Torrent

Why Trust Techopedia

What Does Torrent Mean?

A torrent is a file type used by BitTorrent file-sharing protocol. It authorizes and points to a remote server that contains the location of different remote hosts with an instance or part of the file to be shared or downloaded.

Advertisements

A torrent file is a metadata file type that primarily stores the URLs of host servers that manage the communication, data transferring and other protocol-specific administration in the file-sharing and downloading process.

Techopedia Explains Torrent

The torrent file type is an integral component of the BitTorrent file sharing mechanism, which relies on this file to effectively ensure error-free downloading. A torrent file is created by a central BitTorrent-enabled host server, which embeds the URL of different trackers that serve as the bridge between the host on which the file needs to be downloaded and the remote peers seeding the pieces of the original file.

Besides a tracker URL, a torrent file may also contain information such as the name of the file, its author or creator, its size, the pieces of the file and their size and location.

Advertisements

Related Terms

Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.