when you are using Torrent.