The following is a general comparison of BitTorrent clients, which are computer programs designed for

peer-to-peer file sharing Peer-to-peer file sharing is the distribution and sharing of digital media using peer-to-peer (P2P) networking technology. P2P file sharing allows users to access media files such as books, music, movies, and games using a P2P software program tha ...

using the BitTorrent protocol. The BitTorrent protocol coordinates segmented file transfer among peers connected in a

swarm Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited by entities, particularly animals, of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving ''en masse'' or migrating in some direction. ...

. A BitTorrent client enables a user to exchange data as a peer in one or more swarms. Because BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer

communications protocol A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics and synchron ...

that does not need a server, the BitTorrent definition of ''client'' differs from the conventional meaning expressed in the

client–server model The client–server model is a distributed application structure that partitions tasks or workloads between the providers of a resource or service, called servers, and service requesters, called clients. Often clients and servers communicate ove ...

Bram Cohen Bram Cohen is an American computer programmer, best known as the author of the peer-to-peer (P2P) BitTorrent protocol in 2001, as well as the first file sharing program to use the protocol, also known as BitTorrent. He is also the co-founder of ...

, author of the BitTorrent protocol, made the first BitTorrent client, which he also called BitTorrent, and published it in July 2001. Many BitTorrent programs are open-source software; others are

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the ...

adware Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue for its developer by automatically generating online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the ...

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...

. Some

download manager A download manager is a software tool that manages the downloading of files from the Internet, which may be built: into a Web browser, or as a, usually more sophisticated program Program, programme, programmer, or programming may refer to: ...

s, such as FlashGet and

GetRight GetRight is a shareware download manager developed by Michael Burford. Burford's company, Headlight Software, first published the program in 1997. At the time of its release, one of GetRight's defining features was its ability to resume an inte ...

, are BitTorrent-ready. Opera 12, a web browser, can also transfer files via BitTorrent. In 2013 Thunder Networking Technologies publicly revealed that some of their employees surreptitiously distributed a Trojan horse with certain releases of

Xunlei Xunlei Limited () is a Chinese multinational technology company and an online service provider founded in 2003. The subsidiary of Xunlei Limited, Shenzhen Xunlei Networking Technologies, Co., Ltd. () was formerly known as Sandai Technologies (Sh ...

, the company's BitTorrent-ready download manager. Xunlei is included in the comparison tables.

Applications

General

Operating system support

Interface and programming

Features I

Features II

Libraries

; General ; Operating system support and programming language ; Supported features 1 ; Supported features 2

Notes

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=December 2019 BitTorrent BitTorrent clients it:BitTorrent#Client