What are Torrents?
Torrents, also known as bittorrents, are part of an extremely popular peer to peer file distribution system used for transferring large files within a large network of people.
Probably one of the best explanations of how downloading Torrent files actually works comes from Net for Beginners guide Paul Gil:
"BitTorrent networking is the latest form of Internet P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing. BitTorrent works by simultaneously downloading small bits of files from many web sources. BitTorrent downloading is extremely easy to use, and is completely non-profit and free of user subscription fees." (from Bit Torrents 101)
There's a LOT more to this explanation, but suffice it to say that searchers can use torrent sites or torrent search engines to find and download any kind of file - movies, videos, music, etc. - and it's all free.
Do I need special software to download torrent files?
Yes, you do! In order to download torrents, you have to have a torrent client. A torrent client is a simple software program that manages your torrent downloads and uploads. You can find torrent clients at my article titled How to Find Torrent Clients.Where can I find torrent files?
Here are a few places on the Web where you can find torrent files:
- Torrent Sites: There are so many torrent sites on the Web! How do you know which ones are the best? Here are the top ten torrent sites where you can consistently find good quality torrents to download.
- Find a Torrent Search Engine: Since there are so many torrent search engines on the Web, I've sorted through them all to show you the top twenty very best torrent search engines that will help you find the torrents you're looking for.
