How do Torrents work?

Couldn’t catch the last screening of the latest movie? Torrents is the place to go. Although very habitual, not many are aware of how Torrents function. Wondering what these convenient and user-friendly Torrents are? They are a group of clients who withhold a chunk of big files which get you what you want and when you want it.

Once you begin downloading the file for your movie, music or program of choice, you will also have an unfamiliar file downloaded alongside. This file is downloaded for the purpose of verification. Now that the file is downloaded, let’s dig deep into how torrents work.

These torrent file sizes range up to a maximum of a few kilobytes. But, that doesn’t add up to how a heavy file is downloaded into your system. Does it? Here’s what happens. With only a click on your keypad, the combined download of several smaller files are automated. These small files begin the downloading of much larger files that is done by one system or another. This indicates how files are transferred over a P2P network.

In simple words, a P2P or Peer-to-peer network is one which is created when two computers come into picture to share a file without using a separate server. These files are transferred from multiple computers in small bits, but get downloaded as a single large file on your system. A P2P network is used to share all types of resources like network bandwidth, processing power or even disk storage space. There are several types of P2P network that exist such as: telephony, media streaming, discussion forums, file sharing, etc. Although, the most common P2P network on the internet is the sharing of files. Have a look at this picture to get an understanding of a P2P network.

A clear difference between a normal server-based network and a P2P network is shown below.

Now pops the ethical question of whether it is legal to use torrents. From a legal standpoint, downloading any game, movie or software without actually paying for one is considered illegal. Although, considering how widespread the use of torrents are, the seriousness of downloading a file for free is hampered. Most countries have not imposed strict laws against downloading from torrents. Although, if you’re not using a VPN, that could be you inviting trouble.