BitTorrent download FAQ documentation press Donate!

Where can I find stuff to download using BitTorrent?

You can lots of things from Smiler's BitTorrent links page.

Help! My download isn't working!

Please read this FAQ to see if it solves your problem. If it doesn't, post a question to the technical support mailing list. Be sure to mention what operating system you're running, the url of the file you're trying to dowload, what version of BitTorrent you're running, and explain exactly what behavior you're seeing.

Do not post questions about where to find files or announcements of files being avialable to this mailing list. For that, use torrent-talk. (Note that I don't run or really have anything to do with torrent-talk, I'm just linking to it here.)

BitTorrent is great! How can I help?

You can give a donation.

I don't want you stealing my bandwidth! How can I stop it from uploading?

You could hack the source to not upload, but then your download rate would suck. BitTorrent downloaders engage in tit-for-tat with their peers, so leeches have very little success downloading.

I get an error message starting with 'problem connecting to tracker', what should I do?

The tracker for the one particular file you're trying to download is probably down. Try to download again later.

Alternately, this error message may indicate that your net connection is down or doesn't allow arbitrary outgoing connections, which is necessary for BitTorrent to work.

When I look at the file it's already full size but it's garbled and BT says it's still downloading, what's going on?

BitTorrent pre-allocates the entire file when your download begins, then writes in pieces in random order as it gets them. As a result the file jumps to its full size immediately. BitTorrent will tell you when the download is complete.

BitTorrent makes my machine blue screen! What should I do?

If you have a DSL modem, especially an Alcatel, you should upgrade your drivers.

If you have a Linksys network card, you may have to upgrade your network card drivers as well.

I use Mozilla, how can I use BitTorrent?

As of version 3.0.2, BitTorrent works with Mozilla out of the box.

Can I use BitTorrent on Mac OS 9?

If you install Python, you should be able to use btdownloadheadless.py from the source.

Does BitTorrent support resuming?

Yes, just save your download to the same location as the existing partial download. BitTorrent will resume where it left off after checking the partial download.

How can I contribute to a file distribution without downloading?

Just leave your downloader running after it's done downloading. If you already have the complete file, run the downloader as a resume.

How do I know the download isn't corrupted?

BitTorrent does cryptographic hashing (SHA1) of all data. When you see "Download Succeeded" you can be sure that BitTorrent has already verified the integrity of the data. The integrity and authenticity of a BitTorrent download is as good as the original request to the tracker. Checking the MD5 of a file downloaded via BitTorrent is redundant.

I'm behind a firewall/NAT, can I use BitTorrent?

Yes, but you will get better performance if other peers can connect to you. By default, BitTorrent listens on port 6881, trying incrementially higher ports if it's unable to bind. It gives up after 6889 (the port range is configurable.) It's up to you to figure out how to poke a hole in your firewall/NAT.

How many downloads can BitTorrent support?

BitTorrent routinely supports around 1000 dowloaders of files around a gigabyte in size. After current tracker scaling work, the next scaling bottleneck is expected to be in the hundreds of thousands of simultaneous downloaders.

I published a file but whenever I try to download it hangs saying "connecting to peers" and/or the download just never starts.

You need to leave a downloader running which already has the whole file. Make sure other peers can connect to this downloader (not behind firewall or NAT!)

I started a complete downloader but still noone can download, what gives?

If your tracker and downloader are on the same machine, you need to give an --ip parameter to the downloader.

What language is BitTorrent written in?

Python

When is the Java implementation going to be ready?

See the BitTorrent ports mailing list.

How do I limit the amount of bandwidth consumed by BitTorrent?

Use the --max_upload_rate command line parameter, which takes an upload rate in kilobytes/sec.

Does BitTorrent contain spyware or adware?

No, BitTorrent contains no spyware, adware, or any other kind of -ware.

What license is BitTorrent released under?

MIT, which basically lets you do anything you want with it so long as you leave the license notification in the source.

How can I download on a headless machine?

Use btdownloadheadless.py available in the source distribution.

Where can I find more information about BitTorrent?

If you're looking for information on where to find files using BitTorrent, try torrent-talk. Don't ask me anything about torrent-talk, I don't run it, I'm just linking to it.

If you have a development or technical support question, see the documentation page, the development mailing list, or #bittorrent of irc.freenode.net (I repeat, this channel is not for distribution).

You can also try the BitTorrent Wiki.