How to Speed Up Your BitTorrent
BitTorrent clients are programs that allow individuals to run .torrent files that allow them to connect to one another for the purpose of sharing data. BitTorrent is in many was a superior file-sharing method to direct downloading, since users can download pieces of a file from hundreds of different sources simultaneously, increasing download speed. BitTorrents do, however, rely on other users to provide access to downloads, and may require other configuration to maximize download speed.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
-
-
1
Download the best torrent file you can. When you are looking to download a torrent file, downloading the most popular file, with the most peers and seeds will result in the best download speeds. (See Resources.) If you're trying to download a rare file with a handful of seeds, your download might take a long time no matter what you do on your end.
-
2
Change your upload/download settings. BitTorrent clients allow you to change the ratio of bandwidth you want to dedicate to uploading and downloading. If your computer is using too much bandwidth for uploading, your download will be slower, and vice versa. The catch is that, to discourage pure leeching, some clients make your download speed a factor of upload speed, so you need to allow some uploading to get faster download speeds.
-
3
Turn of your firewalls, or use port forwarding to open ports for firewalls and routers. Routers and firewalls often block ports for security that BitTorrent attempts to use to download. By turning off your firewalls when you are downloading, or forwarding the ports your BitTorrent client uses, you can limit interference of these security measures and increase download speed. (See the first link in Resources for a guide to port forwarding.)
-
4
Try using a third-party torrent-accelerator program. There are numerous add-on torrent-accelerator programs that attempt to optimize torrent speeds by acting as a download manager, and by downloading multiple pieces of a file from the same peer.
-
1
