Rainberry, Inc., formerly known as BitTorrent, Inc., is an American

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

that is responsible for the ongoing development of the BitTorrent peer-to-peer protocol, as well as the ongoing development of

μTorrent μTorrent, or uTorrent (see pronunciation) is a proprietary adware BitTorrent client owned and developed by Rainberry, Inc. with over 150 million users. It is the most widely used BitTorrent client outside China; globally only behind Xunlei. Th ...

and BitTorrent Mainline, two clients for that protocol. Files transferred using the BitTorrent protocol constitute a significant slice of all Internet traffic. At its peak, 170 million people used the protocol every month, according to the company's website. The company was founded on September 22, 2004 by Bram Cohen and

Ashwin Navin Ashwin Navin is an Indian-American entrepreneur, who is the CEO and co-founder of Samba TV, a data and analytics service that measures television viewership using opt-in data from Internet-connected devices and set-top boxes. The company has bee ...

. In 2018, the company was acquired by cryptocurrency startup TRON, and Bram Cohen left the company.

BitTorrent protocol software

BitTorrent is a

peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer n ...

computer program developed by Bram Cohen and BitTorrent, Inc. that is used for uploading and downloading files via the BitTorrent protocol. BitTorrent was the first client written for the protocol. It is often nicknamed Mainline by developers, denoting its official origins. Since version 6.0, the BitTorrent client has been a rebranded version of

. As a result, it is no longer

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

and is currently available for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

and

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

μTorrent

μTorrent (or uTorrent; commonly abbreviated as "μT" or "uT") is a

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 f ...

, closed source BitTorrent client owned by BitTorrent, Inc. It is the most widely used BitTorrent client outside China. It is available for

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

and

. A μTorrent Server is available for

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

. All versions are written in C++. On December 7, 2006, μTorrent was purchased by BitTorrent, Inc., as it was announced on their official forum.

BitTorrent/μTorrent Pro

Pro is the name received by advanced versions, formerly branded Plus, of BitTorrent and μTorrent. These are premium versions of the Windows software with additional features that are downloaded and installed when the user upgrades for US$19.95. Pre-sales for Plus were announced November 29, 2011 and the upgrade became available December 8, 2011. A "Pro" version of uTorrent for Android also exists, for a lower initial price, though in-app purchases can take it over the cost of the desktop version. When a user upgrades to the Pro version of BitTorrent or μTorrent they enable the following features: * Anti-virus protection for acquired .torrent files * Integrated HD media player * Transcoding capability with media codecs * Streaming playback while torrent is downloading

BitTorrent Sync

BitTorrent Sync is a peer-to-peer file synchronization tool running on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It can sync files between computers on a local network, or between remote users over the Internet. The BitTorrent Sync pre-Alpha program, announced in January 2013, was opened to general users on April 23, 2013. On November 23, 2013, BitTorrent announced the release of version 1.2 of the client along with a beta version of the BitTorrent Sync API. On June 1, 2016, product and team were spun out of BitTorrent Inc. as an independent company, Resilio Inc. which will continue development of the product under the name Resilio Sync.

BitTorrent Bundle

The company has released "Bundles" with artists such as

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and drummer ...

, Pixies, Public Enemy, and

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

. The Madonna Bundle, entitled ''secretprojectrevolution'', was released on September 24, 2013 and consisted of the 17-minute film of the same name, stills from the film, and an option for those users who submit their email addresses and make a donation that also includes HD and 2K versions of the film, a VICE interview, and a message from Madonna. On September 17, 2013, the company launched "BitTorrent Bundles for Publishers", an alpha program for content creators to distribute bundles of any size and file type using the BitTorrent client. The first released bundle was the fantasy feature film "Overturn: Awakening of the Warrior" starring Ukrainian Vietnamese actor Ivan Doan On September 26, 2014,

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...

released his album ''Tomorrow's Modern Boxes'' as the first paid Bundle, priced at US$6.00. On October 3, 2014, it was announced that the project had been downloaded over 1 million times, which included the free single and video plus the paid downloads; sales numbers have not been released. On October 28, 2014, Alice in Chains released their music video for " Phantom Limb" via BitTorrent Bundle for free streaming and download. The bundle also included the video treatment and the shot list in

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

, as well as access to the band's merch.

BitTorrent DNA

BitTorrent, Inc. also offers BitTorrent DNA (Delivery Network Accelerator), a free content delivery service based on the BitTorrent protocol that allows content providers to distribute their content using the bandwidth of their users.

SoShare (beta)

On January 5, 2012, SoShare was released in alpha as "Share" within the μTorrent client, as a standalone desktop client and as a plug-in based web client. On February 15, 2013, the SoShare beta was launched and repositioned as a user-friendly web application that uses the BitTorrent protocol, designed for creative industry professionals to share high-res photos, files and videos using the app's email system or public links. From the official website, the service messages that registered users can send file bundles containing up to one terabyte of data per send, free.

BitTorrent News

Discontinued software

BitTorrent Live

First announced in September 2011 and was first publicly tested on October 14, 2011. BitTorrent premiered Live in public beta in March 2013. The platform was used to showcase live streaming events of musical acts and DJs. It was shut down in 2017. In March 2019 it was announced that BitTorrent Live is going to return in the form of Snapchat-like social media app for Android and iOS.

BitTorrent Bleep

BitTorrent Bleep is a multi-platform, peer-to-peer, serverless chat client available free on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. Bleep was never officially discontinued, but as of August 2017 the website no longer exists, the Windows application is no longer available to download from their website, or on the Google Play store, the Bleep Blog hasn't been updated since August 2015, and the Bleep forums no longer have any active moderators participating.

Project Maelstrom

On December 10, 2014, BitTorrent announced Project Maelstrom, a

Chromium Chromium is a chemical element with the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in group 6. It is a steely-grey, lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium metal is valued for its high corrosion resistance and hardne ...

-based browser project that enables

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

-resistant distributed Web publishing by utilizing the BitTorrent and DHT protocols. Initially, the project was run as a closed alpha, but was then opened as a public beta available for Windows only. Although no official discontinue notice has been announced as of February 2017, the BitTorrent Inc. website no longer provides the browser for download, the last build has not been updated past Chromium version 44, and the last post by the project lead staff was on September 14, 2015.

DLive

In late 2019, BitTorrent purchased DLive, which was created in 2017 as a

blockchain A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a ...

-based video game streaming platform with lax moderation and generous monetization plans. Around this time, DLive became popular with far-right extremists and conspiracy theorists who had been banned from other platforms. According to the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...

, "DLive has paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to extremists since its founding, largely through donations of cryptocurrency built into a service provided by the site." DLive was used by multiple creators to stream and coordinate the

2021 storming of the United States Capitol On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then-United States President, U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol, U ...

. Several of these streamers were subsequently banned by DLive.

Partners

According to the company's website, BitTorrent Inc. has announced partnerships with many companies, including, for venture capital, Accel Partners and DCM, technology partners ESA Flash Components, NTL:Telewest,

Opera Software Opera is a Norwegian multinational technology company and subsidiary of Kunlun that specializes in web browser development, fintech, as well as services such as Opera News and YoYo Games. The company's total user base, including users of its d ...

, and device partners Buffalo Technology,

D-Link D-Link Corporation is a Taiwanese multinational networking equipment manufacturing corporation headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. It was founded in March 1986 in Taipei as ''Datex Systems Inc.'' History D-Link Corporation changed its name fr ...

, I-O Data,

Marvell Semiconductors Marvell Technology, Inc. is an American company, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, which develops and produces semiconductors and related technology. Founded in 1995, the company had more than 6,000 employees as of 2021, with over 10,00 ...

, Netgear, Planex Communications Inc., and

QNAP Systems, Inc. QNAP Systems, Inc. () is a Taiwanese corporation that specializes in network-attached storage (NAS) Computer appliance, appliances used for file sharing, Storage virtualization, virtualization, storage management and surveillance applications. He ...

BitTorrent Inc. Launches the BitTorrent Entertainment Network
. Press release. BitTorrent Inc. February 26, 2007.

References

External links

* {{BitTorrent American companies established in 2004 Internet technology companies of the United States BitTorrent Companies based in San Francisco South of Market, San Francisco Technology companies established in 2004