BitTorrent (often abbreviated to ‘BT’) is a protocol that allows you to download files quickly and efficiently. It is a peer to peer protocol, which means you download and upload to other people downloading the same file. BitTorrent is often used for distribution of very large files, very popular files and files available for free, as it is a cheap, fast, efficient way to distribute files to users like you.
µTorrent is a BitTorrent client. A ‘client’ in this case is a computer program that follows the rules of a protocol. For example, HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the protocol used to download web pages and other content – like this page – and your HTTP client (or browser) is the program you use to get those web pages. Some popular browsers include Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari.
Just as there are multiple web browsers, there are multiple BitTorrent clients, and µTorrent is one such BT client.
Features present in µTorrent include:
* Teredo / IPv6 support.
* Micro Transport Protocol preliminary support as of 1.8.2 with full-support added in 2.0.
* UPnP support for all versions of Windows, without needing Windows XP’s UPnP framework.
* Protocol encryption (PE).
* Peer exchange (PEX) with other BitTorrent clients.
o libtorrent and clients based on it like Deluge have full µTorrent PEX support.
o Transmission and clients based on libTransmission have full µTorrent PEX support.
o KTorrent has full µTorrent PEX support as of 2.1 RC1.
o Vuze, formerly Azureus, has full support as of version 3.0.4.3.
* RSS (“broadcatching”).
* “Trackerless” BitTorrent support using DHT, compatible with the original BitTorrent client and BitComet.
* User configurable intelligent disk caching system.
* Full proxy server support.
* HTTPS tracker support.
* Configurable bandwidth scheduler.
* Localized for 52 languages.[13]
* Initial seeding of torrents.
* Customizable search bar & user interface design.[14]
* Configuration settings and temporary files are stored in a single directory, allowing portable use.
* WebUI: A plugin currently in beta testing that allows µTorrent running on one computer to be controlled from another computer, either across the internet or on a LAN, using a Web page.
o A new web user interface, codenamed Falcon, is in development. It supports encrypted sessions and the ability of going through firewalls without port forwarding, while being more complete and easier to start using than its predecessor.[15]
* Embedded Tracker: a simple tracker designed for seeding torrents, lacking a web interface or list of hosted torrents. It is not designed for secure or large-scale application.[16]
* Quick-resumes interrupted transfers.
System Requirements
x86 Ubuntu 9.10+, Debian 5+, Fedora 12+
Linux kernel 2.6.13 or newer required