Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
BitTorrent
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
== Adoption == A growing number of individuals and organizations are using BitTorrent to distribute their own or licensed works (e.g. [[independent music|indie]] bands distributing digital files of their new songs). Independent adopters report that BitTorrent technology reduces demands on private networking hardware and bandwidth, an essential for non-profit groups with large amounts of internet traffic.<ref>See for example {{cite web |url=https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/8-legal-uses-for-bittorrent-youd-be-surprised/#the-internet-archive |title=8 Legal Uses for BitTorrent |date=17 August 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210505161456/https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/8-legal-uses-for-bittorrent-youd-be-surprised/ | archive-date = 5 May 2021| url-status=live}} The Internet Archive</ref> Many major [[Open-source software|open source]] and [[free software]] projects encourage BitTorrent as well as conventional downloads of their products (via [[HTTP]], [[FTP]] etc.) to increase availability and to reduce load on their own servers, especially when dealing with larger files.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads|title=Complete Download Options List – BitTorrent|publisher=Ubuntu.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100424013939/http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors|archive-date=24 April 2010|access-date=7 May 2009}}</ref> In addition, some video game installers, especially those whose large size makes them difficult to host due to bandwidth limits, extremely frequent downloads, and unpredictable changes in network traffic, will distribute instead a specialized, stripped down BitTorrent client with enough functionality to download the game from the other running clients and the primary server (which is maintained in case not enough peers are available). Some uses of BitTorrent for file sharing may violate laws in some jurisdictions (see [[#Legislation|legislation]] section). === Popularity and traffic statistics === {{As of|2012|1}}, BitTorrent was utilized by 150 million active users. Based on this figure, the total number of monthly users could be estimated to more than a quarter of a billion (≈ 250 million).<ref>{{cite web |date=9 January 2012 |title=BitTorrent and μTorrent Software Surpass 150 Million User Milestone |url=http://www.bittorrent.com/intl/es/company/about/ces_2012_150m_users |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140326102305/http://www.bittorrent.com/intl/es/company/about/ces_2012_150m_users |archive-date=26 March 2014 |access-date=9 July 2012 |publisher=Bittorrent.com |df=dmy-all}}</ref> {{As of|2013|02|post=,}} BitTorrent was responsible for 3.35% of all worldwide [[Bandwidth (computing)|bandwidth]]—more than half of the 6% of total bandwidth dedicated to file sharing.<ref>{{cite web |title=Application Usage & Threat Report |url=http://researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com/app-usage-risk-report-visualization/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031153132/http://researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com/app-usage-risk-report-visualization/ |archive-date=31 October 2013 |access-date=7 April 2013 |publisher=Palo Alto Networks. 2013}}</ref> {{As of|2013}}, BitTorrent had 15–27 million concurrent users at any time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wang |first1=Liang |title=IEEE P2P 2013 Proceedings |last2=Kangasharju |first2=J. |date=1 September 2013 |isbn=978-1-4799-0515-7 |pages=1–10 |chapter=Measuring large-scale distributed systems: Case of BitTorrent Mainline DHT |doi=10.1109/P2P.2013.6688697 |access-date=7 January 2016 |chapter-url=https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~lw525/MLDHT/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118101022/http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~lw525/MLDHT/ |archive-date=18 November 2015 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all |s2cid=5659252}}</ref> === Film, video, and music === * [[BitTorrent (company)|BitTorrent Inc.]] has obtained a number of licenses from Hollywood studios for distributing popular content from their websites.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} * [[Sub Pop]] Records releases tracks and videos via BitTorrent Inc.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.bittorrent.com/users/subpoprecords/| title=Sub Pop page on BitTorrent.com| access-date=13 December 2006| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070114140652/http://www.bittorrent.com/users/subpoprecords/| archive-date=14 January 2007|url-status=dead| df=dmy-all}}</ref> to distribute its 1000+ albums. [[Babyshambles]] and [[The Libertines]] (both bands associated with [[Pete Doherty]]) have extensively used torrents to distribute hundreds of demos and live videos. US [[industrial rock]] band [[Nine Inch Nails]] frequently distributes albums via BitTorrent. * [[Podcast]]ing software has integrated BitTorrent to help podcasters deal with the download demands of their MP3 "radio" programs. Specifically, [[Juice (podcasting)|Juice]] and [[Miro Media Player|Miro]] (formerly known as Democracy Player) support automatic processing of .torrent files from [[RSS]] feeds. Similarly, some BitTorrent clients, such as [[μTorrent]], are able to process [[web feeds]] and automatically download content found within them. * [[Discipline Global Mobile|DGM Live]] previously used BitTorrent to distribute music purchases.<ref>{{cite web |title=Need Help? |url=https://www.dgmlive.com/help.htm#whatisbittorrent |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161119165422/https://www.dgmlive.com/help.htm#whatisbittorrent |archive-date=19 November 2016 |access-date= |publisher= |df=dmy-all}}</ref> * [[VODO]] was a platform for promoting and distributing [[Free content|freely licensed]] films. It used BitTorrent for distribution and encouraged downloaders to donate to content creators.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is VODO? |url=http://vo.do/about |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122135317/http://vo.do/about |archive-date=January 22, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 3, 2010 |title=P2P Backed Film Platform to Reward Influencers |url=https://torrentfreak.com/p2p-backed-film-platform-to-reward-influencers-101003/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240715151513/https://torrentfreak.com/p2p-backed-film-platform-to-reward-influencers-101003/ |archive-date=July 15, 2024 |access-date=January 1, 2025 |website=TorrentFreak}}</ref> === Broadcasters === * The [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] distributed the show ''[[Canada's Next Great Prime Minister]]'' via BitTorrent after the broadcast, becoming the first major broadcaster in North America to do so.<ref>{{cite news |date=19 March 2008 |title=CBC to BitTorrent Canada's Next Great Prime Minister |url=http://www.cbc.ca/nextprimeminister/blog/2008/03/canadas_next_great_prime_minis.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506100447/http://www.cbc.ca/nextprimeminister/blog/2008/03/canadas_next_great_prime_minis.html |archive-date=6 May 2012 |access-date=1 January 2025 |work=CBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Download Canada's Next Great Prime Minister BitTorrents |url=http://www.cbc.ca/nextprimeminister/blog/2008/03/download_canadas_next_great_pr.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331061612/http://www.cbc.ca/nextprimeminister/blog/2008/03/download_canadas_next_great_pr.html |archive-date=March 31, 2012 |access-date=January 1, 2025 |publication-date=March 23, 2008}}</ref> * The [[NRK]] distributes a few past shows via BitTorrent.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bittorrent fra NRK |url=https://nrkbeta.no/bittorrent/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240720062319/https://nrkbeta.no/bittorrent/ |archive-date=July 20, 2024 |access-date=January 1, 2025 |language=no}}</ref> * [[VPRO]] released [[Creative Commons license|CC-licensed]] documentaries in 2009 and 2010 via BitTorrent.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Torrents uploaded by EeuwvandeStad |url=http://www.mininova.org/user/EeuwvandeStad |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324094318/http://www.mininova.org/user/EeuwvandeStad |archive-date=March 24, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 1, 2009 |title=VPRO gemeengoed |url=http://tegenlicht.vpro.nl/nieuws/2009/oktober/vpro-gemeengoed.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623224824/http://tegenlicht.vpro.nl/nieuws/2009/oktober/vpro-gemeengoed.html |archive-date=June 23, 2016 |language=nl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=November 8, 2010 |title=Download California Dreaming |url=http://tegenlicht.vpro.nl/nieuws/2010/november/creative-commons.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621215119/http://tegenlicht.vpro.nl/nieuws/2010/november/creative-commons.html |archive-date=June 21, 2015 |language=nl}}</ref> === Cloud Service Providers === * [[Amazon S3]] previously supported seeding public objects via the BitTorrent protocol.<ref>{{cite web|title=Announcements about S3 BitTorrent discontinuation shouldn't be buried in the commit history · Issue #27 · awsdocs/amazon-s3-userguide|url=https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-s3-userguide/issues/27|access-date=2021-09-30|website=GitHub|language=en|archive-date=30 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930005409/https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-s3-userguide/issues/27|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=January 1, 2025 |title=Retrieving Amazon S3 objects using BitTorrent |url=https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/S3Torrent.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511021913/https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/S3Torrent.html |archive-date=May 11, 2021 |access-date=January 1, 2025}}</ref> === Software === * [[Blizzard Entertainment]] previously distributed content and patches for ''[[Diablo III]]'', ''[[StarCraft II]]'' and ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' via BitTorrent.<ref>{{cite web |date=6 December 2022 |title=Blizzard Downloader |url=https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Blizzard_Downloader |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910014926/https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Blizzard_Downloader |archive-date=10 September 2024 |access-date=1 January 2025 |publisher=Fandom}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-07-15 |title=Disable p2p option gone? - Battle.net Forums |url=https://us.battle.net/forums/en/bnet/topic/16283439122#post-2 |access-date=2024-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160715104054/https://us.battle.net/forums/en/bnet/topic/16283439122#post-2 |archive-date=15 July 2016 }}</ref> * [[Wargaming (company)|Wargaming]] uses BitTorrent in their popular titles ''[[World of Tanks]]'', ''[[World of Warships]]'' and ''[[World of Warplanes]]'' to distribute game updates.<ref>{{cite web |date=1 January 2025 |title=World of Tanks FAQ |url=https://worldoftanks.com/en/content/guide/general/frequently_asked_questions/#download |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=1 January 2025 |publisher=Wargaming |df=dmy-all}}</ref> * [[Resilio Sync]] is a BitTorrent-based<ref>{{cite web |title=BitTorrent Sync |url=http://labs.bittorrent.com/experiments/sync/technology.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104111424/http://labs.bittorrent.com/experiments/sync/technology.html |archivedate=4 November 2013 |accessdate=29 August 2013 |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bennett |first=Samuel |date=2016-11-04 |title=BitTorrent Sync is now Resilio Sync |url=https://www.resilio.com/blog/bittorrent-sync-now-resilio-sync |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=Resilio Blog |language=en-US}}</ref> folder-syncing tool which can act as an alternative to server-based synchronisation services such as [[Dropbox]]. === Government === * The British government used BitTorrent to distribute [[Combined Online Information System|details about how the tax money of British citizens was spent]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://data.gov.uk/dataset/coins|title=Combined Online Information System|author=HM Government|date=4 September 2012|work=Data.Gov.Uk Beta|publisher=Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140326093701/http://data.gov.uk/dataset/coins|archive-date=26 March 2014|access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://torrentfreak.com/uk-government-uses-bittorrent-to-share-public-spending-data-100604/|title=UK Government Uses BitTorrent to Share Public Spending Data|author=Ernesto|date=4 June 2010|publisher=TorrentFreak|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131027201557/http://torrentfreak.com/uk-government-uses-bittorrent-to-share-public-spending-data-100604/|archive-date=27 October 2013|access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref> === Education === * [[Florida State University]] uses BitTorrent to distribute large scientific data sets to its researchers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hpc.fsu.edu/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=80|title=HPC Data Repository|publisher=Florida State University|access-date=7 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402200554/https://www.hpc.fsu.edu/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=80|archive-date=2 April 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> * Many universities that have [[BOINC]] distributed computing projects have used the BitTorrent functionality of the client-server system to reduce the bandwidth costs of distributing the client-side applications used to process the scientific data. If a BOINC [[distributed computing]] application needs to be updated (or merely sent to a user), it can do so with little impact on the BOINC server.<ref>{{cite book |author=Costa, Fernando |author2=Silva, Luis |author3=Fedak, Gilles |author4=Kelley, Ian |title=2008 IEEE International Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Processing |page=1 |publisher=IEEE |year=2008 |doi=10.1109/IPDPS.2008.4536446 |chapter=Optimizing the data distribution layer of BOINC with Bit ''Torrent'' |isbn=978-1-4244-1693-6 |s2cid=13265537 |df=dmy-all |chapter-url=https://zenodo.org/record/3432525 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{registration required}}</ref> * The developing [[Human Connectome Project]] uses BitTorrent to share their [http://www.developingconnectome.org/project/data-release-user-guide/ open dataset].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://torrentfreak.com/torrents-help-researchers-worldwide-to-study-babies-brains-170603/|title=Torrents Help Researchers Worldwide to Study Babies' Brains|publisher=Torrent Freak|date=3 June 2017|access-date=4 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105011741/https://torrentfreak.com/torrents-help-researchers-worldwide-to-study-babies-brains-170603/|archive-date=5 January 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> * [[Academic Torrents]] is a BitTorrent tracker for use by researchers in fields that need to share large datasets<ref name="website">{{cite web |title=Academic Torrents Website |url=https://academictorrents.com/ |access-date=4 May 2020 |archive-date=7 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507000702/https://academictorrents.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="MyScienceWork 2014">{{cite web |last1=Miccoli |first1=Fräntz |title=Academic Torrents: Bringing P2P Technology to the Academic World |url=https://www.mysciencework.com/omniscience/academic-torrents-bringing-p2p-technology-to-the-academic-world |website=MyScienceWork |access-date=6 May 2020 |date=2014 |archive-date=26 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726233620/https://www.mysciencework.com/omniscience/academic-torrents-bringing-p2p-technology-to-the-academic-world |url-status=live }}</ref> === Others === * Facebook uses BitTorrent to distribute updates to Facebook servers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://torrentfreak.com/facebook-uses-bittorrent-and-they-love-it-100625/|title=Facebook Uses BitTorrent, and They Love It|author=Ernesto|date=25 June 2010|work=Torrent Freak|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419233159/https://torrentfreak.com/facebook-uses-bittorrent-and-they-love-it-100625/|archive-date=19 April 2014|access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref> * Twitter uses BitTorrent to distribute updates to Twitter servers.<ref>{{cite web|title=Twitter Uses BitTorrent For Server Deployment|url=http://torrentfreak.com/twitter-uses-bittorrent-for-server-deployment-100210/|work=Torrent Freak|access-date=7 September 2012 |author=Ernesto|date=10 February 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140326094120/http://torrentfreak.com/twitter-uses-bittorrent-for-server-deployment-100210/ | archive-date = 26 March 2014| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=BitTorrent Makes Twitter's Server Deployment 75x Faster|url=http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-makes-twitters-server-deployment-75-faster-100716/|work=Torrent Freak|access-date=7 September 2012 |author=Ernesto|date=16 July 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140326093158/http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-makes-twitters-server-deployment-75-faster-100716/ | archive-date = 26 March 2014| url-status=live}}</ref> * The [[Internet Archive]] added BitTorrent to its file download options for over 1.3 million existing files, and all newly uploaded files, in August 2012.<ref name="TFBT">{{cite web |url=https://torrentfreak.com/internet-archive-starts-seeding-1398635-torrents-120807/ |title=Internet Archive Starts Seeding 1,398,875 Torrents |author=Ernesto |date=7 August 2012 |publisher=TorrentFreak |access-date=7 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120808212731/https://torrentfreak.com/internet-archive-starts-seeding-1398635-torrents-120807/ |archive-date=8 August 2012 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://bt1.archive.org/hotlist.php |title=Hot List for bt1.us.archive.org (Updated August 7, 2012, 7:31 pm PDT) |access-date=8 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803014019/http://bt1.archive.org/hotlist.php |archive-date=3 August 2012 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}. Archive.org.</ref> This method is the fastest means of downloading media from the Archive.<ref name=TFBT/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/bittorrent |title=Welcome to Archive torrents |access-date=22 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119064508/https://archive.org/details/bittorrent |archive-date=19 January 2016 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}. Archive.org. 2012.</ref> By early 2015, [[AT&T]] estimated that BitTorrent accounted for 20% of all broadband traffic.<!-- this reference should be replaced by the original paper by Terry Shaw and Jim Martin, which I couldn't locate --><ref name="Ellis">{{cite web |url=http://thestack.com/atandt-patents-system-speed-up-bittorrent-traffic-190215 |date=8 May 2006 |title=AT&T Patents System to 'Fast-Lane' BitTorrent Traffic |website=TheStack.com |access-date=5 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223032802/http://thestack.com/atandt-patents-system-speed-up-bittorrent-traffic-190215 |archive-date=23 February 2015 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Routers that use [[network address translation]] (NAT) must maintain tables of source and destination IP addresses and ports. Because BitTorrent frequently contacts 20–30 servers per second, the NAT tables of some consumer-grade routers are rapidly filled. This is a known cause of some home routers ceasing to work correctly.<ref>{{cite web|title=FAQ:Modems/routers that are known to have problems with P2P apps |website=uTorrent.com|url=http://www.utorrent.com/faq.php#Modems_routers_that_are_known_to_have_problems_with_P2P |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913085527/http://www.utorrent.com/faq.php#Modems_routers_that_are_known_to_have_problems_with_P2P |archive-date=13 September 2008|access-date=7 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference |author=Halkes |first1=Gertjan |last2=Pouwelse |first2=Johan |year=2011 |title=UDP NAT and Firewall Puncturing in the Wild |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j6HPyxvPFcsC&pg=PA7 |conference=10th International IFIP TC 6 Networking Conference, Valencia, Spain, May 9–13, 2011 |publisher=Springer |page=7 |isbn=9783642207976 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509032124/http://books.google.com/books?id=j6HPyxvPFcsC&pg=PA7#v=onepage&f=false |archive-date=9 May 2013 |access-date=7 April 2013 |work=Proceedings of the Networking 2011 Conference |editor=Jordi Domingo-Pascual |display-editors=etal |url-status=live |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)