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Glossary
Glossary of key terms related to piracy, its causes, impacts, and legal aspects. Perfect for those who want to better understand this phenomenon.
🧲 Glossary of Torrent
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Availability | Number of full copies of a file (or set of files) available to the client. Each seed adds 1.0. |
| BitTorrent | The most widely used peer-to-peer filesharing system. Decentralized and splits downloads into pieces from peers. |
| Connectability | The state of being connectable with an open port allowing peers to connect and share data. |
| Cross Seed | When the same torrent is on different trackers, you can download from one and seed to both. |
| DHT | Distributed Hash Table: a peer-to-peer network to find peers without a central tracker. |
| Freeleech | Torrents that don’t count toward your downloaded total, only upload counts toward your ratio. |
| Hash | Digital fingerprint used to verify data integrity. If verification fails, data is discarded and re-requested. |
| Hit-and-run (HnR) | Downloading a file and seeding as little as possible, harming the swarm. |
| IP Address | Unique numeric identifier for devices on an IP network. Can be dynamic or static. |
| Leech / Leeching | Peer without 100% of the file or one who downloads more than uploads, negatively affecting the ratio. |
| Magnet | Link that enables downloading files directly from P2P networks without the .torrent file. |
| Peer | Instance of a BitTorrent client connected to others for data sharing. Can be downloader or seed. |
| Port Forwarding | Opening router ports to improve connectivity and speed in torrent sharing. |
| Private Tracker | Private tracker that restricts access via invitation or interview, promoting high quality and community control. |
| Public Tracker | Public tracker open for anyone to add to torrents. |
| Ratio | Ratio between uploaded and downloaded data by a user. Above 1.0 is positive, below is negative. |
| Seed / Seeding | A peer that has 100% of the file and uploads to others. |
| Seedbox | Rented server used to download and seed torrents, usually with high speed and uptime. |
| Snatch | Term for when a torrent has been fully downloaded by the user. |
| Super-Seeding | Algorithm to help new downloaders become seeders faster but can fail if only one downloader exists. |
| Swarm | Group of all peers and seeds sharing the same content. |
| Torrent | File containing metadata about files to distribute, including tracker list and peer locations. |
| Tracker | Server assisting communication between peers, helping locate and coordinate file transfer. |
| Tracker Scrape | Query to tracker to get info on availability and number of peers for a torrent. |
| Upload Slot | Number of simultaneous connections a seed can accept to upload data. |