What are Torrent files?

Torrent files are small files that contain information on downloading a larger file using BitTorrent protocol. The protocol, unlike HTTP/HTTPS, needs a torrent client software for properly download the torrent file.

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BitTorrent is a communications protocol of peer-to-peer (“P2P”) file sharing, which is used to distribute electronic files over the Internet. It is one of the most common protocols for transferring large files, such as digital video files containing TV shows, or digital audio files containing songs.

BitTorrent employs more than one server (the ones interlinked directly are called peers, and they don’t need a server to control them) for downloading files to the user’s computer. As the user is downloading a file, he/she is also uploading it to some other client that is seeking the same file for download. If the torrent is not removed from the torrent client even after the download is complete, it will continue to upload/seed the download so that others can download it from that computer (without knowing the real IP address and country location of the seeders).

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The protocol was designed by the programmer Bram Cohen in April 2001, and released the first available version on 2 July 2001. BitTorrent clients are available for a variety of computing platforms and operating systems, including an official client released by BitTorrent, Inc.