BitTorrent is a Peer to Peer (P2P) system that allows a large group of people to transfer large files.
Traditionally the sharing of files required substantial bandwidth from the source point. If 1000 people wanted a copy of a 700 meg movie video then it required a substantial amount of bandwidth from the source of the video.
To send the video it would require nearly 1 Terabyte of data from just one person. BitTorrent changes this by spreading the load.
Even with modern Internet speeds this meant that the distributions of large files was very slow. The more people who wanted the files the higher the bandwidth requirements from the sending source.
Peer to Peer changed the rules, essentially spreading the load across all participants. Essentially everybody who wanted to share the file was not responsible for uploading the file as much as downloading the file.
No longer was one person responsible for sharing the file with everyone else. With BitTorrent and other P2P solutions every person involved shared the file with everyone else as they download the file.
As you get a piece of the the file you then in turn share that with other users who don’t yet have that piece. To understand the Peer 2 Peer process you can read more about p2p here.
BitTorrent improves again on this process and makes the transfers of large files very fast and efficient amongst a large group of people. downloading a Movie, TV Show or any other files you load a BitTorrent file into a BitTorrent client.
BitTorrent Files
The BitTorrent file, called a torrent file is very small. It contains an address of a BitTorrent tracker where other users are sharing that file. BitTorrent divides larger files into smaller chunks and a torrent file is simply a ”map” of all these chunks so your BitTorrent client can reassemble all the components into the finished download.
A BitTorrent Tracker acts as a meeting point for BitTorrent clients to connect to. This allows allows users to swap chunks of the complete file between themselves. It is important to note that a BitTorrent tracker does not contain a copy of the file itself.
BitTorrent Downloads
If you are looking to download Movies, Music, TV Shows, Documentaries by BitTorrent the most important part is to find the BitTorrent files themselves. Bittorrent Trackers provide listings of what torrent files thy have available.
But before you start looking for BitTorrent files of that hot new movie, or the new US blockbuster TV Show you need to understand a bit more about the BitTorrent protocol and to fine some BitTorrent Trackers you want to use.
If you still want to know a bit more about how BitTorrent works then check out our BitTorrent Tutorials section which provides links to additional resources. .