What is a BitTorrent, and why is it better?

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer protocol of sharing files over the internet. The difference between torrenting and a direct download is that the former will download the contents of the file(s) from several sources, while the latter will download the contents from a single source. This allows for faster downloads, and if your computer were to fail at any moment during the process, the BitTorrent client would be able to resume from a partially complete BitTorrent download. This is not a privilege or benefit that you have with direct downloads.

Think of the BitTorrent process as follows: instead of a single server sending the contents of a file to your computer, other users send segments of their copy of that file to your computer. That way, no one user has complete control over what is being sent, and what is not being sent.

I personally will torrent a Linux ISO file, if possible. Some software is also distributed through this protocol, but it has practically become the standard for sharing Linux ISO files.

How to get started?

My torrenting client of choice would be qBittorrent; it is libre and open-sourced. It is ad-free, has a friendly user-interface, and is packed with features and settings. Moreover, it is compatible across all mainstream operating systems.

You will need a BitTorrent file or magnet link to start the process. These, if provided, can be found in the downloads page of whatever you are downloading. Some Linux distributions don’t provide their own BitTorrent file or magnet link! But, as an example, here is how it appears on the Arch Linux download page: Arch Linux BitTorrent

You can either use the magnet link, or BitTorrent file. There really isn’t a big difference between the two. You either download a BitTorrent file to your computer, and upload that to the client, or just paste a magnet link. I prefer the magnet link, as it’s quicker and hassle-free. Once you’ve got it installed on your machine, follow these steps: * Launch qBittorrent.

  • Click on File, on the upper left corner.
  • Click on Add Torrent Link.
  • qBittorrent should have already pasted the magnet link from your clipboard. If it hasn’t , paste it in here now and click on Download.
  • On the confirmation page, you can choose the destination directory/folder. Click on Ok once you are ready.
  • The BitTorrent process has begun, and you should receive a desktop notification when it has completed!

Security and the BitTorrent protocol

The greatest part of BitTorrent is that you do not need to check for file integrity after downloading. The BitTorrent client will do that for you. This avoids the task of calculating the hash of the file, and comparing it to one listed online. However, you should still be using PGP to check the validity of the file; the client checks integrity but not validity.