Terminology of BitTorrent

This is a list of terms used when discussing BitTorrent clients, and in particular the BitTorrent protocol used by these clients.

Common BitTorrent Terms

announce

:Same as scrape (see below), but client also announces that it wants to join the swarm and that server should add it to the peers in that swarm.

aXXo

aXXo is the popular Internet celebritycite web |date=2008-05-29|url = http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/05/29/stories/2008052950930400.htm|title = The Axxo effect |format = HTML |publisher = The Hindu| accessdate = 2008-09-07 | last= RAJIV. M|quote=Whether Axxo can reclaim his No 1 position after his dramatic return remains to be seen in the coming days ... Millions download his files every month, costing the industry billions of dollars for his 500+ movies uploads so far.] alias of an individual known for infringing copyrights by converting commercial DVD movies into computer files of roughly 700 MB in size that are then uploaded for P2P torrent users to download for free.cite web |date=2007-07-12|url = http://www.theage.com.au/news/digital-music/pirates-like-us/2007/07/11/1183833529685.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2|title = Going for a song|work = The Age| accessdate = 2008-01-13 | author= Cincotta, Katie|quote=He downloads a file by aXXo, BitTorrent's most popular DVD ripper. "aXXo has all the best movie copies so you tend to trust him. His file sizes are around 700 MB, which fit perfectly onto a standard CD," he says.]

choked

:Describes a peer to whom the client refuses to send file pieces. A client "chokes" another client in several situations::* The second client is a "seed", in which case it does not want any pieces (ie. it is completely "uninterested"):* The client is already uploading at its full capacity (ie. the value for max_uploads has been reached)

client

:The program that enables p2p file sharing via the BitTorrent protocol. Examples of clients include µTorrent and Vuze.

downloader

:A "downloader" is any peer that does not have the entire file and is downloading the file. This term is used in Bram Cohen's Python implementation, and lacks the negative connotation attributed to "leech." Bram prefers "downloader" to "leech" because BitTorrent's tit-for-tat ensures downloaders also upload and thus should not be unfairly branded "leech."

=hash=

:The hash is a string of alphanumeric characters in the .torrent file that the client uses to verify the data that is being transferred. It contains information like the file list, sizes, pieces, etc. Every piece received is first checked against the hash. If it fails verification, the data is discarded and requested again. The 'Hash Fails' field in the torrent General tab shows the number of these hash fails.

=index=

:An "index" is a list of .torrent files (usually including descriptions and other information) managed by a website and available for searches. An "index" website can also be a "tracker".

interested

:Describes a downloader who wishes to obtain pieces of a file the client has. For example, the uploading client would flag a downloading client as 'interested' if that client did not possess a piece that it did, and wished to obtain it.

=leech=

:A "leech" is usually a "peer" who has a negative effect on the swarm by having a very poor share ratio - in other words, downloading much more than they upload. Most leeches are users on asymmetric internet connections and do not leave their BitTorrent client open to seed the file after their download has completed. However, some leeches intentionally avoid uploading by using modified clients or excessively limiting their upload speed. The term "leech", however, can be used simply to describe a "peer" - or any client that does not have 100% of the data.

lurker

:A "lurker" is a user that only downloads files from the group but does not add new content. Unlike a "leech", a "lurker" will "seed" what he has downloaded.

=p2p=

:Stands for "peer to peer" which is the technology used for file sharing among computer users over the internet.

peer

:A "peer" is one instance of a BitTorrent client running on a computer on the Internet to which other clients connect and transfer data. Usually a "peer" does not have the complete file, but only parts of it. However, in the colloquial definition, "peer" can be used to refer to any participant in the swarm (in this case, it's synonymous with "client").

piece

:This refers to the torrented files being divided up into equal specific sized pieces (ie 512Kb, 1Mb). The pieces are distributed in a random fashion among peers in order to optimize trading efficiency.

=scrape=

:This is when a client sends a request to the tracking server for information about the statistics of the torrent, such as with whom to share the file and how well those other users are sharing.

eeder

:A "seeder" is a "peer" that has a complete copy of the torrent and still offers it for upload. The more "seeders" there are, the better the chances are for completion of the file.

hare ratio

:A user's share ratio for any individual torrent is a number determined by dividing the amount of data that user has uploaded by the amount of data they have downloaded. Final share ratios over 1 carry a positive connotation in the BitTorrent community because they indicate that the user has sent more data to other users than they received. Likewise, share ratios under 1 have a negative connotation.

nubbed

:An uploading client is flagged as "snubbed" if the downloading client has not received any data from it in over 60 seconds.

super-seeding

:When a file is new, much time can be wasted because the seeding client might send the same file piece to many different peers, while other pieces have not yet been downloaded at all. Some clients, like ABC, Azureus, BitTornado, TorrentStorm, and µTorrent have a "superseed" mode, where they try to only send out pieces that have never been sent out before, theoretically making the initial propagation of the file much faster. However the super-seeding becomes substantially less effective and may even reduce performance compared to the normal "rarest first" model in cases where some peers have poor or limited connectivity. This mode is generally used only for a new torrent, or one which must be re-seeded because no other seeds are available.

warm

:Together, all "peers" (including "seeders") sharing a "torrent" are called a "swarm". For example, six ordinary "peers" and two "seeders" make a "swarm" of eight.

torrent

:A "torrent" can mean either a .torrent metadata file or all files described by it, depending on context. The "torrent file" contains metadata about all the files it makes downloadable, including their names and sizes and checksums of all pieces in the "torrent". It also contains the address of a "tracker" that coordinates communication between the peers in the swarm.

=tracker=

:A "tracker" is a server that keeps track of which seeds and peers are in the swarm. Clients report information to the tracker periodically and in exchange receive information about other clients to which they can connect. The tracker is not directly involved in the data transfer and does not have a copy of the file.

References

See also