The world of peer-to-peer file sharing has earned a bad reputation on the Internet among users and the media. Torrent pages and P2P transfer programs are often used for hacking and other unethical behavior. However, the torrent is just a tool; it is neither good nor bad in itself. It’s like saying that cars are used to commit crimes. The problem is not the cars, it is how we use them. In fact, torrenting is a very useful tool for sharing files on distributed networks. For this reason, this time we have chosen to review, not the best torrent pages, but the best torrent clients for Windows.
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Is it safe to download by torrent?
To answer this question, we first have to know how BitTorrent works
BitTorrent is a decentralized network protocol (P2P) that is used to share files between a large number of users. Normally, if we download a file, such as a video, to our device, we connect to the server where the file is stored and start downloading it through a direct link. That is, the file is downloaded from a central server.
BitTorrent is a different way to distribute files. The download occurs through torrent clients that connect to other users’ P2P-based devices. The torrent file is divided into small chunks that are downloaded from every device on the P2P network. When a part of the file is downloaded, the user at the same time begins to deliver it to other people who are also in the queue to download it. Therefore, there is no single central server where all files are stored.
There are special sites known as “trackers” where everyone can upload and download torrents, and the distributors are not verified. Therefore, and returning to the question of whether downloading torrents is safe, the answer is it depends. Although most torrent pages take care to verify that the files do not pose any malicious danger to users, some caution is still required.
Is it legal to download torrent in Spain?
The BitTorrent protocol itself is not legal or insecure. It’s just one more way to transfer files at high speed. However, sharing and downloading copyrighted material through BitTorrent or other means is an illegal process in many countries.
Simply put, the torrent is legal. Downloading unauthorized copyrighted material is an illegal process that is punishable by the Intellectual Property Law
Also Read: Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2021
Important Terms Related to BitTorrent
There are a number of terms related to BitTorrent that you must know in order to understand this protocol and its tools correctly. Next, we explain the meaning of the most important ones:
- Peers or pairs : they are the people who are downloading a file and are contributing to upload the parts that they already have complete.
- Seeders or seeds : when a person completes the download, they change from “peer” or pair to “seeder” or seed. The more seeds there are, the faster the file is shared.
- Leechers : are the people who upload torrent files but do not contribute to share their parts with other users. Some sites block them.
- Tracker : it is the server that coordinates the communication between the users of the Torrent network, identifying those who have the same file and connecting them to each other so that the rest can download it.
- Magnet link : is a mechanism that transmits all the torrent data to the client directly, eliminating the need for an intermediary file.
- Swarm : it is the set of seeders + peers that participate in the download/upload of a particular torrent file.
- Health : expresses the validity of the file, that is, how strong the file is in terms of download speed. The higher the number of seeders/peers, the healthier and faster the download.
- Client : it is the torrent program that allows us to start the download of a file and participate in the distribution of its parts with other users in order to support the network.
The best programs to download torrents
In order not to extend too deeply into the Torrent world, we are going with the key of this article which is to let you know the best torrent clients of 2020. Although we focus on Windows, most of these applications are multiplatform and are also available for both macOS as Linux.
qBittorrent
My spoiled child. My favorite torrent client for several years. When we talk about qBitTorrent , we are talking about one of the best torrent clients: free, open-source, reliable, fast, and ad-free. More than a decade after its initial release, qBitTorrent continues to be updated frequently. I can’t say that it is one of the most complete torrent clients, but on a personal basis, I think it has everything it takes to hold the winning trophy. Not too simple, not too loaded with unnecessary features. qBitTorrent is one of the lightest torrent clients, with a total weight of 15 megabytes.
Deluge
Deluge is another fantastic option for those of us who are looking for an easy-to-use torrent client with personality, offering its own set of features and design options. If qBitTorrent seemed especially light to you at 15 megabytes, Deluge only weighs 34 kilobytes, an incredible achievement for the team behind this client.
Another cross-platform client that promises to lighten our system resources by providing portable versions to carry on a USB drive if needed. The project, the work of Kevin Hearn, originally published in 2009, has been updated several times with features and functions that we don’t see in other alternative torrent clients. If design is important to you, Tixati may not be the best option. However, its lightness both in size and in resources and its effectiveness are to be appreciated. Even though Tixati is proprietary software, it is ad-free.
Transmission
Transmission stands out for its minimalism in both interface and features and, therefore, we are once again facing one of the best lighter torrent clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It was one of the first to add support for magnet links, as well as support for creating files compatible with Vuze and uTorrent, the two main competitors of both this and previous clients.
However, there are several reasons why do not recommend Transmission as the primary torrent client. First of all, although minimalism is important to some users (and I include myself), Transmission is too simple. If we compare it with qBitorrent or Deluge, which are also minimalist torrent clients, Transmission lags far behind on a functional level.
Second, in 2016, the macOS version of Transmission was infected by an extortion ransomware application that encrypted and withheld the ransom of users’ files, unlocking them only if about $ 400 was transferred to the attacker’s account. Although this is not a Transmission bug, I find it difficult to recommend this application after the. DMG file has been compromised via its website and server.
Bittorrent
BitTorrent is the official torrent client originally designed to support file upload and download using its own protocol. First launched more than fifteen years ago, in 2001, BitTorrent as a client is not that it stands out above the rest. Although in the beginning it was considered one of the best torrent clients that could be downloaded for Windows, after all, with the release of version 6.0, the client was no longer open source, leaving several payment options available to the user between the ones to choose.
Vuze
Vuze started out as a torrent client under the name Azureus, and while the platform allowed users to download files and other torrent-related content, Azureus also allowed users to view and share content in both DVD and HD quality. In 2006, the show was renamed Vuze and was designed as a social client rather than a regular one. Like BitTorrent or uTorrent, Vuze has both a free and paid version.
Even though the software has a long track record among the top most popular torrent clients for many years, Vuze is considered adware due to the inclusion of its own brand toolbars, so I advise you to avoid it and take it seriously. account other ad-free torrent clients like qBittorrent or Deluge.
BitComet
BitComet is another classic that appeared in the early stages, and it did so with a significant amount of controversy and controversy. This is not the prettiest or lightest torrent client available on the market, but it is one step ahead of some of its competitors. It has several features that are not available in any other client, including the ability to download the first and last part of the media files so that you can view the content before the download is complete. In the Windows version, it has a search integrated with Internet Explorer that allows you to search for torrents directly from the application, although currently with the appearance of the “magnet links” this functionality is no longer as useful as it was six or seven years ago.
BitComet has been involved in legal issues with the FileHippo download portal, however, overall, it is a reliable client that, despite its carefree interface, is excellent for downloading torrent files quickly.
uTorrent
Although uTorrent has long been the undisputed favorite of most users, it has become increasingly difficult to recommend it due to its intrusive advertising. Originally, the program was designed to be a lightweight and easy-to-use torrent client, with the motto “(Very) Tiny BitTorrent Client.” While the client is still admittedly lightweight, in 2010 uTorrent began incorporating the Conduit Engine toolbar into its installer, as well as changing the default home page and installing the Conduit search engine without consent. In 2011, uTorrent began incorporating a Bing toolbar and later announced a paid version called uTorrent Plus.
Also Read: The Best Alternatives to EliteTorrent
For many, uTorrent became unusable in March 2015, when the program began installing another application called “Epic Scale”, which mined a cryptocurrency called “Litecoin.” Although uTorrent has not implemented this type of software since then, it is difficult, after what happened, to recommend it against other clients such as qBittorrent, Deluge, and even some paid clients such as BitTorrent or Vuze.
