libtorrent was updated to support the new version on 6 September 2020. On, an update to the protocol specification was released by BitTorrent, called BitTorrent v2.

As of June 2020, the most recent version was implemented in 2017. Programmer Bram Cohen, a University at Buffalo alumnus, designed the protocol in April 2001, and released the first available version on 2 July 2001. BitTorrent trackers provide a list of files available for transfer and allow the client to find peer users, known as 'seeds', who may transfer the files. Popular clients include μTorrent, Xunlei Thunder, Transmission, qBittorrent, Vuze, Deluge, BitComet and Tixati. BitTorrent clients are available for a variety of computing platforms and operating systems, including an official client released by BitTorrent, Inc. A BitTorrent client is a computer program that implements the BitTorrent protocol. To send or receive files, a person uses a BitTorrent client on their Internet-connected computer.

Comparison of Internet Relay Chat clientsīitTorrent is a communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a decentralized manner.For other uses, see BitTorrent (disambiguation). This article is about the file sharing protocol.