BitTorrent downloads not as fast as you’d like? Although at the beginning of the century it was estimated that a third of all Internet traffic passed through the BitTorrent network, today history has changed a lot, and streaming services and industry pressure against piracy have limited the use of these peer-to-peer or P2P file-sharing networks.

However, they still are millions of users who use them daily for his Huge capacity for distributing large files and as a great alternative to direct downloads. Whether you’re downloading public domain movies, Linux operating systems, or any other legally distributed content on these networks (you might be surprised at all the free and copyrighted content that exists on these networks), every user will be looking for a download to play . as quickly as possible.

How to improve downloads on BitTorrent

There are several tricks, techniques or tips to adopt, from basic to advanced, that a user can use to improve their performance when using this type of networks. Enhancing your experience and the experience of third parties as an important part of it is the generosity of the users themselves when it comes to “sharing” and not just “sucking” from others. We talked to you about this when we explained the basics and operations of BitTorrent. Today we look at some of the more practical questions we suggest use.

1.- Check your internet connection

The performance of your connection is determined by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the rate you have contracted. And no miracles happen. Not even when downloading via torrent. Most carriers have specific upload and download bandwidths, with maximum limits set to allow for the strength of their network or force users to contract for a better, more expensive service.

As such, the torrent download speed will of course not exceed the limit you agreed upon. To find out the real limit and be able to configure the client you are using, you can check the speeds beforehand with one of the test services. One of the best is from speedtest.net.

2.- Choose the right client

There are many applications that can work with these files on the main platforms Windows, macOS, Linux, Android or iOS. However, not all of them perform equally, even on the same device and connection.

Among the ones we like the most, we can highlight qBittorrent (free, adware-free and open source based on libtorrent); Deluge (open source, free ad-free app) which uses libtorrent as a backend; Transmision-Qt Win (for some the best BitTorrent client for OS

3.- Keep your BitTorrent client updated

Like any application, clients for this P2P network improve with each update and fix bugs that can penalize BitTorrent download speeds. Try to update it every time a new version is available. Additionally, it is common for them to include security patches against known vulnerabilities.

4.- Select your favorite torrents

In this network are “Seeds” (Seeds) are key to achieving the best performance and efficient distribution of the file as they relate to users owning the entire file and “seeding”. “Points” are also important (Peers), users who are currently connected to the network.

Both are key to performance, so we recommend you choose the most popular torrents, which are usually the ones with the most seeds and peers. You can see it in any application. Discard the ones that don’t have the whole file because you’ll probably never finish it.

5.- Balancing upload/download speed

As with any P2P file sharing network, it is advisable to be as “generous” as possible when offering our files to other users. The goal is not only moral, but also practical. It would be ideal to approach a 1:1 ratio in terms of download/upload, but in practice this is impossible because most users do not have symmetric Internet access services.

As a general rule, set your send capacity to the maximum your connection allows without penalizing the performance of your device or others connected to the network. An unwritten rule to follow, however, is to continue sharing the most requested files even after you’ve downloaded them to contribute to their distribution.

6.- Configure the connection

In addition to the upload/download values, there is another important group of sections to manage and that is connection limits: maximum total number of connections, maximum per torrent and upload position. Setting the number too high doesn’t mean you’ll get faster download speeds on BitTorrent, as you’re consuming unnecessary bandwidth and can block your connection. However, setting them too low can result in loss of seeds and pairs, reducing yield.

Virtue lies in balance. Do the appropriate tests and stick with the ones that best suit your internet connection and your computer. In addition, you can configure other parameters, such as the folder in which you want to save torrents, or that the opening of .torrent files or magnet links happens automatically in the application you are using.

7.- Configure your firewall

Any modern firewall should allow BitTorrent connections. If there is a problem, a pop-up or notification will appear that you need to respond to. You can configure the BitTorrent client as a blocking exception on your firewall. Some carriers may require you to configure your router to allow access to these networks. It is usually configured using a feature called “port forwarding”. The firewall and router documentation should provide specific information about this.

8.- Use Ethernet and not Wi-Fi

A wired local area network is ideal for improving your BitTorrent download speed along with your best PC at home. Ethernet is not only faster than Wi-Fi, it has much lower latency and is less susceptible to interference, offering a more reliable, stable and always-on connection. In P2P always wired and not wireless connection.

9.- Higher speed with VPN

ISPs use a technique called “traffic shaping” to prioritize traffic on their network. This means carriers can detect what data is being sent and route it to a destination based on how important the data is. Torrent file data is usually very low priority.

BitTorrent clients usually have tools to manage whether data is encrypted or not. However, this is insufficient against ISP packet sniffing. In this case, it is recommended to use a VPN. With it, you ensure that the traffic configuration does not limit the speed. It should be noted that not all VPNs support torrents.

10.- Upgrade your computer

Although internet speed is the most important part when it comes to improving BitTorrent downloads and almost any computer will be able to connect to these networks, general performance also has an effect and as in any other computing task, the higher the level, the better the experience. Mainly a powerful processor, more RAM or an SSD as a storage unit that should better move the chunks of files you get.

Note. We give due warning as we always do when we talk about these issues: Using P2P networks to distribute content is perfectly legal, but sharing copyrighted files without permission on their networks is just as illegal and punishable by law as other methods. . In case you need it, we’ll give you access to our guide to BitTorrent and the 10 most popular torrent sites of 2021.