One of eTomi's supported networks

BitTorrent is just one of the several peer to peer file sharing networks eTomi supports. It was created by Bram Cohen as a way of distrubuting files to many downloaders without the high cost of only one server providing the file. For more information on using BitTorrent with eTomi, you can visit the BitTorrent section of the FAQ.

BitTorrent works through two main parts: a "torrent" and a "tracker". A torrent is a simple file that contains information on a single file. This information consists of the file name, size, etc. It also contains the web address of a tracker. Trackers are small programs that help whoever connects to them find others who are downloading the same file. This allows for everyone downloading a file to be aware of others who are downloading or have the same file. With this happening, each person can download parts of a file from different participants and upload their own parts of the file to other participants.

An interconnected mesh of downloading occurs instead of one server using all of its resources to upload to everyone who wants the file. This usually results in the user getting his file faster because he is downloading at the combined bandwith of everyone who is uploading a part of the file to him. This is the fundamental idea of peer to peer (P2P) file sharing that is fully realized within BitTorrent.



BitTorrent's official website is located here: http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/.
The best BitTorrent FAQ currently avaliable is here: http://www.dessent.net/btfaq/