If you have been using the internet now for a while, you have heard something called torrent and magnet links here and there. Maybe your acquaintances have asked you to download files from torrents, asked to use magnet links, and more
I have been using torrents and magnet links for more than six years. As being a long-time torrent user, I understand your pain points.
How are the torrents and magnet links different?
Keep reading, and don’t miss any part as I will elaborate on all the terms related to torrents and magnet links.
What is a Torrent?
Everyone is connected through a peer-to-peer connection. To share or get any file from any hosting PC, one needs a torrent link containing the file location.
Whenever you download any torrent file (the files have an extension saying .torrent), you download the pieces of that file with your torrent client. The client joins the pieces and turns them into one single file.
So actually, when you download any torrent file, you are downloading the information about the file. This is why torrent files are tiny in size. As it contains only the information of the file, it also has hashes to locate the file.
What is Magnet Link?
Shortly, sites will feature magnet links rather than torrent files. You may have heard about magnet links before. But possibly you have not used it until now.
Consider a torrent file. What does it contain? An URL with the valid source of the tracker, name of the file, hashcodes from the file, and more. Hashcode is a unique thing for torrent files. Your torrent files carry hashcodes, which your torrent client calculates.
These calculated hashcodes are like another catalog number of ISBN that is unique from every aspect. Codes are so different that it changes from one IP to another. That means if you and your friend are downloading a torrent from the same site, the generated hashcodes will be different and unique for both of you.
Hashcodes can be compared as fingerprints. Everyone has a unique fingerprint. And the torrents have unique hashcodes.
Now here is where the magnet links come in. Magnet links work as a middleman, containing the hash values as a hyperlink that torrent clients can use directly to start downloading.
Magnet links work on DHT technology. DHT drops the central connection to the BitTorrent and finds the users who are downloading the same file at that moment. Although DHT is not a new technology introduced in 2005, it is getting popular nowadays as many torrent sites take advantage of it.
What is BitTorrent?
BitTorrent is a technology or communication protocol that enables users to access files from one system to another connecting via a peer-to-peer connection. This is a decentralised method to share and distribute files over the internet. In simple words, BitTorrent is the most popular torrent client, which can download torrents and magnets too.
Differences between Torrent Files and Magnet Links
It is evident that torrent files and magnet links are used to make it easy to access the files for the users. There are several benefits and causes to use both of them in various situations.
Torrent Files
As the name suggests, torrents are the files that contain information about the downloadable file. Before establishing a peer-to-peer connection between two systems, the torrent client needs to proceed with the torrent having it all.
Magnet Links
Magnet links are connected with torrent files. Magnets collect metadata and other information and combine them into a single link that acts as a hyperlink to the torrent file. Magnet link does not require any kind of additional file downloads, unlike torrent.
Let’s have a look over the table comparing torrent and magnets:
| Torrent Files | Magnet Links |
|---|---|
| ● Torrents make it easy to access files from decentralised systems. ● As it is decentralised, it makes the process much tricky to trace the file location. ● Files are downloaded into parts to increase the download speed. ● Torrent has lower failure rates in downloading. | ● Magnet links take less time than torrents to download. ● The user does not need to download any extra file to initiate download with the torrent client. ● Magnet links act as a hyperlink. You click on them once, and it simply takes you to the torrent client instantly. ● This new technology is being implemented in heavily popular torrent sites to increase download and upload speeds and make it easier and user-friendly to access the file through torrent sites. |
So torrent becomes an easy choice and reliable solution to download files with torrents as it comes from another computer like yours without leaving any traces in any centralised servers.
As the magnet is a new technology, every torrent site is trying to upgrade their file sharing and other facilities to make their sites easier to use, more accessible, more user-friendly, and obviously, less time to download & upload files with ease.
Piracy on Torrents: The Truth
The term piracy refers to legal access to something that you are now distributing unauthorized copies of that thing. You are maybe selling that thing violating copyrights and other laws in a grey market at a significantly lower price that simply does not justify the hard work of that thing.
As the whole torrents system works and relies on decentralized methods, it is assumed that piracy occurs very often at a large scale. This is not deniable truly. But it is not the truth that torrents are used only for piracy. There are several other various and different reasons behind the usage of torrents.
Torrent has legitimate usage, and it does well for the centralized servers releasing some loads from them to work correctly. But torrent is also frequently used for sharing copyright-protected files with the help of a P2P connection. Sharing the contents protected by copyright on torrents is illegal, although it is happening more and more often nowadays.
FAQ
Is magnet streaming safe?
Yes, downloading torrent files and using magnet links are entirely safe as long as you visit reputed, reliable, and trusted public and private torrent sites. But you have to be sure that the file you are downloading is not infected with malware.
Do I need a VPN for magnet?
No, using magnet links for torrents, you won’t need any kind of VPN until and unless there are any restrictions to visit specific torrent sites. If the site is not allowed in your country, you can visit it using a VPN connection.
Can you go to jail for Torrenting?
As long as you don’t share anything protected by copyright over the torrents, you won’t be going behind bars. Torrenting is illegal in some countries to implement copyright laws more effectively.
Will VPN protect me while Torrenting?
Using a VPN connection while torrenting is a sensible choice. VPN creates a virtual private tunnel that encrypts all the data passing through. VPN ensures that no one can keep an eye on what you are doing at that moment.
Conclusion
Torrents and magnet links are made for each other to make our life easier while sharing files on the internet. I hope this article helped you to eradicate all the confusions you had with torrents and magnet links.
Leave a comment below if you have any questions to ask.
