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posted by martyb on Saturday July 11 2020, @01:35PM   Printer-friendly

Libtorrent Adds WebTorrent Support, Expanding the Reach of Browser Torrenting

Libtorrent has bridged the gap between WebTorrent and traditional torrent clients. The open-source BitTorrent library, used by clients including Deluge, qBittorrent, and Tribler, will help to widely expand the reach of browser-based WebTorrent tools and services.

[...] Over the past few years, several tools and services have been built on WebTorrent's technology. These include Instant.io, βTorrent, as well as the popular Brave browser, which comes with a built-in torrent client based on WebTorrent. These apps and services all work as advertised. However, WebTorrent-based implementations typically come with a major drawback. Since communication between WebTorrent peers relies on WebRTC, it can't share files with standard torrent clients by default.

This rift between WebTorrent and traditional torrent clients is now starting to close. Libtorrent has just created a bridge between the two 'worlds' by implementing official WebTorrent support.

[...] Right now, WebTorrent and traditional torrent clients can't talk to each other. However, the libtorrent peers will soon act as a hybrid, bridging the gap between these two ecosystems.

WebTorrent support #4123

Previously: WebTorrent, a BitTorrent Client Running Within the Web Browser


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WebTorrent, a BitTorrent Client Running Within the Web Browser 16 comments

TorrentFreak reports on WebTorrent, a project using BitTorrent and WebRTC to transport files:

WebTorrent is a project launched by Feross Aboukhadijeh, a Stanford University graduate who has already booked quite a few successes in his career. After graduating he founded PeerCDN, a P2P-assisted content delivery network, which was sold to Yahoo at the end of 2013. Feross then focused on WebTorrent, convinced that it could revolutionize how the web works today.

"I felt that the idea of 'people-powered websites' – websites that are hosted by the visitors who use them – was too revolutionary to keep locked up as proprietary software, and I wanted to do more to push the idea forward," he tells TF. "Imagine a video site like YouTube, where visitors help to host the site's content. The more people that use a WebTorrent-powered website, the faster and more resilient it becomes."

[...] "WebTorrent is the first torrent client built for the web. It's written completely in JavaScript – the language of the web – and uses WebRTC for true peer-to-peer transport. No browser plugin, extension, or installation is required," Feross tells TF.

Over the past two years WebTorrent has matured into a project that's slowly starting to win over several major tech companies. Netflix, for example, contacted Feross to discuss his technology which they may use to stream their videos. A few months ago Netflix specifically mentioned WebTorrent in a job application, which shows that the video giant is serious about P2P-assisted delivery.

[More After the Break]

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2020, @01:45PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2020, @01:45PM (#1019491)

    ... They just don't seem to have the imagination to do anything more than download torrents in the browser. Why not HTTP-over-BitTorrent? A web browser that opportunistically uses bt protocol for loading static content would be a hell of a lot cooler than downloading torrents in a browser.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by RamiK on Saturday July 11 2020, @02:31PM (4 children)

      by RamiK (1813) on Saturday July 11 2020, @02:31PM (#1019517)
      --
      compiling...
      • (Score: 2) by leon_the_cat on Saturday July 11 2020, @05:23PM (2 children)

        by leon_the_cat (10052) on Saturday July 11 2020, @05:23PM (#1019604) Journal

        Never heard of it but the reply was pretty predictable.

        • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday July 11 2020, @07:44PM

          by fustakrakich (6150) on Saturday July 11 2020, @07:44PM (#1019640) Journal

          You're not opposed to the idea, are you?

          --
          La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 13 2020, @10:02PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 13 2020, @10:02PM (#1020758)

          found the windows user.

      • (Score: 1) by Pseudoanonymous Coward on Sunday July 12 2020, @02:19AM

        by Pseudoanonymous Coward (10234) on Sunday July 12 2020, @02:19AM (#1019704)

        or Zeronet

        --
        -- A Whale and a Bowl of Petunias jump out of a plane, who hits the ground first? --
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2020, @08:55PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2020, @08:55PM (#1019657)

      Peertube uses webtorrent, that's at least a bit more than just downloading torrents in the browser.

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