How to start using BitTorrent to download files

Beginning to use BitTorrent to download files can be relatively intimidating to the average computer user. Since we use torrents extensively on our site CommonBits, we decided to put together this how to guide for getting started. This page is especially helpful for configuring your router to accept BitTorrent requests - as this is where many beginning adopters get confused.

What is BitTorrent?

BitTorrent is a file-sharing protocol which progressively distributes the bandwidth for transferring files across many users. BitTorrent can speed file downloads making it possible to transfer large audio and  video files over the Web in a reasonable amount of time (usually minutes or hours depending on the file size). BitTorrent can also reduce the cost of delivering files for a content provider.

For example, CommonBits posted the video of Thomas Linzey's lecture on democratic organizing on its Web site as a BitTorrent file. Once a BitTorrent user begins downloading the video, the next BitTorrent user will download portions of the file from our site but also from the first user. The next user after that will download portions from our site and the first and second users. The download becomes progressively faster and more efficient. The bandwidth usage is distributed which minimizes our costs.

How does this work? Well, that's essentially what the BitTorrent program does. It automatically figures out which parts of the file should be downloaded from where and makes this all possible.

Selecting and Installing a BitTorrent Client Application

In order to use BitTorrent yourself, you’ll need to download a program which implements the BitTorrent protocol called a BitTorrent client application.

It doesn’t matter very much whether you use Max OS X, Windows or Linux – there are BitTorrent clients for each of these platforms.

We recommend using the Azureus BitTorrent client which you can get here. It’s the program that best balances ease of use with power. You may need to install Sun's Java program library first. It's available on the same site (Mac OS X users need to download it from Apple here). If you want the simplest client, just download the generic BitTorrent client here.

You may also want to check out the recently released Desktop Video player from the Participatory Culture Foundation. It allows you to subscribe to video podcast feeds and takes care of the BitTorrent downloading behind the scenes.

This site has a wider description of BitTorrent clients software to help you decide which is right for you. So does this one.

Configuring your Network to Support BitTorrent

For many users, the hardest part of getting BitTorrent to work is configuring their network and computer properly to work with the BitTorrent client. BitTorrent requires certain network "ports" to be open so that file sharing can operate properly. Since many common home modems, routers and firewall software block traffic to these ports, BitTorrent newbies often must tell their routers to allow BitTorrent to use these ports.

First, you'll need to know the internal network address of the computer which you want to run BitTorrent on. This is called your IP address. On Windows, you can get your IP address by clicking Start -> Run, then typing winipcfg. You'll want the IP Address listed underneath the heading for your Ethernet adapter. It probably looks like 192.168.1.101.

On Mac OS X, visit Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Network. Your IP address should be listed in the configuration box.

Then, you have to tell your router and firewall to send all traffic from ports 6881-6889 to your computer's IP address. You'll need to login to your router's administration menus and forward the ports 6881-6889 to your IP address e.g. 192.168.1.101.

On my LinkSys router, I can log in by pointing my Web browser at http://192.168.1.100 and typing in my login and password. Then, I proceed to the Advanced Settings and Forwarding. I then instruct the router to forward the ports numbered in the range from 6881 to 6889 to my computer's IP address of 192.168.1.101.

If you need a more thorough or more technical description of what to do for your network or router, try this site or this site or this one.

Finding BitTorrent files to Download

CommonBits has numerous BitTorrent files related to political topics that you can download. For example, try our collection of Daily Show torrents.

The BitTorrent Frequently Asked Questions site also has some links to sites with Torrents as well. Or, you can just google for torrents on a specific type e.g. Google "daily show torrents".

Downloading Your First BitTorrent File

Initially, you may be confused by the fact that BitTorrents actually consist of two parts. The first part is the Bit Torrent file that you download from the Web. This is a Web site link address (URL) pointing to a file which ends in the .torrent file extension. e.g. the torrent file for the video of Thomas Linzey's lecture which can be found at our site has this address:  http://www.commonbits.org/files/torrent/linzey_seattle.mov.torrent.

The .torrent file instructs your BitTorrent client where on the Internet to begin looking for the second part of the torrent - the actual video file that you want. So, if your BitTorrent client is installed properly, when you click on the .torrent file on our Web site, it will begin downloading the video file immediately.

When your BitTorrent client finishes, you'll actually have both files: the .torrent file and the actual video file. You can then open the video file from your computer to see it.

It's good BitTorrent etiquette to leave your client software running with the downloaded files so that other users can now download parts of the file from your computer. The more files you share from your computer, the more quickly BitTorrent will allow you to download files from other users. So, it's in everyone's interest to run their client software continuously.

Help Us Improve this HowTo Guide

If you have suggestions for improving this HowTo guide, please post them as comments below and we'll integrate them soon.

Comments

[Tom=Bone]

i've downloaded my first torrent file (a movie), then i had to upgrade to to quick time 7.0.1 for the Mac in order to play it.

so, i'm no sure what's the next step becuz the file doesn't apear to have any images - just a black screen/ and occasionaly snippets of noise.

what do i do to watch it?

[alhannandhk]

I can't download. Plz help me.

[Gauri]

i hav downloaded .torrent file but cant open using bittorrent. How i can open it?

[Gauri]

i hav downloaded .torrent file but cant open using bittorrent. How i can open it?

[Travis]

Hey,

When i try to download a reggae album from isohunt, onto the bit-torrent, all it says is inactive, has about 3 peers, but wont make any progress downloading. Is it just a bad isohunt file?

Thanks

[amber]

We downloaded a client and then the torrent movie file and we can't burn it onto a dvd. we can c it on our computer... but how can we get it to where we can put it on a dvd-r to get it off our computer to make more space?