well
Torrents, typically ending in ".torrent", are control files for the peer-to-peer file sharing technology called BitTorrent.
It's actually pretty cool technology that really just boils down to another way to download files. So really, you just use .torrent files to download other files

BitTorrent is a distributed file distribution technology. Yes, "distributed distribution". When you download a file using BitTorrent, the file is actually broken up into chunks, that you BitTorrent client program then downloads and reassembled into the final file as the pieces arrive. To over-simplify, what makes it interesting are two things:
*The different chunks you download can all be coming from different machines. A BitTorrent client will connect to many other BitTorrent clients and download several chunks at once, in random order. In the long run this makes the protocol fairly efficient, and very nicely scalable - the more BitTorrent clients that are serving up a given file, the faster other clients can download it.
*As you start collecting chunks of the file your BitTorrent client will start making those chunks available for downloading to other BitTorrent clients, and will become a part of the peer-to-peer file distribution network.
The ".torrent" file is simply the bootstrap for this whole process. You download that normally, for example in your web browser, and then it is read by your BitTorrent client. It has the information that the BitTorrent client then uses to begin to locate other BitTorrent clients that are serving up the file you're interested in.
"Torrent" is sometimes used to refer to the file being shared using BitTorrent, but a ".torrent" file is a specific file with specific information that is used to bootstrap the file download.

BitTorrent may refer to:
* BitTorrent (protocol), a peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) communications protocol
* BitTorrent client, a program that downloads files using the BitTorrent protocol
* BitTorrent, Inc., an American corporation that develops Internet content distribution technology based on the BitTorrent protocol
BitTorrent (software), the official BitTorrent client

Answered by jaivir , an ibibo Master, at 12:57 PM on June 11, 2008

Hii,

Torrents, typically ending in ".torrent", are control files for the peer-to-peer file sharing technology called BitTorrent.

It's actually pretty cool technology that really just boils down to another way to download files. So really, you just use .torrent files to download other files.

Sponsored Ad BitTorrent is a distributed file distribution technology. Yes, "distributed distribution". When you download a file using BitTorrent, the file is actually broken up into chunks, that you BitTorrent client program then downloads and reassembled into the final file as the pieces arrive. To over-simplify, what makes it interesting are two things:

The different chunks you download can all be coming from different machines. A BitTorrent client will connect to many other BitTorrent clients and download several chunks at once, in random order.

In the long run this makes the protocol fairly efficient, and very nicely scalable - the more BitTorrent clients that are serving up a given file, the faster other clients can download it.

As you start collecting chunks of the file your BitTorrent client will start making those chunks available for downloading to other BitTorrent clients, and will become a part of the peer-to-peer file distribution network.

The ".torrent" file is simply the bootstrap for this whole process. You download that normally, for example in your web browser, and then it is read by your BitTorrent client.

It has the information that the BitTorrent client then uses to begin to locate other BitTorrent clients that are serving up the file you're interested in.

"Torrent" is sometimes used to refer to the file being shared using BitTorrent, but a ".torrent" file is a specific file with specific information that is used to bootstrap the file download.

Note I haven't talked at all about what kinds of files are actually being downloaded.

That's because the answer is "any". Typically the types of files being shared using BitTorrent are large - audio files, video files and programs. But just saying "a torrent" doesn't tell you what it is or what you can do with it.

Let's get concrete. Let's say you've discovered that some "Public Domain Movie" is available via a torrent.

You download the ".torrent" file, and open it in your BitTorrent client.

It then goes out to the internet, locates other BitTorrent clients that are serving up that file, and begins downloading all the various chunks until it has a complete copy of the file.

When it's all done, you'll end up with something like a "PublicDomainMovie.avi" file. Or ".mpg", ".mov" or something else. What you then do with that file is up to you.

Yep, you could burn that file to a CD or DVD, but that's all something you would do after it's downloaded, and has nothing to do with the fact that you got it via BitTorrent.

I don't have a tremendous amount of experience with BitTorrent clients, so I can't really recommend one over the other, but I have used Azureus successfully, and it seems to be one of the more popular BitTorrent clients.

I will warn you that all of the BitTorrent clients I've seen to date are still in the "geeky" stage, meaning that they sort of assume you know what you're doing to begin with. It's not a steep learning curve, but it will seem pretty obscure at first.

Answered by Ajay Pal , an ibibo Master, at 12:52 PM on June 11, 2008

Well Sandip ,torrent files are basically BitTorrent's equivalent to ed2k links used in eDonkey network.

In essence, .torrent files include instructions for BitTorrent -compatible P2P clients where to find the "tracker" for the downloaded file, hashed checksum that verifies for the client that it is actually downloading the correct file, the full size of the file and the filename of the file.

So, essentially .torrent files are very, very small files that simply contain some textual data about the file itself. Thus, downloading the torrent file itself takes only matter of seconds, if not milliseconds, but it is not the file that is downloaded from the P2P network.

Instead, .torrent files are typically hosted on just standard web servers and can be even passed via email. But in a computer with a BitTorrent -compatible client installed in it, launching a .torrent file typically starts a process where the BitTorrent -compatible client first contacts the tracker described in the .torrent file and if the tracker server is found and "seeds" (people sharing the file in question) are available, launches a download process of the file described in the .torrent file.

To use .torrent files in order to download files from BitTorrent P2P network, you need to have a BitTorrent -compatible client installed on your computer. Some of the clients are available here:

BitTorrent (the original client, open source)
ABC (open source)
Azureus (open source)
BitComet (open source)
BitTornado (open source)
G3 Torrent (open source)

For more details , Please visit the source site :

http://www.afterdawn.com/gloss ary/file_extensions/torrent.cfm

Answered by Alok Gupta , an ibibo Guru, at 11:43 AM on June 11, 2008

hello sandip a Torrents, typically ending in ".torrent", are control files for the peer-to-peer file sharing technology called BitTorrent.

It's actually pretty cool technology that really just boils down to another way to download files. So really, you just use .torrent files to download other files.

Sponsored Ad BitTorrent is a distributed file distribution technology. Yes, "distributed distribution". When you download a file using BitTorrent, the file is actually broken up into chunks, that you BitTorrent client program then downloads and reassembled into the final file as the pieces arrive. To over-simplify, what makes it interesting are two things:

The different chunks you download can all be coming from different machines. A BitTorrent client will connect to many other BitTorrent clients and download several chunks at once, in random order. In the long run this makes the protocol fairly efficient, and very nicely scalable - the more BitTorrent clients that are serving up a given file, the faster other clients can download it.

As you start collecting chunks of the file your BitTorrent client will start making those chunks available for downloading to other BitTorrent clients, and will become a part of the peer-to-peer file distribution network.

The ".torrent" file is simply the bootstrap for this whole process. You download that normally, for example in your web browser, and then it is read by your BitTorrent client. It has the information that the BitTorrent client then uses to begin to locate other BitTorrent clients that are serving up the file you're interested in.

"Torrent" is sometimes used to refer to the file being shared using BitTorrent, but a ".torrent" file is a specific file with specific information that is used to bootstrap the file download.

Note I haven't talked at all about what kinds of files are actually being downloaded. That's because the answer is "any". Typically the types of files being shared using BitTorrent are large - audio files, video files and programs. But just saying "a torrent" doesn't tell you what it is or what you can do with it.

Let's get concrete. Let's say you've discovered that some "Public Domain Movie" is available via a torrent. You download the ".torrent" file, and open it in your BitTorrent client. It then goes out to the internet, locates other BitTorrent clients that are serving up that file, and begins downloading all the various chunks until it has a complete copy of the file. When it's all done, you'll end up with something like a "PublicDomainMovie.avi" file. Or ".mpg", ".mov" or something else. What you then do with that file is up to you. Yep, you could burn that file to a CD or DVD, but that's all something you would do after it's downloaded, and has nothing to do with the fact that you got it via BitTorrent.

I don't have a tremendous amount of experience with BitTorrent clients, so I can't really recommend one over the other, but I have used Azureus successfully, and it seems to be one of the more popular BitTorrent clients. I will warn you that all of the BitTorrent clients I've seen to date are still in the "geeky" stage, meaning that they sort of assume you know what you're doing to begin with. It's not a steep learning curve, but it will seem pretty obscure at first.
for more inf check source http://ask-leo.com/whats_a_torrent. html

Answered by raj u , an ibibo Master, at 11:37 AM on June 11, 2008