B IT TORRENT T ECHNOLOGY

Done by:
Swathi Raman
08D2754
 B IT TORRENT
Bram Cohen is the creator of BitTorrent, one of the most
successful peer-to-peer programs ever.

BitTorrent is a protocol (a set of rules that different

computer systems agree to use) based on P2P that can be
used to share large files very efficiently, using minimum
bandwidth.

It is just a tool used to download, it does not contain a

built-in search facility. The .torrent files are usually located
via HTTP thru search engines and trackers.
 TORRENT L INGO
Torrent At the beginning of all this is the torrent file itself.
The .torrent file is not the entire file. It is extremely small
and it just contains the information that points to the
actual file and the people who are sharing it. It is like a
map which is used by the BitTorrent client to assemble all
the pieces together.

BitTorrent client A Bit Torrent client is one of the most

important parts of the torrent process. It is a piece of
software which takes the .torrent file, reads the
information in it and starts the download.

Peer - A peer is any computer participating in the

download and upload of a torrent file.
 ( CONTD ..)
Seeder - A seed (or seeder) is anyone who has a complete
copy of the file being shared across the torrent network.
Leecher - A leech (or a leecher) is the person who does not
have the complete file yet but has joined the network to
download it. A leecher becomes a seeder when he
downloads the entire file and then shares it across the
network.
Share ratio The ratio is the amount of data a user has
uploaded divided by the amount of data they have
downloaded for a particular torrent (ULDL). A share ratio
of 1+ has a positive effect on the users reputation because
it means that the user has sent more data to other users
than he has received. Conversely, share ratios under 1 have
a negative effect.
 ( CONTD ..)
Swarm The swarm is the sum total of all the leechers
and seeders (i.e. all the computers) participating in the
torrent process.

Tracker The tracker is a server which has the information

of who has what files and who needs which ones, thus
acting as a bridge between seeders and leechers. Some
trackers are private requiring a registration where most
are public.

Index An index is, as the name implies, a searchable list

of .torrent files, hosted on a website.
 T RADITIONAL C LIENT - SERVER
DOWNLOADING
Client-server computing or networking is a distributed
application architecture that partitions tasks or work loads
between service providers (servers) and service requesters,
called clients.
It works like this:
- You open a Web page and click a link to download a file
to your computer.
- The Web browser software on your computer (the client)
tells the server (a central computer that holds the Web page and
the file you want to download) to transfer a copy of the file to
your computer.
- The transfer is handled by a protocol (a set of rules),
such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol) or HTTP (Hypertext Transfer
Protocol).
 D RAWBACKS
Traffic congestion on the network has been an issue since
the inception of the client-server paradigm. As the number
of simultaneous client requests to a given server increases,
the server can become overloaded.

The client-server paradigm lacks the robustness of a good

P2P network. Under client-server, should a critical server
fail, clients requests cannot be fulfilled. In P2P networks,
resources are usually distributed among many nodes.
 T HE B IT TORRENT P ROTOCOL
Peer-to-peer file sharing is different from traditional file
downloading. In peer-to-peer sharing, you use a
software program (rather than your Web browser) to
locate computers that have the file you want. Because
these are ordinary computers like yours, as opposed to
servers, they are called peers.
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol allowing
users to distribute large amounts of data without putting
the level of strain on their computers that would be
needed for standard Internet hosting.
The protocol works as an alternative data distribution
method that makes even small computers with
low bandwidth capable of participating in large data
transfers.
 COMPONENTS OF THE
PROTOCOL
Metainfo file- Describes metadata about the sharing file(s),
and the tracker, and has the file ending .torrent.

Tracker- A central server keeping track of peers and seeds

sharing and downloading the file(s).

Peer- A user on the network downloading the file(s), and

sharing the parts that have been successfully downloaded.

Seed- A peer that has the complete file or files available for
sharing. At least one seed is needed in the beginning for
the sharing to be possible.

Client.-An application implementing the BitTorrent

protocol.
 O PERATION
You open a Web page and click on a link for the file you want.

BitTorrent client software communicates with a tracker to find

other computers running BitTorrent that have the complete file
and those with a portion of the file.

The tracker identifies the swarm, which is the connected

computers that have all of or a portion of the file and are in the
process of sending or receiving it.

The tracker helps the client software trade pieces of the file you
want with other computers in the swarm. Your computer
receives multiple pieces of the file simultaneously.

If you continue to run the BitTorrent client software after your

download is complete, others can receive .torrent files from your
computer.
 ( CONTD ..)
Downloading pieces of the file at the same time helps
solve a common problem with other peer-to-peer
download methods: Peers upload at a much slower rate
than they download.

By downloading multiple pieces at the same time, the

overall speed is greatly improved. The more computers
involved in the swarm, the faster the file transfer occurs
because there are more sources of each piece of the file.
 A DVANTAGES
BitTorrent is an open-source program offers a spyware-
and nuisance-free installation.

Allows users to share large amounts of data in a short span

of time.

Discourages freeloading by rewarding fastest uploaders.

BitTorrent requires that users share files back with the

community, so no one can get files without also giving files
this level of reciprocity makes the system stronger and
faster.

The more popular a file is the more people want a copy

of it the faster it can be downloaded, because there are
more places to get pieces of it.
 (C ONTD ..)
Does not require high technical knowledge to use the
BitTorrent- an average person needs not a user guide .

By downloading a fraction of the file (1/10th) from ten to

fifteen computers at the same time, the file is downloaded
much faster.

BitTorrent enables distributors to share the distribution

load with all the people who get a copy of it, reducing the
bandwidth burden on the distributor.
 L IMITATIONS
Lack of anonymity- BitTorrent does not offer its users
anonymity.

The leech problem- A BitTorrent user may often choose to

leave the swarm as soon as they have a complete copy of
the file they are downloading.

The cheater problem- There are "cheating" clients

like BitThief which claim to be able to download without
uploading.

Speed- Average BitTorrent download speed is limited by

the combined average upload speed of "peers" (other
nodes with partial copies which are also downloading) and
"seeds" (complete copies that are only uploading).
THANK YOU