BitTorrent (protocol)

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) communications protocol. BitTorrent is a method of

distributing large amounts of data widely without the original distributor incurring the entire costs of
hardware, hosting and bandwidth resources. Instead, when data is distributed using the BitTorrent
protocol, each recipient supplies pieces of the data to newer recipients, reducing the cost and burden
on any given individual source, providing redundancy against system problems, and reducing
dependence on the original distributor.

The protocol is the brainchild of programmer Bram Cohen, who designed it in April 2001 and released
a first implementation on 2 July 2001.[1] It is now maintained by Cohen's company BitTorrent, Inc.

Usage of the protocol accounts for significant traffic on the Internet, but the precise amount has proven
difficult to measure.

There are numerous compatible BitTorrent clients, written in a variety of programming languages, and
running on a variety of computing platforms.

[edit] Operation

In this animation, the coloured bars beneath all of the clients represent individual pieces of the file.
After the initial pieces transfer from the seed, 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.

A BitTorrent client is any program that implements the BitTorrent protocol. Each client is capable of
preparing, requesting, and transmitting any type of computer file over a network, using the protocol. A
peer is any computer running an instance of a client.
To share a file or group of files, a peer first creates a "torrent." This small file contains metadata about
the files to be shared and about the tracker, the computer that coordinates the file distribution. Peers
that want to download the file first obtain a torrent file for it, and connect to the specified tracker,
which tells them from which other peers to download the pieces of the file.

Though both ultimately transfer files over a network, a BitTorrent download differs from a classic full-
file HTTP request in several fundamental ways:

• BitTorrent makes many small P2P requests over different TCP sockets, while web-browsers
typically make a single HTTP GET request over a single TCP socket.
• BitTorrent downloads in a random or in a "rarest-first"[2] approach that ensures high
availability, while HTTP downloads in a sequential manner.

Taken together, these differences allow BitTorrent to achieve much lower cost, much higher
redundancy, and much greater resistance to abuse or to "flash crowds" than a regular HTTP server.
However, this protection comes at a cost: downloads can take time to rise to full speed because it may
take time for enough peer connections to be established, and it takes time for a node to receive
sufficient data to become an effective uploader. As such, a typical BitTorrent download will gradually
rise to very high speeds, and then slowly fall back down toward the end of the download. This
contrasts with an HTTP server that, while more vulnerable to overload and abuse, rises to full speed
very quickly and maintains this speed throughout.

In general, BitTorrent's non-contiguous download methods have prevented it from supporting

"progressive downloads" or "streaming playback". But recent comments by Bram Cohen suggest that
streaming torrent downloads will soon be commonplace and this appears to be the result of those
comments.

[edit] Creating and publishing torrents

The peer distributing a data file treats the file as a number of identically-sized pieces, typically
between 64 kB and 1 MB each. A piece with size greater than 512 kB will reduce the size of a torrent
file for a very large payload, but is claimed to reduce the efficiency of the protocol [1]. The peer
creates a checksum for each piece, using the SHA1 hashing algorithm, and records it in the torrent file.
When another peer later receives that piece, the checksum of the piece is compared to the recorded
checksum to test that the piece is error-free.[3] Peers that provide a complete file are called seeders, and
the peer providing the initial copy is called the initial seeder.

The exact information contained in the torrent file depends on the version of the BitTorrent protocol.
By convention, the name of a torrent file has the suffix .torrent. Torrent files have an "announce"
section, which specifies the URL of the tracker, and an "info" section, containing (suggested) names
for the files, their lengths, the piece length used, and a SHA-1 hash code for each piece, all of which is
used by clients to verify the integrity of the data they receive.

Completed torrent files are typically published on websites or elsewhere, and registered with a tracker.
The tracker maintains lists of the clients currently participating in the torrent.[3] Alternatively, in a
trackerless system (decentralized tracking) every peer acts as a tracker. This is implemented by the
BitTorrent, µTorrent, BitComet, KTorrent and Deluge clients through the distributed hash table (DHT)
method. Azureus also supports a trackerless method that is incompatible (as of April 2007) with the
DHT offered by all other supporting clients.

In November 2006, BitTorrent Inc. introduced its "Publish Torrent" service, which creates and hosts a
torrent file (seeded from an existing web-hosted media file) and tracks the downloads. The service
(http://www.bittorrent.com/publish) requires a client that supports web-seeding (currently the official
client, Azureus, µTorrent and anything based on Libtorrent).

[edit] Downloading torrents and sharing files

Users browse the web to find a torrent of interest, download it, and open it with a BitTorrent client.
The client connects to the tracker(s) specified in the torrent file, from which it receives a list of peers
currently transferring pieces of the file(s) specified in the torrent. The client connects to those peers to
obtain the various pieces. Such a group of peers connected to each other to share a torrent is called a
swarm. If the swarm contains only the initial seeder, the client connects directly to it and begins to
request pieces. As peers enter the swarm, they begin to trade pieces with one another, instead of
downloading directly from the seeder.

Clients incorporate mechanisms to optimize their download and upload rates; for example they
download pieces in a random order to increase the opportunity to exchange data, which is only
possible if two peers have different pieces of the file.

The effectiveness of this data exchange depends largely on the policies that clients use to determine to
whom to send data. Clients may prefer to send data to peers that send data back to them (a tit for tat
scheme), which encourages fair trading. But strict policies often result in suboptimal situations; e.g.,
when newly joined peers are unable to receive any data because they don't have any pieces yet to trade
themselves or when two peers with a good connection between them do not exchange data simply
because neither of them wants to take the initiative. To counter these effects, the official BitTorrent
client program uses a mechanism called “optimistic unchoking,” where the client reserves a portion of
its available bandwidth for sending pieces to random peers (not necessarily known-good partners, so
called preferred peers), in hopes of discovering even better partners and to ensure that newcomers get
a chance to join the swarm.[4

I don’t know If you know bitorrent , I use it to download games , movies ebooks and programs.
First you have to install it on your PC and run it and visit an internet page where the torrents are.
In that pages people make torrents from their files and upload them in the pages, so you can download
those files and open or save as you prefer.

The places where I download are two :

When you have downloading torrent files you can see progress

When a file finished a message appears in your screen.

You can download files your computer is turned on.
Next image show programs that work with bittirrent system to transfer files