What is a torrent, how to use a torrent. How a torrent works. Who are peers, seeds, leechers?

How to download a file or start sharing a file? What is the rating and the formula for calculating it. Programs for work in torrent-networks. Search for torrent sites.

To be honest, I can’t imagine the modern Internet without torrents. First of all, it is freedom, and this is what became the main reason for the popularity of torrent on the network.

Torrent - what is it?

This is a service for the exchange of information between people on the Internet. Peer-to-peer (P2P) network protocol. Peer-to-peer (from the English peer-to-peer - equal to equal) means based on the equality of participants.

For example, you have an interesting file and you do not upload it to the server (storage), but directly transfer it from user to user, who, in turn, also become distributors of this file. A complex web of file sharing is formed. Something similar to this picture.

Accordingly, the second reason for popularity is the ability to download almost everything! These include works of authorship, activation keys for any paid software, films that have not yet appeared at the box office, TV shows, etc.

How a torrent works

The work of the torrent is carried out through special server sites, they are also "Trackers" and special programs that work with torrent files.

To date, the Internet is clearly not lacking trackers. On https://invitez.net/ the choice is quite large; from multi-profile to narrow-profile focused only on films or programs, music or games.
All trackers can be divided into:

-  open  (anyone can download, even without registration and traffic accounting);
—  closed  (registration is required to download files);
-  private  and semi-private (registration by invitation, or up to a certain limit of people).

Downloading from the tracker takes place using a “torrent file”, which carries general information about the file, its checksum, and the tracker url itself.

Now it's the turn of the program that creates these torrent files and allows them to be shared (downloaded or distributed).

Who are peers, seeds, leechers?

The most common question faced by a person who first got on the tracker. All these three bad words none other than you and me.

• If you have an interesting file, you put it on the tracker and start distributing this file, then you are a seeder 
• If you clicked download and continue downloading, i.e. until you have all the segments of the file, then you are a leecher 
• If you downloaded the entire file and remained on the distribution, that is, you didn’t delete it, didn’t change it, didn’t move it, then you are a peer

Now the meanings of these terms have changed a little and a peer is now called a person who is still downloading (i.e. a leecher), who, having downloaded the file, becomes a seed. The word leecher has acquired a negative meaning, meaning downloading a lot, distributing little.

Such users are fought by introducing  a rating  (ratio). This is a system for counting given to downloaded. You need to try to distribute no less than what you downloaded, or at least do not immediately delete what you downloaded and do not turn off the client .

How to download files from a torrent and how to become a file distributor

All of the above is just a theory, which is unlikely to come in handy when using a torrent. Therefore, we turn to the most interesting how to download from a torrent.

To begin with, we need the program itself, I recommend the client - µTorrent. Let's go to the official page of the program  and download it. Next, find the downloaded utorrent.exe file → run it → install the program. Be careful and if you do not need this program in  autoload , uncheck  the corresponding box.

Now you need to go to the torrent tracker and download any file you like.  We go to the tracker and in the search field we fill in the movie that we would like to download. Take, for example, the movie The Avengers. In principle, the tracker itself describes in great detail how to download a movie - look for the line “How to download a movie?”

Be careful:  the torrent file needs to be downloaded by a browser (Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla Firefox), but not by download managers (Download Master, FlashGet, ReGet). Opera browser users are advised to disable the built-in torrent client.

Select the quality in which we will download the movie and click download.

Next, the browser will ask what to do with the torrent file → select "open in utorrent"

Now we specify the place where we want to save our movie

That's it, the download has begun. We are waiting for the download to finish. By the way, if for some reason your download is interrupted (the Internet is turned off or the light is turned off), you will not lose this download, it will resume from the same place as soon as the Internet appears (provided the client is on).

If you are downloading, for example, a series, then you can mark only the series, seasons or folders you need. It looks like this.

A situation often arises when a given distribution of a file or film is updated, for example, by adding new series. If you still have all the parts (segments) of this file, except for the newly added ones, you need to: → Download the torrent distribution file again (click download) → open it in your client (“open in utorrent”) → specify the exact location or folder where all previous segments of the file. The file (or folder with files) will be hashed and the download will begin. In the same way, you can become the distribution of the file.

The client has such a useful feature as shutting down Windows after downloading a file. Settings → Shut down Windows → Shutdown when finished loading.

If the Internet speed does not allow you to download and work at the same time, you can always limit the download speed or file upload speed. By right-clicking on the client icon in the tray (on the right on the taskbar, where the clock is usually) and select the restriction of reception or distribution.

I hope this article has helped you finally understand what a torrent is and how to use it. Good luck!