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Bit by bit, step by step
WHAT comes after Napster and KaZaA in peer-to-peer file-sharing world is BitTorrent. BitTorrent is both a new protocol and client for sharing and distributing files, which is becoming increasingly popular. According to Reuters, BitTorrent now accounts for almost 35 per cent of all traffic on the internet.
First developed by Bran Cohen in 2002, BitTorrent became widely recognized when RedHat used it to distribute their 1.7GB Linux distribution.
Useful not only for swapping of files between P2P users, BitTorrent also comes as a relief for web servers which were used for distributing large files. It minimizes the load on servers while distributing files, as it works by using free bandwidth available to users who are downloading files available on the server.
The basic principle behind BitTorrent is that a single large file is quickly distributed to a number of users by breaking it into small parts. As soon as a user has a piece, they immediately start uploading that piece to other users. So almost everyone who is sharing a given file, simultaneously upload and download pieces of the same file. This results in less load on the main server as once it has been replicated, the clients can get the complete file by exchanging pieces between them.
Unlike traditional P2P applications like KaZaA or Morpheus in which users share a specific set of files, one doesn’t have to share one’s files with other users — one can upload only what one is downloading this greatly increases the download speeds.
Understating the working of BitTorrent is a bit tricky as compared to KaZaA or other similar clients, since no central server is involved in distributing of files.
A web server in case of BitTorrent is called a “tracker.” The only purpose of the tracker is to maintain information about clients who are downloading the file — it doesn’t share or distribute anything.
The tracker distributing the required file can be found with the help of a torrent file. Many websites having lists of popular torrents have sprung up so any one looking for specific files can simply search the web to get a list of sites hosting the required torrent file.
The torrent file has a list of all files being distributed by that tracker; it also contains information about users who are seeding and leeching the file. Seeding and leeching are two terminologies used specifically with BitTorrent. Seeders refer to all clients that have finished downloading the whole file but have left a connection open for others to download, while leechers are clients who are downloading as well as uploading pieces of the file.
It’s important to note that leechers also upload at the same time as they download. The faster one uploads, the faster one will be allowed to download. The user won’t be able to download anything from BitTorrent if one is not ready to upload to others. This is the basic principle of BitTorrent and the reason for its success, as it reduces dependence on a signal central user or server and results in the exchange of files efficiently and quickly. Even when a large number of people are trying to download a file they would be able to do so.
One will need a BitTorrent client to use the information stored in the downloaded torrent file. Many clients are available which provide different features — one can choose anyone of them depending on one’s requirements.
The original client “BitTorrent,” developed by Bram Cohen is also available. However, it only supports simple functions and lacks many advance features offered by other clients. Some of the most popular torrent clients include BitComet, Azureus and Another BitTorrent Client (ABC).
BitComet has been the client of choice of Windows users and has been downloaded more than 1.6 million times from download.com
Azureus is based on Java and one will require the latest version of the Java virtual machine to run it. Both Azureus and ABC are open sources like original BitTorrent clients. By using these clients, one can also make one’s own torrent files and share them on a server.
Frankly speaking a user won’t be able to do much with BitTorrent if he/she has a 56K connection, as sufficient bandwidth won’t be available for uploading and even downloading large files. However one may choose to use clients like Bitspirit, which have an option of limiting the upload speed.
Undoubtedly, BitTorrent has finally realized the dream of successfully sharing large files on peer-to-peer networks, unlike its predecessor KaZaA whose users mostly swapped small music files. BitTorrent has been successfully used to exchange large movie files, games and even whole CDs.
In contrast to KaZaA, BitTorrent has lot of legitimate uses as well, especially since it has turned out to be the main distributor of open source software including huge-sized Linux distributions. It has also been applied to distribute game demos and movie trailers.
BitTorrent has been steadily gaining recognition among file swappers. Its popularity can be understood from a survey conducted by Cache Logic, an English network-monitoring firm. According to this survey BitTorrent accounts for almost 53 per cent of all peer-to-peer traffic and has already left KaZaA behind.
So if you’re looking for a great way to share files, or download hard to find files quicker than any P2P program, then be sure to give BitTorrent a try.
The writer
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