BitTorrent downloading is considered to be faster than HTTP ('direct downloading') and FTP due to the lack of a central server that could hog bandwidth.
BitTorrent trackers provide a list of files available for transfer and allow the client to find peer users, known as 'seeds', who may transfer the files. To send or receive files, users use a BitTorrent client on their Internet-connected computer, which are available for a variety of computing platforms and operating systems, including an official client. The protocol is developed and maintained by Rainberry, Inc., and was first released in 2001. For other uses, see BitTorrent (disambiguation).
This article is about the file sharing protocol.
