whats a torrent

eagerinsight · Sep 21, 2005

I been to this website and there are torrents of new episodes of family guy, what's a torrent?

Mada_Milty · Sep 21, 2005

A torrent is a file used for tracking a download. Essentially you get a bittorrent client, get a torrent for a file, and use it to download the media from hosts.

Ugh, I've articulated this poorly. Hope it helps. I'm sure someone will come along and give you a better understanding.

Kodo · Sep 21, 2005

it's what happens when you get married..

oh wait.. tha't torment. oh never mind

Novice · Sep 21, 2005

Kodo, I sympathize and understand! A torrent in the context that you asked would be a piece of the program, but not the whole. Some of the newer file sharing programs use this approach. Each program is broken into pieces ( torrents ) that can be downloaded from individual computers, and any one computer wouldn't have to contain the whole file for downloading purposes to make the file available on the internet to download as it would search for different torrents (pieces) of the file and download others from different computers. To make it short and sweet, it is the way that file sharing programs choose to break the files into bits to be shared with others! Hope this helped!

Just Playin · Sep 21, 2005

Brian's Bittorrent FAQ (source of quote): http://btfaq.com/serve/cache/1.html
The Official Bittorrent FAQ (more oriented toward practical use): http://www.bittorrent.com/FAQ.html

What is BitTorrent?

BitTorrent is a protocol designed for transferring files. It is peer-to-peer in nature, as users connect to each other directly to send and receive portions of the file. However, there is a central server (called a tracker) which coordinates the action of all such peers. The tracker only manages connections, it does not have any knowledge of the contents of the files being distributed, and therefore a large number of users can be supported with relatively limited tracker bandwidth. The key philosophy of BitTorrent is that users should upload (transmit outbound) at the same time they are downloading (receiving inbound.) In this manner, network bandwidth is utilized as efficiently as possible. BitTorrent is designed to work better as the number of people interested in a certain file increases, in contrast to other file transfer protocols.

One analogy to describe this process might be to visualize a group of people sitting at a table. Each person at the table can both talk and listen to any other person at the table. These people are each trying to get a complete copy of a book. Person A announces that he has pages 1-10, 23, 42-50, and 75. Persons C, D, and E are each missing some of those pages that A has, and so they coordinate such that A gives them each copies of the pages he has that they are missing. Person B then announces that she has pages 11-22, 31-37, and 63-70. Persons A, D, and E tell B they would like some of her pages, so she gives them copies of the pages that she has. The process continues around the table until everyone has announced what they have (and hence what they are missing.) The people at the table coordinate to swap parts of this book until everyone has everything. There is also another person at the table, who we'll call 'S'. This person has a complete copy of the book, and so doesn't need anything sent to him. He responds with pages that no one else in the group has. At first, when everyone has just arrived, they all must talk to him to get their first set of pages. However, the people are smart enough to not all get the same pages from him. After a short while they all have most of the book amongst themselves, even if no one person has the whole thing. In this manner, this one person can share a book that he has with many other people, without having to give a full copy to everyone that's interested. He can instead give out different parts to different people, and they will be able to share it amongst themselves. This person who we've referred to as 'S' is called a seed in the terminology of BitTorrent. There's more about the various terms in a later section.
Click to expand...

The torrent file itself is a set of instructions for a Bittorrent client to download a particular file, and a file hash to check the downloaded file's integrity. It is not the file itself or a piece thereof.
BTW, downloading copyrighted material like The Family Guy can get you into hot water, legally speaking.

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whats a torrent

eagerinsight Private E-2

Mada_Milty MajorGeek

Kodo SNATCHSQUATCH

Novice MajorGeek

Just Playin MajorGeek

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whats a torrent

eagerinsight Private E-2

Mada_Milty MajorGeek

Kodo SNATCHSQUATCH

Novice MajorGeek

Just Playin MajorGeek

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