Mar 3, 2016 - Learn to download torrents and drown in a deluge of files. Keeps track (go figure) of all peers in a swarm, but does not host any part of the file.

Spend enough time on the Internet or around tech-savvy types, and you’re bound to hear about BitTorrent. Likely, if you’re new to the concept, you have a few questions, and probably some misconceptions on what exactly torrenting is.

What is a torrent file? How do you use it? Is it safe? Is it legal? Torrenting can be a complicated process, so before we get into the meat of how to download and use torrent files safely and legally, let’s cover some important terminology.

Updated 3-3-2016 by Brendan Hesse: This article received a massive overhaul to provide clearer, more detailed information regarding torrent files, how to download them, and how the process works.

What is a Torrent?

If you’ve dabbled at all in torrent downloading, you’ve almost certainly come across the terms “seed,” “peer,” and “leech.”

A seed (or seeder) is someone who is sharing the file; the more seeds, the more potential locations to download the file. Someone who is downloading the seeded file is a leech. The more leeches a file has versus seeds will make the file download slower, as there are more people accessing the file. Furthermore, if no one is seeding, then no one can download. The entire group of seeders and leeches are your peers — hence why BitTorrent is referred to as “peer-to-peer” file sharing. You collect a file directly through someone else, rather than downloading from a server. This cluster of peers is also referred to as a “swarm,” who are all uploading and downloading the same file.

How exactly does this work? Essentially, the file is broken up into pieces, with each piece being downloaded and compiled by the download program. After you’ve downloaded enough data, you will begin to simultaneously upload the parts of the file you’ve downloaded, thereby increasing the download speed for your other peers in the swarm. Download clients give preferential treatment to those who allocate more bandwidth to uploading, and who are seeding files. Basically, the more you share, the more you receive.

Another term you may have come across is “tracker.” A tracker is a server that keeps track (go figure) of all peers in a swarm, but does not host any part of the file. Instead, a tracker acts as something of a traffic cop, directing peers to available file locations. Your download client will connect to this server as instructed in the .torrent file. There is such a thing as “trackerless” downloading, which we will cover more in a moment.

Installing a BitTorrent client and downloading files

In order to open a .torrent file and begin downloading, you need a download client to handle the file. In the past, this guide has featured numerous torrent download clients, but the current best options are qBittorrent, Transmission, and Deluge.

These three programs have some minor differences, but they’re generally very similar. They’re all open source, and all three support various operating systems, including Windows, OSX, Freebsd, and various Linux Distros. Best of all, they are all devoid of annoying ads, useless “special offers,” or malicious bloatware.

Once you’ve settled on which torrent client you’ll be running, download and install it. An obvious step, yes, but having an installed torrent program is important because it enables you to download torrents via magnet links. You can always download .torrent files and open them with your downloader, but magnet links have been slowly overtaking .torrent files in terms of popularity and use.

Downloading a torrent

After installing a downloader client, such as qBittorrent, you’ll need files to download. There are many website you can use to download .torrent files or access magnet links, the most well-known being The Pirate Bay. Others, such as Kickass torrents, exist, but they usually lack the user base of The Pirate Bay. There are also private trackers, such as Demonoid, that require an account to access.

A quick search through these web will probably help you find what you’re looking for, but take care before downloading as some files can be fake. Check the comments on the file’s download page as users will report fake or broken files. When you open the .torrent, double check the file you’re downloading — if you’re expecting a .rar file, and see an .exe, it’s not the file you’re looking for and likely is a virus. Cancel and delete the download immediately. We will cover further safety tips in later sections.

Torrent Peers List Download

If the torrent looks legitimate, the download page will likely list two methods for downloading: .torrent or a magnet link. Considering there are two download methods, you might be wondering what the difference is between the two.

.torrent files can essentially be described as treasure maps. These tiny files contain the locations for the various parts of files. Your download client will use the file to find the various parts of whatever it is your downloading, download the parts, the compile them into the file.

Magnet files work much the same way, but are a direct line connecting the downloader to each file, instead of needing to follow a “map” as provided by a .torrent file. There are further, more technical differences that have to do with tracker servers and DHT procedures, but we’ll leave those alone for now.

If your goal is simply to download a file with a BitTorrent client, both methods work great. Magnet links take a slight bit longer to begin due to establishing direct connections, but they also remove the step of downloading and opening a .torrent file. Regardless of the acquisition method, once a download begins, your speeds will be dependent on the swarms seed-to-leech ratio, and your bandwidth.

Once the download has completed, you will have access to the file, and you will begin to seed the file. While seeding does up your priority for downloads, it also increases your risk for being caught if you’re seeding copyrighted files. If you do not wish to seed you can either completely close your download program, or you can delete the .torrent, usually by right clicking the seeding file in your client and selecting “delete .torrent.” Be sure not to delete the data, however, or you’ll need to re-download the entire file.

How frustrating! You finally find the torrent you’ve been dying to download, but the download is taking hours, or even days. Isn’t there a better way? Yes! There is a better way. There are some tweaks and sneaks to help you get faster uTorrent downloads. Read below to find out more.

There are other options for downloading torrents, audiobook torrents and tv torrents. Find them out!

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Speed Up uTorrent With Faster Torrent Trackers

Seeders are those who have already downloaded the torrent and are now in the process of allowing others to download it. Peers are those who are still downloading the torrent. Peers can share the torrents too, but are only able to share what they have finished downloading.

When you add new trackers, it will add new seeds and peers. This can mean faster download speeds. Since the trackers close frequently and change a lot, adding new open trackers is critical for getting the best download speeds.

To do this, open the torrent with uTorrent. Begin the download, checking to see the speed under the tab called “Down Speed”. Right click on the name of the download, then select “Properties”. Find “Trackers” and paste the trackers you can copy off here. Choose “OK”. Soon, additional seeders and peers will show up, and your download speed could increase when that happens.

Speed Up uTorrent Downloads by Allotting More Bandwidth to the Torrent

When you are downloading multiple torrents at the same time, you can allot more bandwidth to the one that you want to finish faster. Simply right click on the file that you want to download the fastest. Hover the mouse pointer over the selection “Bandwidth Allocation.”

On the side menu, choose the option, “High”. Now, go through this process with the other torrents that are downloading, only set those to “Low” instead of “High”.

Speed Up uTorrent by Changing Additional Bandwidth Settings

You can also increase uTorrent download speeds by using the bandwidth settings. In order to do this, choose the selection named “Options”. Click on “Preferences”. Then find the tab marked “Bandwidth”. Use these parameters:

• Set the maximum upload rate to 14.
• Set the maximum download rate to 1800.
• Set the global maximum number of connections to 2329.
• Set the maximum number of connected peers per torrent to 257.
• Set the number of upload slots per torrent to 14.

Speed Up uTorrent by Connecting Directly to the Seeds

Download Torrent Without Peers

The seeder’s firewall settings can often inhibit the seeding process, meaning you aren’t getting any download data on some seeders. It isn’t necessary to reconfigure the seeder’s firewall settings, however. What you can do instead is to allow your uTorrent client to receive the data directly with no firewalls to interfere.

To set this up, choose the selection marked “Options” and then choose “Preferences”. Go to the option marked “Connections” and check to see that the option “Enable UPnP Port Mapping” is checked. This option allows you to avoid the firewall and connect directly with the seeder, speeding up the download process.

Count the number of Seeds before you download

In general, the higher the number of seeds listed for a torrent, the faster it will be. If there are more people “seeding” a file, uTorrent has more options for finding the fastest combination of downloads. When comparing two or more different torrents of the same content, you almost always want to choose the one with the most seeds.

Torrent Peers List

Download via a direct, wired Internet connection

We’ve all become used to the convenience of WiFi, but a wireless connection can be dramatically slower than a direct, or wired, ethernet connection. If you have the option, plug your computer directly into your modem or router with an ethernet cable to get the fasted possible download speed.

Don’t queue up too many torrents at once

Sometimes downloading torrents can feel like being a kid in a candy shop. Everything looks wonderful, and you want to grab it all. But loading up too many items into your download queue at once will slow _all_ of them down. You can manage the number of active downloads in the queue section of your preferences and set it to “1” to force one-by-one downloading of your torrents.

Of course, your Internet speed is also a contributing factor to how quickly you are able to download torrent files. If your speeds are really slow, talk to your Internet provider about a faster service package.