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Heard of BitTorrent, but not quite sure how to use it, or wonder whether you should use it at all? Here’s a quick guide for newbies on how it works and how to get started downloading torrent files.
What is BitTorrent?
BitTorrent is an internet peer-to-peer file sharing protocol that works in a sort of decentralized fashion. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that as you download portions of your files from the the person who originally shared the file, you are also getting portions from fellow downloaders to maximize data exchange.
BitTorrent is one of the most commonly used protocols for transferring very large files because it doesn’t overload web servers that provide downloads—since everybody is both sending and receiving, it’s much more efficient than everybody downloading from a single server.
How BitTorrent Works
To better understand how this all works, take a look at this diagram from Wikipedia detailing the process:
“In this animation, the colored bars beneath all of the 7 clients in the upper region above represent the file, with each color representing a individual piece of the file. After the initial pieces transfer from the seed (large system at the bottom), the pieces are individually transferred from client to client. The original seeder only needs to send out one copy of the file for all the clients to receive a copy. To stop animation, click browser’s Stop or hit ESC key.”
Indexers
An “indexer” is a site that compiles a list of torrents and descriptions and is a place where users form a community (with rules!) around BitTorrent content. When you want to share, download, or request files, the indexer’s community is where you go. These usually take the form of a forum and/or an IRC channel.
Trackers
A “tracker” is a server that assists in directing peers, initiated downloads, and maintaining statistics. Since most indexers have their own private tracker, most people just refer to them both as trackers. In this article, we’re going to use this more general definition to avoid confusion with whatever you may find yourself on the internet.
Trackers route little pieces of data, or packets, to downloaders and assist them in connecting to their fellow peers—as you download chunks of files, you also upload them to other people who have different chunks of the file, and because everybody’s sharing with each other while downloading, it tends to zip along quickly.
Seeders and Leechers
Once you’re done downloading, you become a “seeder” and you continue to upload to other peers. If you disable uploading and you only download, you’re referred to as a “leecher,” and aside from its ethical misgivings it can lead to being banned from the tracker. As such, it’s generally good practice to seed at least as much as you download.
Image by nrkbeta
Public vs Private Trackers
Another aspect of trackers are whether they are public or private—the “Private” trackers are based on membership, so only registered users can download, upload, and/or have access to perks like additional downloads. “Public” trackers usually don’t require registration, or if they do, it’s free and always open. In general, the best experience comes from a private tracker with a strong community, so be sure to look around and see if you can’t find one that suits your tastes.
BitTorrent Clients
The other side of the BitTorrent equation can be found on your local computer: a client. The client’s job is to manage your torrents, actually connect to other peers, manage statistics on your end, and, of course, download and upload. While the tracker gives instructions on what to do and how to connect, it’s the client that actually does the heavy-lifting. Because of this, it’s important that you choose a client you trust as well as a client that performs amiably.
There’s no lack of free, feature-packed BitTorrent clients, but we strongly recommend uTorrent (for Windows) and Transmission (for Mac OS and Linux). uTorrent is a powerhouse of an app, and easily one of the lightest to run on Windows. Transmission is installed by default on Ubuntu and many other Linux distributions, and the Mac version runs extremely well and has Growl support. They are both novice and resource-friendly but don’t skip out on some of the more useful options for advanced users.
Note: uTorrent, by default, enables an Ask.com toolbar during installation and offers to make your default search Ask.com. This can be turned off without any problems, but it bears mentioning.
Legality of BitTorrent
BitTorrent itself is a protocol, so it falls to individual trackers as to what’s legal and what’s not. If a copyright violation occurs, it is the tracker that is primarily held responsible, and subsequently its users. You probably should avoid blindly downloading copyrighted works on public trackers, since your IP address can be easily tracked.
There are many legal uses for BitTorrent, however—for instance, most community-driven Linux distributions offer torrents for their ISOs. Phish fans often record live shows (so long as they comply with Phish’s policy on music trading) and share them online, as do many artists themselves.
There are plenty of legal trackers out there, as well as torrent aggregators that compile links to legal downloads hosted on other trackers. Here’s a couple of examples:
- Jamendo is a free music tracker that distributes Creative Commons-licensed albums, and artists can contribute their own album if it’s licensed in the same way.
- Linux Tracker provides downloads to Linux distributions, both popular and low-key, and serves as a great alternative for downloading ISO files.
- Clear Bits offers “open licensed digital media” downloads for free, charging content providers instead. And, as always, Google can be a powerful ally in finding legal torrents.
We here at How-To Geek do not condone piracy and we urge you to please download responsibly.
Downloading Torrents
Things are shared through “torrents,” small files containing text that act as instructions for the tracker. In order to download files, you hop on your tracker’s website and download the torrent file, which is usually under 30 KB. You then open that torrent in your chosen BitTorrent and you’ve started to download! The process is that simple, although there is a lot you can do to make the most of your connection if you play around with your client.
Step by Step
First and foremost, download and install your chosen BitTorrent client. Here, I’m using uTorrent as my chosen client on Windows. If you’re using Mac or Linux, it won’t be too hard to follow along using Transmission.
Next, we need a torrent file. I’ve got a torrent of Countdown’s album “Break Rise Blowing” from Jamendo.
Once you have your torrent file in an easy-to-reach (or well-organized) location, all you have to do is double-click on the .torrent file to load it in your client.
You’ll see uTorrent pop up and you’ll get a dialog with option for the specific download.
Here, you can choose where the torrent will download to, whether or not you want to add it to the top of your queue of torrents, and you can even unmark individual files from being downloaded. Once you’ve settled on what you’d like, you can go ahead and click on OK.
In the main uTorrent window you’ll see your queue. From here you can manage your torrents:
- The Pause button will pause downloading, but keep its connections open.
- The Stop button will stop downloading and close its connections.
- The Play button will start downloads once they’ve been paused or stopped.
- The red X button will give you a prompt to delete your torrent (and files, if you choose).
- The Up arrow will raise your torrent’s priority amongst all of the currently active torrents.
- The Down arrow will lower its priority in the queue.
Getting started is just that easy. The world of BitTorrent is vast, but hopefully this introduction will give you the incentive to take the plunge. Happy torrenting!
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BitTorrent peer to peer file sharing is still going strong after all these years. This is even after attempts by several countries to ban tracker sites like The Pirate Bay and others at the ISP level. Even though torrents are mostly associated with downloading pirated and copyright infringing files, there are still many legitimate uses that rely on the same peer to peer (P2P) distribution method.
Lots of free software is offered for download over torrent P2P, such as Linux ISOs. In the past game developers have also used it to distribute game patches and updates. You can even download drivers for utilities like Snappy Driver Installer using P2P. Sadly a number of organizations can block the use of torrent software as it is a huge drain on the network because it connects to many other computers at the same time.
Even your ISP could throttle torrents and slow them to a crawl of only a few KB/s for the same reason. To get around the restriction on using dedicated torrent clients or ISP imposed speed throttling, there are a few things you can try to still be able to use torrents. Here we have 5 methods for you to look at.
1. Download Torrents With a Torrent Client Browser ExtensionOne of the most popular ways to download torrents through your browser used to be the Java based Bitlet tool. Sadly it’s no longer available. An alternative is using a browser extension available for either Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. Although there are not that many torrent client extensions around, there is at least one for Firefox and two for Chrome that should do the job.
Torrent Tornado for Firefox
Torrent Tornado is a very competent extension that has enough functions for most average users. For getting the torrent into the browser Torrent Tornado accepts .torrent files, magnet links, HTTP URLs, FTP URLs or torrent hashes. Just press the Add new torrent button to start the process.
After adding the source for the torrent, it will show the details for the download and then offer the choice of which files to download from within the torrent. The small Settings button at the top left controls options such as save folder, file associations, memory cache, maximum peers and download speeds.
Download Torrent Tornado For Firefox
JSTorrent Lite For Chrome
The Lite version of this app extension is a cut down version of the paid app so it’s more feature limited than it would otherwise be. The biggest restriction is you are limited to 20 downloads before the app stops you downloading. An easy way around this is simply uninstalling and reinstalling the extension to get yourself another 20.
JSTorrent Lite accepts both magnet links and local/remote .torrent files. There’s also the option to stream video files while downloading. Select the video file, click the Files tab and press Stream to open the player window. Adjusting the number of peers or active torrents can be controlled via the Settings window but setting speed limits is not available in this free version.
Download JSTorrent Lite For Chrome
Bitford For Chrome
If your torrenting needs are quite basic but you want speed controls which JS Torrent Lite doesn’t offer, Bitford is worth a try.
It doesn’t accept magnet links only local .torrent files, so it’s more tricky after visiting sites like The Pirate Bay. Control the upload and download speed via the two boxes at the bottom. Press the Save button to save individual files to your drive or Remove to cancel the download.
Download Bitford for Chrome
2. Download Torrents With an Online Torrent Client
This method has a few advantages. It bypasses P2P traffic shaping from an ISP because the torrent files are downloaded in the browser just like any other file. It also keeps you safe from anti-P2P organizations monitoring copyright infringing torrents. The drawback is most of the available free services are quite limited unless you pay for a subscription.
We are looking at Seedr because it’s one of the more generous free services. Currently, Seedr doesn’t restrict the speed at which you can download the completed files from their servers. The default limit is 2GB which is both the overall storage limit and the maximum size of the torrent file you can download. This can be increased to over 6GB by accomplishing tasks such as inviting friends, posting a review or pinning a Seedr image on your Pinterest.
Seedr accepts local torrent files, magnet links or a URL of a remote torrent file. You can only transfer one torrent at a time to the Seedr servers but can download multiple completed torrents from Seedr. We found the download speed very good and all our files downloaded at the maximum speed. There’s also a Seedr Chrome extension for directly adding links.
If you find the limit at Seedr is not quite enough, there are other services like Torrent Safe or Direct Torrents that offer a 10GB file limit for free. They restrict you to only 3 downloads per month so are for occasional use only (changing your IP address might get you another 3). Other popular names like Filestream, Bitport and especially ZBigZ are too restrictive to be of any great use in our view.
Visit Seedr
3. Use a Browser With Built in Torrent Client
Over the years we’ve seen a few web browsers incorporate a torrent client into the browser itself. The most notable being Opera although it removed this ability when switching to the Chromium browsing engine in 2012. You can still download Opera 12.18 and use the torrent client, but it’s better to use a more up to date solution.
A more up to date browser that includes a built in torrent client is Torch Browser. There is another called Citrio but it appears to be based on an outdated version of Chromium. In addition to the integrated torrent client, Torch also includes a download accelerator, social sharing button, games portal, music portal, media player, and a media grabber that downloads on page audio and video.
After install simply press the slider then the green button in the Torch toolbar to turn on torrenting and open the torrent client window. It’s possible to just drop a torrent file onto the window or you can open the Add Torrent dialog to search for a file or paste a magnet link into the box. Choose the save to location and which files inside the torrent to download, then press OK to start the download.
The torrent Settings window allows for adjustment of a number of options commonly found in torrent clients. These include randomize or change the listening port, use DHT/PEX/LPD, adjust the number of connections and active torrents, speed limits, seeding limits and video streaming playback options. You’ll want to right click and remove the Torch Offers extension as it’s simply advertising.
Download Torch Browser
4. Using a File Download Manager
While you might not be able to install or run a dedicated torrent client, it may be possible to run a standard file download manager. There are many around that handle normal file downloads but a few free managers are also able to download torrents. Flashget and Free Download manager are two that can handle torrents. We’ll look at Free Download Manager (FDM) as it’s actively supported and kept more up to date.
During install, FDM will offer to associate itself with .torrent files and magnet links. It’s best to leave the setting as is to make things easier. When the program launches you can simply drop a .torrent file onto the window to start a download. Alternatively, press the menu button top right to manually search for a torrent file or press the add button to paste in a remote torrent or magnet URL.
To control speeds, Free Download Manager has Low, Medium or High speed limit modes and a Snail Mode which will concede bandwidth to other traffic. Traffic limit speeds, connections and a few torrent specific options like DHT, used ports and port forwarding can be controlled via the Settings window. Right click on the torrent download to set its own priority, whether to seed, setup scheduling and to force a recheck/reannounce.
Download Free Download Manager
5. Multi Host Torrent Converter
It’s worth noting first that a multi host file download service is not free and costs from around €4 Euros for a month depending who you go with. A multi host download service is mainly for heavy downloaders using cyberlocker sites like Rapidgator or Uploaded etc. Some also include other download services like Usenet or BitTorrrent. If you want to get large torrents that free services like Seedr can’t handle, this may be your cheapest paid option.
The one we use is AllDebrid although there are other debrid services like RealDebrid that can handle torrents. Alternatively, you can go for a bandwidth based service such as Premium.to. AllDebrid works similar to the free online clients but instead of downloading the finished files from their servers, the files are uploaded to another cyberlocker site. In this case, UptoBox.com. Then you paste the UptoBox links into the AllDebrid downloader to download like any other files.
Visit the Torrent Converter page and either paste a Magnet link or click the “Torrent File” box to upload a .torrent from your computer. Then click the convert button and do something else while waiting for it to finish. When the process is complete, click on Display Links and then the pointing arrow to send the links directly to the Downloader box. The limits are a generous 250GB torrent size. 30 simultaneous downloads and a 72 hour time limit for the torrent to finish. Large torrents can be split into 1GB chunks for easier management.
Visit AllDebrid
You might also like:
4 Ways to Bypasses ISP Torrent Throttling Allowing Faster Download Speed10 Free Ways to Stream Torrent Without Waiting for Complete DownloadingHow to Identify Fake Torrents Uploaded by Anti-Piracy OrganizationsEasily Download from Usenet for Free Without Installing Newsreader Client5 Free and Easy Ways to Access FTP without Full FTP Client SoftwareI don’t understand people who want to protect themselves free. I have already used Boxopus for several years. I know it is not the best service at the market but Boxopus.com provides the best price-quality ratio. Now I pay less than $5 monthly for it but at any moment I can watch favorites movies on my smart TV by using Boxopus ftp. It’s very easy!
ReplyIf I used Torrent Tornado or any similar Firefox plugin on the Tor browser, will Tor still protect my anonymity when Torrenting?
ReplyHi Admin Sir, Thanks for another wonderful article. ( Seedr is best! )
Replyone of these ways actually worked for me, even in a blocked network, thank you!
ReplyThis fbtube.biz trick shows you how to convert an MP4 and MP3 file of your video from Facebook and Youtube. No any software required! fbtube is probably the easiest way to download and convert any YouTube or any other videos. Here’s how it works: you’ll need the URL of the Facebook or Youtube video you want to download. Place the URL into our Fbtube converter website and it’ll download.
This is very easy. This is what you gotta do:
Step 1: Open the YouTube website.
Step 2: Open the video that you want to download.
Step 3: Let it play, be it for 1 second.
Step 4: Go to the URL of the video in the top of the browser and copy that URL.
Step 5: Now, Open the Fbtube website.
Step 6: And last Paste that Url here in given Box of converter.
That’s it.
ReplyWithout Installation , mean No Installation.
How should we download a file without install.
No matter installing torrent app or plugin or anything else.
Without installing anything.
How..?
This is the bloody main question.
You go to library and you need a file to download with torrent, but we all know nobody can install any app on the library’s computer.
Now tell me how..?!
cloudbox247.com offers free with unlimited bandwidth
ReplyThanks! You can also use torrentleecher.ga to stream movies or download larger files.
Once you start the torrent, it will continue downloading online even if your computer is off – so you can come back at download it all.
ReplyI don’t agree with the author’s opinion on other popular names… zbigz may be worse regarding user-friendliness but together with bitport are both great for use and to me not restrictive in any way.
ReplyThen your requirements are far lower than most other torrent users. ZBigZ has a 1GB limit and a max download speed of 150KB/s, Bitport has 1GB and a limit of 1 torrent per day. For any self-respecting torrenter, those limits are far too small to be of any real use. How do you call those limits “not restrictive in any way”???
ReplyFor me foxleech.com is the best and cheapest
foxleech.com/torrent
ReplyStay away from Torch if you pirate. It should might as well be a honey pot.
Replycache.lt provided fast and great solution. Not nonly cache service – free video stream service too.
Replythanks for zbigz
ReplyWarning about Bitlet: While it may be true that “you don’t need to download or install any BitTorrent client” you DO have to download and install what appears to be Bitlet’s “parent” or owner, i.e., GitHub. I don’t like finding out AFTER I get to a site to download something I’ve just been told about on another site and finding out I HAVE to download another app to get the one I came for. But because the article above made Bitlet sound so enticing I went ahead. Could not go through with it though as my gut kept telling me “no.” So as soon as I had GitHub installed I pulled up my Iobit Uninstaller to remove it. IU uses the app’s own uninstaller first, then runs a scan for any leftover files. GitHub had 6179 leftover files that took 12 minutes to delete.
I would love to try Bitlet, but not at the cost of inviting what appears to be another Google-sized intruder into my computer. Just FYI.
ReplyThe Bitlet project is pretty much dead and the website to download torrents has gone, now it redirects to the source code for the library at Github.
Github is a repository for open source projects and is not the owner of Bitlet so you didn’t have to download and install any extra software from there, it only hosts the source code which can be downloaded as a Zip file if anyone wanted to look at it.
ReplyGitHub is a completely legitimate application and is linked to software development and maybe millions of people use it, including myself. I don’t understand why BitLet makes you use it, but GitHub is completely safe.
ReplyHas anyone tried torrentsafe.com?
Reply
Seems like a great site, but it will screw you if you add a torrent that it cannot download (low seeders for example). Every torrent you add, even if you remove it because it isn’t going anywhere, or you find another source or torrent you like better will add to your 4 torrent a month limit (and I kind of feel like this is an intentional hook as long as the site has been up to try to force you into the desperate move of paying). If Im going to pay anyone, it would be seedr because at least if you stay within the 2.5 gig limit (you can easily increase it to for free), you get unlimited torrents from it, and I believe in rewarding more honorable policies.
ReplyI’d like to recommend Offcloud.com also
ReplyOffcloud will be useless for most people because unless you pay, the free account only allows 3 downloads per month. The only reason it might come in useful is it has a 10GB storage limit so can get bigger torrent files. A useful complement to other services but definitely not a first choice.
ReplyOffcloud is the only thing on this website that actually worked for me
ReplyZBIGZ offers only 1 GB space [the file size > 1 GB] in the free account.
ReplyNow Download Torrent at Superfast Speed without any seeder and leechers limitation at FREE of cost with GetMyTorrent.
GetMyTorrent.COM
You will get awesome no. of features without any limitation or restriction at free of cost. Now your search for fastest torrent downloader ends here!!!
Following are the Features of GetMyTorrent:
1) 10 GB Torrent Storage
2) No Speed Limitations
3) Resume capability
4) Archiving before download
5) Simultaneous downloads : unlimited
6) Downloaded files available for 7 days
7) Unlimited bandwidth
Just Try it and check out by your own.
A great alternative would be Bitport.io
It is much nicer and sleeker. Runs as melted butter.
I only had the patience to try the first three from the article above. Even with confirming my email address, Bitport.io was easier and faster than all of them. Hey moderators, this one should top your list! Thank you so much, Adam!!!
ReplyWe’ve talked about Bitport in another article:
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/bitlet-bypasses-streamyx-torrent-throttle-allowing-full-download-speed/
Compared to similar services like FileStream and Seedr, Bitport is far too restricted to be of much use to many people.
Hi Raymond,
Always GREAT! Thanks!
What Do You Need To Download Torrent Files For Mac
I was getting myself setup to download torrents without using a client by using BitLet. When I went back to get my Mass Storage Drivers Pack’s torrent link, my click was intercepted by my “Free Download Manager”, and I was very surprised to be reminded that this program also handles torrents. So where I expected to download only the torrent link, FDM automatically downloaded the actual driverpacks! FDM is true to its name, it is FREE, and they also have a portable version too.
–Bill
ReplyHello, the same thing but more practical and ergonomic
torrent-in-direct.fr
1) Download ZAP Torrents Plugin. Available for Firefox and Chrome. No Ads, no Spyware and it won´t modify your default browser.
Download Mozilla Firefox Plugin
This is the ZapTorrents’ plugin for Mozilla FireFox.
Download
Download Google Chrome Plugin
This is the ZapTorrents’ plugin for Google Chrome.
Download
2) Log in
3) Search for Torrent files or Magnet Links. For this, we recommend you thepiratebay.se. It is the website with the larger data base for torrents, but if for some reason you couldn´t find it there, you may check the following sites: ExtraTorrent, FlixFlux, IsoHunt, Torrent Reactor, KickAssTorrents, Monova, Torrentz, TorrentZap, SeedPeer, ShareReactor, Vertor, YourBittorrent, YouTorrent.
4) Once you have done the research, click on the “SE” button, this will arrange it all by Seeders. The one with more seeds will mean higher download speed
5) Get into the Torrent to check its info. There are two download options: Magnet Links and Torrent Files. Note: We strongly recommend download through Magnet Links
6) Click on the Magnet Links icon
7) It will be automatically loaded in the “My Files” section, of ZAP Torrents.
(a) You will have to wait a few minutes till it´s done getting info.
(b) Then the download to our servers will begin.
(c) Once it´s completed, the file has to be compressed
From the moment a file finishes downloading and compressing to our servers, you have 7 days to complete the download to your PC. Then after that time, the file will be deleted.
8) The last step; choose how you wish to download it to your PC: Web Browser or Download Manager
ReplyZBIGZ save my day :D
ReplyYou might consider put.io too. It have a similar service.
ReplyThanks zbigZ is very nice!
Replyamazing, thank you!
Replyplease add torrent2ddl.com in this list.
ReplyHow old is this post ? 8 year old comments ?
you can also put seedr.co.il on that list
seems less hack-ey then some
The post was updated and rewritten in 2013, as it says at the top.
Replyare this all open source softwares that are freely downloaded
ReplyThey are not all open source but 4 of the 5 are free to use, one is through a paid service.
Replywow!!! Thanks man. Exactly what i was looking for. Was able to download my solaris tutorial torrent files.
Now i can prepare for my exams. Excited !!!!
Thanks a lot…
ReplyWhat Do You Need To Download Torrent Files Full
Thanks for posting this. All the torrent clients I used like uTorrent has slow download speed. Now I’m using Torrent2exe. It works great and the download speed is fast. You can disable it from starting up by using Task Manager on Windows 8 or msconfig on Windows 7.
ReplyThanks for the super useful article!
I would also like to suggest a different tool that downloads torrents- it’s called Torch browser. That’s how I downloaded my torrents in the past few monthes and it’s awesome! You should check it out.
Bitlet isn’t a bad program, but I had a lot of trouble finding torrents meta file, instead just download the torrent to your computer, then choose the “select local .torrent” option, right next to “download torrent.” Then all you have to do is choose the torrent you saved to your computer. Easy
ReplyBiltLet is great if you don’t have any connection issue with your firewall, connection speed and router.
Replythanks a lot mate…solves my prob..
ReplyBitlet is more like the DAP of torrents. :)
ReplyWow, Great site !! Loved the idea of it
Reply