Torrent - what is it?

Hear or read about torrents, it rarely becomes clear without an explanation of what that is. We clarify it.

What are torrents?

• Torrents are a specific type of file. Often torrents are very small files and just the download information for larger files.
• For example, if you download an illegal torrent for the movie "Titanic", this file is usually smaller than 1 MB. Now you need a software like BitTorrent or uTorrent.
• The software reads the information from the torrent file and starts the download from Titanic, which is approximately 1 GB in size. This could take a while.
• Torrents not only download the file, you also upload data from your computer at the same time. This relieves the strain on the servers and their providers and helps everyone.
• Unfortunately, there is one major disadvantage of torrents: since you not only download files but also upload and share them at the same time, you are making yourself punishable. Torrent networks are relatively well monitored in Germany, so we expressly advise against downloading a torrent.

In the next practical tip we will show you how to hide your IP address at BitTorrent.