Swarm

What Is a Swarm?

A swarm is a group of peers actively sharing a torrent. It is possible for a single torrent to have multiple swarms. In some cases, peers may create their own swarm. However, if you are sharing a file yourself, it is referred to as “seeding.”

In the context of BitTorrent, a peer is an end-user or client who uses the BitTorrent protocol on their computer to download and upload torrents. Peers exchange torrent information with each other over the internet, enabling file sharing via BitTorrent.

BitTorrent is a decentralized file-sharing protocol, also known as a P2P (peer-to-peer) protocol. It operates based on the end-to-end principle, meaning there is no central point of failure or control. Unlike traditional systems, there is no server, website, or centralized service that clients communicate with. Instead, they can only communicate with each other.

Within the BitTorrent protocol, only one swarm can share a file at a time. You can think of a swarm as a conference call, where all participants engage in the same conversation. However, in this case, the conversation revolves around the specific file being shared.