What does leechers mean when downloading

So, the more the number of seeders is the greater is the downloading speed for the ones using the link for downloading. Seeding is a peer-to-peer file sharing practice and is also referred to as P2P for convenience. To become a seeder one must have all the data, be it big or small, available in their system in downloaded files.

If more peers are sharing the same content, they are called a swarm. A seed is encouraged in practice whereas leeching is not. Though P2P is legal and is done over a large network, there is no one overlooking the process.

Since seeding is a part of this process, there can also be chances of illegal files being transferred. This can lead to legal issues. In computing, leeching means feeding off others or the ones who benefit from others work and do not return anything. They are the ones who use uploaded links for downloading the torrent files.

The ones who leave the link after downloading become seeders. The ratio between leechers to seeders s told be kept because this would maintain the download and upload speed of the files. More leechers would lead to lower downloading speed as the uploading speed increases.

Some leechers take down the torrent link or change the link in such a way that uploading of files is not possible. Files are downloaded in pieces. When a user downloads some pieces, he then automatically starts uploading it.

A file will be downloaded faster if more people are involved in the swarm. A user who wants to upload a file first creates a small torrent descriptor file that they distribute by conventional means web, email, etc. They then make the file itself available through a BitTorrent node acting as a seed. When a file is completely downloaded by a peer, it becomes an additional seed. Source: Wikipedia. Technology News Security news Gadgets Guide.

Sign in. View Full Term. By clicking sign up, you agree to receive emails from Techopedia and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. By: Justin Stoltzfus Contributor, Reviewer. By: Satish Balakrishnan. Dictionary Dictionary Term of the Day. Natural Language Processing.

Techopedia Terms. Connect with us. Sign up. Term of the Day. Best of Techopedia weekly.