Indexer sites haven't agreed on a single link format, so it’s up to the clients to support the various implementations. After the Pirate Bay introduced them, this is no longer a problem, but there are still things to work out. Up until very recently, many of the major BitTorrent clients didn't support magnet links at all. In practice, since the technology is still being actively developed, some kinks still creep up.
It would also potentially make downloads faster as it would enable the clients to download from peers which have identical files but with different names, for example. Theoretically, magnet links should not have any disadvantages for the users over. For the indexer sites, the allure is clear, using magnet links makes it harder for them to be accused of any wrong-doing in court. In fact, magnet links can be copy-pasted as plain text by users and shared via email, IM or any other medium. With magnet links, BitTorrent indexers don't have to store any file at all, just a few snippets of data leaving the individual client apps to do all the heavy lifting. You can check out the entry on Wikipedia for a more detailed technical description. They may also hold filename data or links to trackers used by the torrent. In the case of BitTorrent, they hold the hash value of the torrent which is then used to locate copies of the files among the peers.
Technically, magnet links are made up of a series of parameters containing various data in no particular order. They differ from URLs, for example, in that they don't hold information on the location of a resource but rather on the content of the file or files to which they link. The links are an evolving URI standard developed primarily to be used by p2p networks. Magnet links though are just links, they have no files associated with them just data. torrent files on their servers, which leaves them vulnerable to legal threats if the content shared happens to be infringing despite containing no actual infringing data by themselves. This system has several disadvantages, some technical, but one of the biggest is that BitTorrent indexers have to store the. The files hold several types of data, a URL of the tracker site, names for the files it shared, as well as hash codes of files.Īll of this is used by the client to connect with peers that have the files in the torrent, or portions of them, and also to ensure that the downloaded data is accurate. These files are stored by indexing sites and are used by BitTorrent clients to connect to the tracker sites. torrent files to store information on the files shared with the popular p2p protocol. '.torrent' filesįor years, BitTorrent clients, trackers and indexers have relied on. torrent files, which are still in wide use if any. And now that the world's first BitTorrent indexer, which relies solely on magnet links, more and more people may find themselves wondering how these links work and what are their advantages over.
They have been around for quite a few years now, yet most people have started noticing them only recently, notably since the Pirate Bay implemented them. Magnet links, on the other hand, are a different story. These are very important to the actual downloads but work mostly hidden from the user who may not even now when they kick in. A couple of them, DHT, PEX, are new ways of finding peers (users with copies of the file you want to download) without relying on the old BitTorrent tracker system. Anyone following the BitTorrent scene has been noticing some interesting developments lately and three new technologies, in particular, have stood out.