How to Download Torrents
Posted on March 2nd, 2009 by Marck
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For large files like music, movies, and programs, peer-to-peer file-sharing is a very useful tool. While there are issues surrounding copyright and licenses, torrents make it easy and convenient to share files with millions of users all over the world. If you want to download files through the torrent protocol, here’s an easy way to do it:
How Torrents Work
Before file-sharing, users typically download files from a central server, which a webmaster or server administrator creates. For a time, Internet hosting was the only way to download files from the Internet; for large files, webmasters and server administrators needed a very powerful computer with high-end specs to anticipate and service traffic, and subscribers needed a blazing-fast Internet connection to download files in the fastest possible speed.
Torrents get rid of the limitations of Internet hosting by making it possible to share downloads over a network, or all over the Internet. A person who wants to share a file publishes a torrent, and becomes the first seed in a file sharing network. He or she then becomes the first “seed” of the file-sharing network. As more and more people download the file, they become part of a bigger, faster, most efficient network. File-sharing through torrents is perhaps the most efficient and most common way to share files on the Internet.
Downloading Torrents
To download a torrent, you need a torrent file and a torrent program. Popular file downloads with many seeds are known to have a decent streaming speed even in a computer wired with a slow connection.
Torrent Files
Torrent files are designated with a “.torrent” file extension. Instead of a full download, a torrent file contains the contents of a download. The client then searches the Web for peers to download the files, and connects to the peers for the files to be shared.
- Seeders are hosts of a file or a group of files. They are encouraged to keep the torrent open to maximize the speed and efficiency of the file-sharing network.
- Leechers are people who download a torrent file from peers. Leechers can become seeders when they make their own files accessible through a torrent client, or when they publish their own torrent and make the files accessible through the file-sharing network.
Many sites host torrent files. Torrent files are usually small downloads only a few kilobytes big, and can be accessed through a search engine.
Torrent Clients
Once you have downloaded a torrent, you need to download the files using a client, or a program specifically built to download the torrent. The download stream then takes place in the background. Here are some torrent clients you can use:
- Browsers like Opera come integrated with a torrent client, and you can install a torrent client plugin with Mozilla Firefox.
- BitTorrent, along with other clients like μTorrent and KTorrent, are programs designed and dedicated to download torrents. You simply open the .torrent file with a torrent client, and the client downloads the files from the torrent for you.
- LimeWire is a popular program that is usually used for peer-to-peer file sharing, although it can also be used as your default torrent client.
It’s easy to download torrents, but you should be careful about issues like copyright infringement, spyware, viruses, and illegal downloads. With these tips on how to download torrents, sharing and downloading files over the Internet becomes easy, quick, and extremely efficient.
* Download with ease by learning how to download safely.
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