New Torrent Guide Find Torrent Basics Information

This Guide is a starting point for new torrent users, where they can find torrent information they can trust. To get the most out of torrents, it is important for new torrent users to understand exactly what they are and how they work. One of the main reasons people are afraid to try torrents is because they think they are unsafe and/or infected with harmful viruses. To avoid these (exaggerated) dangers, it is vital that you understand who is providing the information you are trying to download, and to only download from trusted torrent trackers. This first article is meant to serve as a basic guide to understand how torrents work, and is intended for those who have limited or no experience with torrents. If you are already familiar with these aspects, you may want to move ahead to the more advanced guides which you can find links to at the bottom of this page.

Torrent Tracker – These are website that host and organize all of the various .torrent files. It may be helpful to think "Torrent Site" whenever you read the word tracker or torrent tracker. The torrent tracker does not host any actual program or media file. When you download a torrent file from a torrent tracker, you are just downloading a small coded text file. (Please read my guides on the differences between private and public torrent trackers if you would like more information)

Torrent Client – The torrent client is the program that reads the information contained in a .torrent file, and connects users from all over the world to exchange data. There are many different torrent clients with various features, and everyone needs to use one in order to transfer their information. I have outlined these differences in more detail in my torrent client guide, which you can find at the bottom of this hub, or in my profile.

Uploader – This is the person who created the initial .torrent file from information located on their computers hard drive. The .torrent file is a coded text file that contains this source folder location. They will be the only source to download this information from initially, which could result in slow download speeds on popular torrents. It is important to trust the uploader even if you trust the torrent site; especially with newer torrents since they may not have been screened yet. Always keep in mind the uploader created or at least knows what is contained in the file; torrent trackers just host these torrents and did not create them.

Seeding – This basically means sharing or uploading. People who have information are commonly referred to as “Seeders”. There is only one Uploader, but anyone who has information and is sharing it is Seeding.

Leeching – This is the same as a downloading and just means someone who is attempting to get the information from the seeders. If it sounds like a nasty term to you, that is somewhat intended. If you Leech (download) without sharing back information (seeding), or limit your upload speed it is detrimental to the sharing process that makes torrents so great. This is more of a problem with public trackers since there is no incentive for users to share back what they take.

Peer – This term is used to describe anyone that is not the initial uploader and is actively transferring information. You can connect to many different peers to either download or upload information.

A torrent file is simply the file extension; like .zip, .exe, .avi, or any other file extension. It tells your computer what program is needed to read and use that file type. The actual torrent file contains text or basic code, and is the file you download from a torrent tracker (torrent site). There is nothing particularly special or interesting about this file itself, you will need to open it with your preferred torrent client before you can begin downloading the actual data you want.

The .torrent file contains information on the source used to create it. This file is created by the uploader, or the person who added the torrent to the tracker. When you download the .torrent file from the tracker (the site that is hosting all of the various .torrent files) you are just downloading the information about the content of the file. Since this is simply text and code, it is usually just 100KB or so. This .torrent file is useless on its own, you need to open it in a torrent client in order to make sense of it and begin transferring information.

Torrent clients simply read the .torrent file to determine where the uploader has the source file, and where the downloader wants this information to be placed. It then searches for the address of each user, and connects them to transfer that information. This type of connection, where two users connect directly to share information without the need of a central server which permanently hosts the data, is known as a "remote connection". What sets torrents apart from other means of data transfer is the way it goes about sharing information from various sources. Unlike conventional downloads where you connect directly to a single source to get your file one part at a time, torrents allow you to connect with many sources and download multiple pieces at a time. Connecting remotely to other users in this way is the basic premise of peer to peer (commonly called p2p) systems, and torrents improve on this basic idea in multiple ways.

This means even if only one person has the information, and 10 people are trying to access it, they can all download at high speeds by sharing parts of the file between themselves. The more people who have a part of the file you need, the faster you will be able to download that part. When you finish a part of a file other users will then be able to get that information from you as their source.

Many of the better and more popular torrent clients use an advanced feature known as “initial seeding” to further optimize this process. With initial seeding each of the 10 users mentioned above would download different parts of the source file at a time, and then share that part with the rest of the group before getting the next piece. This maximizes the transfer rates by ensuring everyone is sharing something another user needs, and alleviates the pressure put on the initial uploader. Initial seeding is an advanced feature, and not something you need to worry about when getting started. It is just one example on the optimization options offered with torrents, and illustrates how they are more effective than conventional data transfer means.

You don’t have to understand everything I covered above, as long as you are beginning to get the idea of how torrents work. Once you understand the basic design of the torrent system, the next step is to choose a torrent client, and find a torrent tracker that hosts the files. I strongly recommend you read either mine or someone else's guide on torrent trackers and clients before taking these next steps. You need to choose a torrent client that has good security and features, and find torrent trackers that regulate their content and interact with the community to ensure quality and safety. I will give my advice and share the experience gathered since 2004 which I hope can help you make a more informed decision.

If this guide was helpful for you please visit my main Torrent World Blog. I intend this blog to be my main means of staying in contact with the community, and answer questions daily as needed.

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