Torrent File

In short: A torrent file (.torrent) contains the information a client needs to download a file via BitTorrent.

In more detail: It contains no content itself but metadata.

In Depth

Contents

• Name and size of the files.
• Piece size and checksums (SHA-1, SHA-256 in version 2) of each piece so damaged parts are detected (hashing).
• Address of the tracker.

Magnet links

A magnet link contains only the info hash; the client fetches the metadata from other peers. See torrent.

See also: Torrent, Hashing, Torrent Sites