Water
What is a torrent?
A torrent is a small file, or a magnet link, that describes a download: the files’ names and sizes, and a fingerprint of every piece. A BitTorrent client uses it to download those pieces from the people who have them, checks each piece against its fingerprint, and shares the pieces it has with others.
Updated 29 October 2026 · Em português
How a download works
- You open a torrent file or a magnet link in a BitTorrent client.
- The client finds others sharing the same torrent, through the torrent’s trackers or through the network itself (the DHT).
- It downloads different pieces from many of them at once, so a torrent many people share arrives fast.
- It checks every piece against the torrent’s fingerprint (a SHA-1 hash in the original protocol) and downloads again any piece that doesn’t match.
- As it goes, it shares the pieces it has with the others. When it has every piece, the files are complete.
BitTorrent is an open protocol; its specification is BEP 3 at bittorrent.org.
Seeders, peers and speed
A seeder has the whole download and only shares it; a peer (a leecher, in the old slang) is still downloading. Speed depends on how many people share a torrent: a popular one can fill your connection, a rare one can take days, or never finish.
How to open a torrent file
A .torrent file opens in a BitTorrent client, not in a browser or in Windows itself. Install a client, open the file with it (or paste a magnet link), choose a folder and start the download. qBittorrent is a free, open-source client for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Is BitTorrent legal?
Yes. BitTorrent is a way to move large files, and Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora publish their releases as torrents. What can be illegal is what you download: sharing or downloading someone’s copyrighted work without their permission is against the law in most countries.
Is it safe?
- BitTorrent checks that every piece matches the torrent, so you get exactly the files the torrent describes. It can’t tell you whether those files are safe: a torrent of malware arrives perfectly intact. Download from people you trust, and scan what you get.
- Everyone sharing a torrent can see the IP addresses of the others, whatever the client.
Water is a BitTorrent client for games
Water is a game launcher with a BitTorrent client built in. Pick a game and press Install: Water downloads it over BitTorrent from the people sharing it, checks every piece, installs it and sets it up. While a game downloads, your PC connects to the people sharing it: they see your IP address, and Water shares the parts you already have with them.
