High Speed Ports For Bittorrent
How To Make Your Torrent Download Speed 300% Faster?
Is your torrent download speed slow and you want to speed it up? Here, we have written a comprehensive guide that covers different aspects of torrent downloading.
Using torrent clients is one of the most popular ways to share files over the web. There are many popular torrent sites to do the job. While there are just minimal basic settings needed to run these clients, there are some tweaks for more advanced users. Before you proceed with our guide on increasing torrent download speed. Learn more about how torrents work and are these illegal here!
How to make BitTorrent download faster in simple steps?
To increase the torrent download speed, you can always find plenty of good ways online. In this article, we are trying to provide you all those methods and tips at a single place. Take a look:
1. Install a Lightweight Torrent Client
To increase the torrent downloading speed, the very first step you need to follow is to install a lightweight torrent client. Although BitTorrent is one of the most popular torrent clients around, it comes with lots of bloated apps and other features. So, I prefer uTorrent most for hassle-free and faster torrent downloading. You can also install qBittorrent since it’s another lightweight torrent client.
The reason for using a lightweight torrent client is that it only focuses on downloading torrents and speeds up the transfer rate. utorrent and qBittorrent are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
You can also refer our list of best torrent clients for Mac, Windows, and Android.
2. Choose a Healthy Torrent
For choosing a healthy torrent, first, you need to understand the concept of seeder and leecher. These two terms always confuse the new torrent enthusiast, so, here I will try to clear your doubts in simple language.
A seeder is one who has the complete copy of the file shared across the network which you intend to download. However, a leecher is one who does not have the complete copy of file and has joined the network to download the file. Once a leecher downloads the file completely, he/she will become a seeder.
For a high torrent download speed, the number of seeders should be higher than the number of leechers. The more is the number of seeders, the healthier your torrent will be. So, while choosing a torrent, make sure that the seeder-leecher ratio is high.
Also Read: What Are Torrents? How Torrent Works? — BitTorrenting 101
3. Add an Exception to Windows Firewall
Windows Firewall can block your torrent client or you can say your incoming BitTorrent connections. So, adding an exception to the Windows firewall will be a good option to boost torrent downloading speed. First, navigate to Options> Preferences> Connections, now check the Add Windows Firewall exception box and then click Apply.
(Check Enable UPnP port mapping in case it’s unchecked).
Warning: Do not shut down Windows Firewall permanently as it leaves your PC open to attack.
4. Change General Settings to Optimize uTorrent
To increase the speed of your torrent, make sure you have the best uTorrent settings configured on your machine. All the three options that are shown in the figure below should be checked.
To find these options, navigate to Options> Preferences> General then check Append.! ud to incomplete files and Pre-allocate all files. Usually, the third option is already checked but if it’s not, check that too.
5. Limit Your Global Upload and Download Rate
You can also speed up your torrent downloading on clients like qBitTorrent, BitTorrent, uTorrent, etc., by limiting the upload and download rate. But first, you should understand the fact that torrents breathe the uploading done by users.
So, turning it completely off, or setting it as 1kB/s, would not be a wise option. But, at the same time, you don’t want your upload rate to set it as the maximum (‘0’ stands for unlimited) as it can choke down your own connection.
Setting upload rate to about 70-80% of your maximum upload speed would be a great option to speed up torrenting. Whereas, you can keep the download rate 0, as it is considered as maximum. To configure these options navigate to Proprties> Bandwidth, then set the Global Upload Rate Limit as 80% your max upload.
Also Read: How To Use uTorrent Web To Download And Stream Torrents In Your Browser?
6. Change the Number of Connections
Once you’ve set the upload/download rate, you can now change the number of connections to avoid any overload. Although, if you do hit and trial with the settings you might get a better result. But, for those who aren’t very much sure, I can suggest you some rough numbers which might increase torrent downloading speed.
Navigate to properties> Bandwidth, then set Global maximum number of connections to 150 and the maximum number of connected peer per torrent to 100. Leave the upload slot as it is.
7. Add More Trackers
Trackers are a good way to optimize the torrent download speed. Adding new and faster trackers to your existing torrents can increase the download speed by adding new seeds and peers to your connection.
The method of adding trackers to your torrent is not so complicated as you only have to add these links to your existing trackers. While pasting the new tracker, make sure that you are not erasing the existing ones (and do not worry about duplication).
To add new trackers, first right click on the torrent you are downloading and then select Properties. Under the General tab, you will find the trackers list. Scroll to the bottom and paste trackers from the list given below.
Here is the list of trackers:
udp
In case you want more trackers, here is the complete torrent tracker list.
8. Pick the best port for torrenting
As you might know, the BitTorrent protocol depends on the TCP protocol for transferring data over the internet. The recommended and possibly the best TCP port for torrenting is between 6881-6889. So, if you’re still wondering how to make torrent downloads faster, you can try configuring the same on your computer.
Did you find the article on how to increase torrent download speed useful? Or, do you know any other methods to speed up the torrent downloading? Let us know in comments below.
Also Read: 10 Best Websites For Legal Torrents And Safe Download | 2019 Edition
BitTorrent – The Wireshark Wiki
BitTorrent is a protocol designed for transferring files. It is peer-to-peer in nature, as users connect to each other directly to send and receive portions of the file. However, there is a central server (called a tracker) which coordinates the action of all such peers. The tracker only manages connections, it does not have any knowledge of the contents of the files being distributed, and therefore a large number of users can be supported with relatively limited tracker bandwidth. A recent extension to BitTorrent is the DHT (“distributed sloppy hash table” or simply called UDP tracker) protocol. A UDP based peer to peer tracker protocol. And the uTorrent imports another UDP based Micro Transport Protocol, called uTP. History
In April 2001 Bram Cohen designed the BitTorrent protocol, which he implemented summer 2002. The first program to use the protocol was the original BitTorrent client. Today many applications are availiable, and the protocol is widely used. Protocol dependencies
TCP: Typically, BitTorrent uses TCP as its transport protocol. The well known TCP port for BitTorrent traffic is 6881-6889 (and 6969 for the tracker port). The DHT extension (peer2peer tracker) uses various UDP ports negotiated by the peers. Example traffic
XXX – Add example traffic here (as plain text or Wireshark screenshot). Wireshark
The BitTorrent dissector is (fully functional, partially functional, not existing,… whatever the current state is). The DHT extension has been supported since r39653. The uTP extension has been supported since r36716. Preference Settings
Reassemble BitTorrent messages spanning multiple TCP segments Decode the peer_id of the handshake messages Example capture files
SampleCaptures/ (Microsoft Network Monitor) Here’s a capture with a few BitTorrent packets; it contains some small packets I got whilst downloading something on BitTorrent. SampleCaptures/ (libpcap) Capture file of two torrent clients communicationg without DHT or peer exch. Display Filter
A complete list of BitTorrent display filter fields can be found in the display filter reference Show only the BitTorrent based traffic: bittorrentNote: implemented in Wireshark post 0. 10. 12! Capture Filter
You cannot directly filter BitTorrent protocols while capturing. However, if you know the TCP port used (see above), you can filter on that one. Capture only the BitTorrent tracker traffic over one of the default ports (e. g. 6881): tcp port 6881Capture the BitTorrent tracker traffic over the range of default ports (e. 6881-6889): tcp portrange 6881-6889when using libpcap 0. 9. 1 or later or WinPcap 3. 1 or later; that expression won’t work with older versions of libpcap or WinPcap, so, on Windows, upgrade to WinPcap 3. 1 or later and, on UN*X, upgrade to libpcap 0. x if possible and, if not possible and you have a version of libpcap prior to 0. 8. 1, use (tcp[0:2] >= 6881 and tcp[0:2] <= 6889) or (tcp[2:2] >= 6881 and tcp[2:2] <= 6889)(a bug in the libpcap optimizer in libpcap 0. x means this won't work with libpcap 0. x, although you might be able to use tcpdump with the "-O" flag). External links
the official BitTorrent page Wikipedia Bittorrent page How BitTorrent Works about P2P in general, BitTorrent and firewall settings DHT Protocol (BEP 5), the UDP-based BitTorrent extension for distributed trackers (the UDP port number is negotiated). Also: link to draft DHT protocol (dead link), Web Archive Copy (2007-12-21) of draft DHT protocol. Hippie protocol signature description the TCP and UDP protocol signatures which might be used to heuristically identify the BitTorrent protocol Web Archive Link More on BitTorrent
10 Ways to Speed Up Torrent Downloads – MakeUseOf
Imagine being on the autobahn with the accelerator down and then you realize that you are driving a wrecked car. The plight is not so uncommon on the information superhighway too.
Torrent users would attest to the fact that half of our time is spent looking for ‘healthy’ torrents and the other half trying to download (and a bit of upload too) at the maximum speed. The former is mandatory; the latter thankfully is within the realm of tweaking.
If you are the one who thinks that your torrent download speeds could do with a boost then keep reading. Below, you’ll find a few tips on how to speed up torrent download speed. And if you’re new to Torrenting, don’t forget to check out the official MUO Torrent guide and apps to convert info hashes to magnet links.
Note: MakeUseOf doesn’t condone the illegal use of torrents. Using torrents for illegal purposes is done entirely at your own risk. We assume no responsibility for any legal issues you may encounter.
Your ISP is where it starts
Check the maximum download and upload speeds allowed by your ISP. Most ISP’s have specific bandwidths for both uploads and downloads. Obviously your torrent download speed won’t cross the cap set by the ISP. Go over to for broadband speed test and this article by Tina on ways to increase your connection speed. There are many other bandwidth testers like DSLReports which is included in the speed test within uTorrent.
Choosing the right BitTorrent client
Use the better clients out there like uTorrent, Vuze or the BitTorrent client itself. Wikipedia lists about 51 of them supporting the BitTorrent protocol. The choice of client used should always be updated to the latest version. The screenshots here depict uTorrent. The settings should be similarly configurable for other clients too. Mac users shuld also check our Transmission vs. uTorrent post
Go for healthy seeds and peers
A peer is any computer participating in the download and upload of a torrent file. A seed (or seeder) is anyone who has one complete copy of the file being shared across the torrent network. A leech (or a leecher) is the person who does not have the complete file yet but has joined the network to download it. A leecher becomes a seeder when he downloads the entire file and then shares it across the network.
For high torrent speeds, the best bet is in numbers. The greater the number of seeders, the healthier the torrent and the better the chance of higher speeds. The rule of thumb says to choose the torrent files with a high number of seeders and preferably lesser number of leechers i. e. a higher seed-leecher ratio.
Get through the firewall
Firewalls can block all incoming BitTorrent connections coming through. To ensure otherwise, a firewall should be manually configured to accept the connections and let it through the client. Windows XP has the Windows Firewall. Configure the firewall installed to accept the connections by checking the BitTorrent client on the allowed list i. Options – Preferences – Connection – check Add uTorrent to Windows Firewall. Also, check the Windows Firewall exception (if you keep it enabled) in your client too. Shutting down the firewall is not recommended as it leaves the computer open to attack.
Note: If the home computer is behind a router, it also should be configured through the feature called Port Range Forwarding to enable torrent traffic. The router documentation should have specific information on this.
Limit your upload rate
A peer to peer network is all about sharing alike, but an unlimited upload rate hits the download rate too. Using the speed tests, find out your maximum upload speed and then set your client’s upload rate (Global Upload Rate in uTorrent) to about 80% of your maximum upload speed. You can also try varying your upload speeds – keep it high initially and then gradually bring it down towards the middle of the download.
Note: Mind the speed units – it may be given in kilobits per second (kb/sec) or kilobytes per second (kB/sec). 1 kilobyte = 8 kilobit
Go to a different port
The default port for the BitTorrent protocol is any between port numbers 6881-6999. ISPs throttle traffic on these ports as BitTorrent sharing involves high bandwidth usage. It’s easy to configure a different port in your torrent client. Use some number above 10000 to get around ISPs and also avoid problems with other applications. By default, the uTorrent port is randomized each time it starts. Set a specific port by not enabling the Randomize Port setting.
Increase the number of Max Half Open TCP connections
This figure specifies how many connections a torrent client should attempt to establish simultaneously at any given time. Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or newer, limits this to a default of 10 as a barrier against virus multiplication. But that’s a bummer for torrent speeds as torrents too need a large number of simultaneous connections.
A patch has been available for a while from LvlLord which modifies the file in Windows to allow a higher number of TCP connections.
After running the patch, you have to set the number of connections in your torrent client. For example, in uTorrent go to Options – Preferences – Advanced – x_halfopen. Set any number from 50 to 100. But see that x_halfopen is set lower than the value set in Always check if it is still patched because Windows updates sometimes overwrite it.
Experiment with Protocol Encryption
Some ISPs love to act like Big Brothers and constrict bandwidth for P2P protocols. Protocol Encryption in most of the torrent clients helps to override this bandwidth shaping. Enable outgoing protocol encryption and put a checkmark on Allow Incoming Legacy Connections.
With protocol encryption, ISPs find it difficult if not impossible to detect that the traffic is coming from BitTorrent. Experiment with enabled, disabled and forced options because you could be getting better speeds with encryption disabled. Non-encryption makes a torrent connection compatible with someone who is not using encryption but as a minus it makes the torrent detectable to an ISP with a bandwidth restricting policy.
Bandwidth and connections
Your BitTorrent client’s settings options will let you enter figures for ““
Global maximum number of connections gives the maximum number of connections that a BitTorrent client can make for any P2P exchange. Setting this too high does NOT mean higher speeds. Setting it too high would take up useless bandwidth and too low a figure would miss out on peers. For my 256kbps connection, I have a setting of 130.
Maximum number of connected peers per torrent gives the maximum number of peers that a BitTorrent client can connect to for any P2P exchange. Experiment by setting this number close to the available peers for a particular torrent. For my 256kbps connection, I have a default setting of 70.
Number of upload slots per torrent gives the maximum number of peers that a BitTorrent client will upload to for any P2P exchange. A low setting may affect downloads. For my 256kbps connection, I have a setting of 3.
uTorrent has a Speed Guide which handily calculates the figures for a particular connection.
Some common sense
Most BitTorrent clients allow us to view the individual files in a download. You can selectively disable the download of files you don’t think necessary.
Familiarize yourself with the customization settings of your particular client available in the Help files or at the website FAQs.
Some useful resources:
BitTorrent User Guide
uTorrent FAQ
Vuze FAQ
Optimizing the speed of torrent downloads is a lot of trial & error and a bit of patience. If your Torrent connection isn’t working at all, you may want to look into some ways you can bypass Torrent connection blocking. And if you’re on the lookout for torrent sources, try these free torrent sites.
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About The Author
Saikat Basu
(1534 Articles Published)
Saikat Basu is the Deputy Editor for Internet, Windows, and Productivity. After removing the grime of an MBA and a ten year long marketing career, he is now passionate about helping others improve their storytelling skills. He looks out for the missing Oxford comma and hates bad screenshots. But Photography, Photoshop, and Productivity ideas soothe his soul.
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Frequently Asked Questions about high speed ports for bittorrent
Which port is best for BitTorrent?
TCP: Typically, BitTorrent uses TCP as its transport protocol. The well known TCP port for BitTorrent traffic is 6881-6889 (and 6969 for the tracker port).Mar 18, 2019
How can I increase my BitTorrent download speed?
10 Ways to Speed Up Torrent DownloadsChoosing the right BitTorrent client. … Go for healthy seeds and peers. … Get through the firewall. … Limit your upload rate. … Go to a different port. … Increase the number of Max Half Open TCP connections. … Experiment with Protocol Encryption. … Bandwidth and connections.More items…•Feb 20, 2009
Which is the fastest port for utorrent?
It is best to use a port number above 10000. I use 45682. 2. Randomize port each time utorrent starts: UNCHECKED.
