This alternative form of download is often used for distribution of Linux operating system packages, drivers and updates. Torrent files are usually stored on developer websites as an alternative to direct server download of their projects. Torrent file contains metadata about the data for download, such as full name and size of the data, hashed checksum for verification of downloaded data and position of the torrent tracker - the server that maintains the P2P file sharing. If you want to start a download via BitTorrent protocol, you have to find a. But there are also other alternative available, such as popular uTorrent, or Vuze. A simple client called BitTorrent is available for both Windows and and for Mac OS X. To download data via BitTorrent protocol you must have a BitTorrent compatible client installed in your computer. It is used by many developers to distribute large data files, such as applications, movies, computer games, software actualizations over the Internet, because BitTorrent protocol can highly reduce network load. BitTorrent is a decentralized peer-to-peer data sharing protocol introduced in 2001.
