Why BitTorrent becoming so popular
A BitTorrent client connects to the tracker(s) specified in the torrents’ files, from which it receives a list of peers currently transferring pieces of the file(s) specified in the torrent. The client connects to those peers to obtain the required pieces.
There are many BitTorrent clients available and while they all work in a similar way – this is necessary so that they can work together – there are subtle differences in the way they handle torrents. The differences in the policies used by the file sharing clients has an impact on the effectiveness of sharing of torrents; these differences often relate to the other peers that a client will share with and whether the client is using a ‘choking’ or ‘optimistic unchoking’ policy.
Clients use methods by which to make download and upload rates for the torrents it deals with the most efficient. They may download pieces in a arbitrary order so as to increase the opportunity to exchange data, which is only possible if two peers have different pieces of the file.
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