Filesharing Report Shows Explosive Growth for uTorrent
Written by Ernesto on April 26, 2008New data on the ever changing P2P landscape shows that the number of uTorrent users worldwide has more than doubled compared to last year. The BitTorrent client is most popular in Europe - with an install rate of 11.6% - and least popular in the United States, where 5.1% of the PCs have uTorrent installed.
The data presented here are based on a sample of over a million PCs (Windows only), and were gathered by PC Pitstop.
A few months we already reported that uTorrent overtook Azureus’ position as the most installed BitTorrent application, and this trend continues. LimeWire’s popularity on the other hand is declining worldwide. Nonetheless, it is still by far the most installed filesharing application.
LimeWire going down, uTorrent on the rise
From December 2006 to December 2007 LimeWire lost approximately 25% of its user base. By the end of 2007, 17% of all PCs in the United States had LimeWire installed, compared to 23.3% last year. Similar drops occurred in Europe, Latin America, and the rest of the world. The most loyal LimeWire users come from Australia, where the install rate is 27%, only a slight decrease compared to the 30.4% in 2006.
The uTorrent user base on the other hand is rapidly growing. uTorrent installs more than doubled in nearly every part of the world in the last 12 months. The BitTorrent client is most popular in Europe (11.6%), as can be seen from the graph below.
As a result of uTorrent’s growth, other BitTorrent clients such as Azureus and BitComet are going downhill. Azureus and BitComet now have an average install rate of 1.4% and 1.7% respectively.
Regional Differences
The regional differences in popularity of p2p applications are also worth mentioning. The data show that uTorrent is far more popular in Europe (11.6%) than in the United States (5.1%). Limewire on the other hand is well-liked among Aussies (27.0%) and Canadians (27.2%), but has less followers in Latin America.
Emule is still very popular in Latin America, where 16% of the PCs have the application installed compared to only 1% in the United States and 3% in Europe.
Home vs. Business PCs
Unsurprisingly, P2P applications are more frequently installed on home computers versus PCs at the workplace. Nevertheless, almost one out of five PCs at work (18%) have at least one P2P application installed. For home computer this is little over 1 in three (36%)
P2P Market share 2008
We also compiled a pie chart of the market share of the different P2P applications as of January 1st 2008. Please note that the data is a bit skewed since most of the data comes from participants who were based in the United States. LimeWire is without a doubt the winner here.
Finally, we want to make it clear though that install rates do not equal usage. The fact that someone installed a P2P client does not mean that they actually use it.
Based on the amount of traffic that is generated by each P2P application, uTorrent would be the absolute winner.
Previously: Louis Vuitton Sues Darfur Fundraiser for Copyright Infringement
Next: Pivotal Canadian BitTorrent Showdown Looming
102 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
I’ve installed both LimeWire and uTorrent ^^
But eh… LimeWire is for the fourteen year old girl who heard a nice song on the radio or from a friend, and they have no idea that when they download they should not close LimeWire so they stop sharing.
On the other hand, uTorrent is for the real pirates who knows how to seed. So it’s only natural that uTorrent generates more traffic than LimeWire.
So I’m kinda a middle-thing between fourteen year old girl (even though I’m male) and a real pirate I guess.
No contest, utorrent wins. It’s like comparing apples and orangutans.
Limewire is over.
[quote comment="360578"]No contest, utorrent wins. It’s like comparing apples and orangutans.
Limewire is over.[/quote]
WIN
As #1 stated, Teens who know little or enough about the internet to get homework help, setup a myspace page and chat on msn/yim/aim will use Limewire as it’s a simple application.
uTorrent is for the person (late teens and upwards) who has discovered torrents and again, it’s a simple application, tiny and not a resource hog.
As the popularity of downloading whole albums, films and software increases as does the need for a decent torrent application. Which explains the stats for uTorrent.
@#2 hes right there are no comparisons because bittorrent is for sharing full albums and large files and limewire is for just single songs
Personally I almost only use uTorrent because everything I’ve needed so far has been on there. However, it happens that I want some rare pieces of music in a non-international language, like Swedish. That ain’t so easy to get seeders for on torrents, while much simpler to find on limewire. Basically, don’t limit yourselves for the sake of limiting, people!
i can’t believe people still use limewire.
well i can… it’s normally kids who install it to download 128kbps transcodes of radio shit, and to use as a “torrent client” to get stuff of TPB.
it’s a way into piracy though, they’ll soon get pissed off with the shit quality and install utorrent, but will probably leave limewire on their machine. this is probably why limewire has a big market share.
i mean i’ve still got emule on my machine, i only use it in emergencies, if there’s something that i can’t find on any torrent site or anything i’ll check out emule.
uTorrent FTW!
“The most loyal LimeWire users come from Australia, where the install rate is 27%”
How can you say this, when the graph right next to that text shows Canada at 27.2%…
I run Azureus still, why? Oh I dunno…I have the resources to spare it runs fine plus it has a trillion options and now that I have everything so precisely configured it runs perfect. But if I go somewhere for awhile with a powerful connection then I bring utorrent with.
[quote comment="360646"]“The most loyal LimeWire users come from Australia, where the install rate is 27%”
How can you say this, when the graph right next to that text shows Canada at 27.2%…[/quote]
The way I read it, they were referring to the fact that it maintained more of its userbase in Australia than Canada.
#7 Idem for me.
I’m using µtorrent on a daily basis and eMule for rare files.
I have been using utorrent (bitcomet before that ) some time now and wouldn’t trade it for anything. As for limewire, if I really need a song I’ll either use symella (limewire for symbian os) or use the power of the googles. I learned my lesson of having limewire installed on my computer; my dumbass roommate would download shit with it not knowing what it was. Apparently she doesn’t understand why a song can’t be 512kb. I prefer the full album anyway. If the band/artist makes an album for people to listen why not do as they ask and download the whole thing.
I mean, I don’t go to wal-mart and rip open a pack of (insert item here) and take the amount I need.
Ha ha !
True !
True : the chart is 27.2% for Canada !
i use utorrent cos theres no install, just the .exe , ive got some mates to use it aswell cos its just so simple!!!
im a total leecher tho so i dont use it to seed.
Australians do not havea s much bandwidth to spare as alot of other countries, and most of the filesharers are 14 year old girls :P
So they download their NUMBA ONE KEWL HITSS! off teh limegays.
Limewire is so full of fakes and malware its no good…..u torrent ftw
slsk for music
People, utorrent is owned by BitTorrent Inc… Remember??
And BitTorrent Inc is in bed with the MPAA. They also closed the utorrent source code.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the only client you should be using for PIRACY is one not owned by a company that works with an anti-piracy organization.
Your bit torrent client should be open and objective (or better yet, on our side)
Azureus. It doesn’t use as much memory as you’ve been led to believe.
oh lawl, here come the azureus fanboys.
[quote comment="360734"]People, utorrent is owned by BitTorrent Inc… Remember??
And BitTorrent Inc is in bed with the MPAA. They also closed the utorrent source code.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the only client you should be using for PIRACY is one not owned by a company that works with an anti-piracy organization.
Your bit torrent client should be open and objective (or better yet, on our side)
Azureus. It doesn’t use as much memory as you’ve been led to believe.[/quote]
It’s never been proven that uTorrent “calls home” to BitTorrent, Inc. or any of that. Even in the newest betas.
That’s all quite interesting and unexpected. I see there’s enormous potential for bittorrent expansion. What can u get with Limewire except a few top 10 singles and a load of trojan viruses? I know there’s a few other things, but I’m sure bittorrent has far more availability.
You CAN have both, so why not get uTorrent as well as I encourage all to do? Plus it’s very small and not a system hog. What the torrent world needs is more of everything, including seeders (sharers) and u can choose to continue sharing even after downloading, or not. It’s up to u and nobody monitors u or spies on u.
Nobody has been sued for using bit torrent or uTorrent have they? There’s nothing in uTorrent even remotely connected with DRM/copy protection/RIAA/MPAA etc. It’s developers have made sure of that and have not defected yet. If they did there’d be a BIG stink and nobody would update their software anymore. There’s a lot of clever programmers who always keep a close eye on it. It doesn’t rely on a Web site to work.
[quote comment="360653"]#7 Idem for me.
I’m using µtorrent on a daily basis and eMule for rare files.[/quote]
What kind of rare files? Music? Can u give examples?
#1: The “real pirates” wear tri-corner hats and say ARRRRR. You’re an elitist, friend. The idea here is to change the industry for EVERYONE!
#18: Since when was uTorrent ever open source? I recall this being a consideration to me when I switched to it LONG before it was bought by BitTorrent.
“A few months we already reported that uTorrent overtook Azureus’ position…”
Should be:
“A few months ago we already reported that uTorrent overtook Azureus’ position…”
BitSpirit is a real nice option.
Guess BitTorrent Inc. is getting their money worth.
the utorrent is excellent for managing a huge number of torrents. you can group and easily control them. it can’t be traded for any other.
The Pirate Bay should develop a bittorrent client. It could become easily the no.1 in the market.
Utorrent + Demonoid.com is all you need
Well I dunno, I use LimeWire for individual songs and BitTorrent for everything else. They are both different.
i also ban every version of uTorrent 1.70 and above. thank you az and stuffer. utorrent users can get bent.
Azureus is the best, Limewire is the worst like the iPod.
Good to see Australia up there as #1 or #2 in everything :D
SpeedWar:: Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing GameCreated by Naddiseo/SilentWarrior/Rolz14 Admins: Rolz14, Ash,CF,Fred_j Copyright 2005-2006 SpeedWar, All rights reserved.
http://www.speedwar.net
the “real pirates” aren’t using either of these
I’m not too familiar with BitTorrent Inc. All I know is that I cannot use uTorrent anymore (paranoid), because I’ve been caught twice by my cable provider for downloading a movie. One more strike and I’m out. It seems like the torrents are being monitored, but by who?
uTorrent is a closed source Windows-only client. In other words, it’s for lusers waiting to get fucked over.
Which is kind of inevitable, all you have to do is ask yourself the simple question: why does uTorrent exist? Why is so much time and effort being invested in a free but closed Windows only piece of p2p software?
[quote comment="360571"]
So I’m kinda a middle-thing between fourteen year old girl (even though I’m male) and a real pirate I guess.[/quote]
oh,gosh…a underaged-she-male pirate. that’s somehting new,..and it turned me so on…[touching myself]
lol !
[quote comment="360964"]
All you have to do is ask yourself the simple question: Where is my tinfoil beanie?[/quote]
On your pointy head, idiot.
Limewire was the one I initially fell in love with, but ultimately got married to utorrent.. :)
This blog has useful articles quite often, but I can say with confidence that this isn’t one of them.
Broad conclusions are made, despite the very limited subset: windows users, using PC Pitstop. Then, yo conclude “Based on the amount of traffic that is generated by each P2P application, uTorrent would be the absolute winner.” without any evidence, even faulty evidence. While I don’t doubt that uTorrent users probably cause more traffic, don’t pretend that your assumptions are worth anything.
P.S. Azureus is more likely to be used by advanced users looking for tweaks, who are unlikely to be running PC Pitstop (IMO)
P.P.S. Azureus is cross-platform, which will increase share more.
Azureus owns all u bitches.
Well, most private torrent sites recommend µtorrent, that could be a reason for its popularity. But then, its a small and fast little program which is also one of the reasons…
Small thing - You might want to re-do the graphs, they say “Austalia” instead of “Australia”
[quote comment="361011"]Azureus owns all u bitches.[/quote]
Damn Right!
#1: Couldn’t agree more, I’d push that to everyone, really. Before torrents , I was a gnutellafag. My 18 year old girlfriend was using limewire up until she moved in with me. I got her straight onto my overseas seeder box + all the music trackers.
Azureus fanboys are as bad as mac fanboys.
http://www.ubuntu.com/
I’m lovin’ it…….
Isn’t limewire being monitored?…
… but only idiots install programs that call home and gather information.
Right?
What does that say about the 11% of people in the U.K.
Fuck you torrentfreak.
What about Transmission? It is awesome.
Limewire is for 14yo girls looking for radio songs and utorrent is replacing limewire in popularity.
I think that says it all. lol!
utorrent ftl
wonder how ares stacks up? when i can get it to connect, which is hardly ever, it works well. has alot of rare songs on it. but can get slow sometimes.
It just goes to show Europe has a higher class of nub than ol’ Yankee Doodle land.
I can’t believe I am reading this an article on TorrentFreak, which I like because of interviewing people I know
from the scene. Moreover given 50% of the comments I feel like I am on the birthday party of the kindergarden’s
dummest kid.
Not only is the article done without care and a total lack of proof:
1. the graphs say “Austalia”.
2. “A few months we already reported that uTorrent overtook Azureus’ position…”
3. Based on the amount of traffic that is generated by each P2P application, uTorrent would be the absolute
winner.
but also the data, the way the data is presented and the conclusions are totally unscientific. I can only assume
the author Ernesto (ernesto@torrentfreak.com) is a big/paid fan of uTorrent and wants to spread his opinion.
Given alone the fact that he didn’t mention that uTorrent isn’t open source so nobody can check what is really
going on on your computer (no you can’t be rule out every security breach), is irresponsible. Plus the fact that
he didn’t mention who runs uTorrent nowadays (BitTorrent, Inc.) and their affiliations is totally naive!
In any respect the article reads like a bloody advertisement flyer. Especially people are tricked in liking this
article by putting the fight of David against Goliath (the tiny little just uTorrent against Big Fileshare Corp.
Limewire). It is the opposite. Limewire faught off the IP industry several times for the sake of their users,
uTorrent was bought by a company who basically is the IP industry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent%2C_Inc.).
Most people here dislike Limewire so they are tricked into believing and liking the article and its conclusions.
The comments here proof this given their arrogance (only stupid teens use Limewire - I am a *real* pirate, I use
uTorrent, harhar). No you are not clever or cool or a pirate by using uTorrent but there is a big chance that
you are the opposite of all those things!
Given what I said here I know for sure from people involved in the process that there is a big can of woop-ass
to be opened for uTorrent users this summer. From nearly exclusive useage for file sharing, I stepped down
myself using bitorrent completely over a month ago for good reasons. Perhaps I come back after summer - we will
see.
Anyway, this article should be taken down or at least a second article written asking the tough questions about
uTorrent, BitTorrent, Inc. (who by the way sugar-coat their own Wikipedia entry and keep negative voices out)
and their business model behind it.
As others have said, its not smart to rely on software to allegedly break a law with that is closed source and hence which you cannot trust.
I use azureus. Its not perfect, but ti has a linux client, and has a great many features unlike some others. Personally I’m really not happy about vuze and it going all ‘commercial’ tho.
Using Utorrent just doesn’t seem smart however; getting into bed with MPAA then getting dominant market share looks VERY VERY suspicious to me…
[quote comment="361277"]As others have said, its not smart to rely on software to allegedly break a law with that is closed source and hence which you cannot trust.
I use azureus. Its not perfect, but ti has a linux client, and has a great many features unlike some others. Personally I’m really not happy about vuze and it going all ‘commercial’ tho.
Using Utorrent just doesn’t seem smart however; getting into bed with MPAA then getting dominant market share looks VERY VERY suspicious to me…[/quote]
Have to agree really, I don’t believe BitTorrent is in a good place at the moment. Seems too many if its eggs are locked up in commercial ventures. Wanna guess where that’s gonna go?
Personally I’d like to see a nice clean and efficient open-source client come about, Emule-style. I’ve tried a few alternatives to uTorrent here though I’ve not been taken by any so far. Many seem sluggish, coded in Python, or Java, neither being known for speed and efficiency, are buggy, and lack features. I mean no disrespect to the people that took the time to create them though.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but even if utorrent is collecting information about what you’ve downloaded, they wouldn’t be able to do anything with it because it was obtained illegally.
“Real Pirates” Do not even use BT. I’ll just leave it at that.
[quote comment="360959"]I’m not too familiar with BitTorrent Inc. All I know is that I cannot use uTorrent anymore (paranoid), because I’ve been caught twice by my cable provider for downloading a movie. One more strike and I’m out.[/quote]
And yet you reward your cable provider for shitting all over you by continuing to subscribe.
Good work. People like you are the reason that ISPs can get away with bullying their own customers.
[quote comment="360959"]I’m not too familiar with BitTorrent Inc. All I know is that I cannot use uTorrent anymore (paranoid), because I’ve been caught twice by my cable provider for downloading a movie. One more strike and I’m out.[/quote]
It’s not the cable provider who ‘caught you’, it’s media company companies in the torrent swarms you participate in.
[quote comment="361418"]And yet you reward your cable provider for shitting all over you by continuing to subscribe.
Good work. People like you are the reason that ISPs can get away with bullying their own customers.[/quote]
The ISPs are obliged to respond and you know that.
I use utorrent because it is simple, fast and I get all that I need from it. I’m not worried about getting caught by anyone tbh since my country isn’t persecuting anyone who shares file.
I think people who are arguing over which client is better have limited intelligence. And people who argue that “THIS IS FOR TEH NOOBS, MY PROGRAM RULZ” are mentally challenged in some way.
Use whatever program you like, as long as it gets you what you want.
[quote comment="360571"]I’ve installed both LimeWire and uTorrent ^^
But eh… LimeWire is for the fourteen year old girl who heard a nice song on the radio or from a friend, and they have no idea that when they download they should not close LimeWire so they stop sharing.
On the other hand, uTorrent is for the real pirates who knows how to seed. So it’s only natural that uTorrent generates more traffic than LimeWire.
So I’m kinda a middle-thing between fourteen year old girl (even though I’m male) and a real pirate I guess.[/quote]
and their are people further up then us :(
[quote comment="360732"]Australians do not havea s much bandwidth to spare as alot of other countries, and most of the filesharers are 14 year old girls :P
So they download their NUMBA ONE KEWL HITSS! off teh limegays.
Limewire is so full of fakes and malware its no good…..u torrent ftw
slsk for music[/quote]
Your a drop kick..
that is all
I personally use Deluge, although unstable in some parts (fast resume, ratios, sometimes random crashes) because its still 0.5, it can withstand throttling much better than other clients out there (got 1.3 Mbps down on sandvined Comcast before, although it was a popular torrent, don’t expect wonders), and is lightweight, as is utorrent (did I mention its licensed under GPL and is not owned by BitTorrent Inc.)
Can’t wait until deluge finally is finished though, it’d [probably] be way better than utorrent.
Why is there no FioS option in my area??? Only 2 towns away and there is :( Hate how Comcast has [practically] a monopoly here where I am (like I’m going to use dial-up/slower things).
[quote comment="361110"]… but only idiots install programs that call home and gather information.
Right?
[/quote]
Well, only idiots live in a country that makes it legal to sue people for file sharing.
Moron
MPAA etc can use Azureus (or most other BT client for that matter) to pursue file-sharers, using the logs that they create. If you’re living in the US and are smart you should use some kind of IP filter (e.g. PeerGuardian), though even this doesn’t mean you are 100% safe. Still if you get sued it’s a bit like “losing” the lottery if you know what I mean ;-)
Like some have pointed out, Limewire (or eMule etc) are good for finding rarities - I like fairly obscure reggae tunes and it’s difficult to find live torrents for that kind of stuff, the P2P clients are better tbh.
Usenet is much faster and safer than other methods anyway as you only download and are therefore not making anything available. It requires a little more investment of time and money to set up but, if you’ve never tried it before, you’ll be amazed! It spanks BT for download speeds!
[quote comment="361676"]I personally use Deluge, although unstable in some parts[/quote]I tried Deluge but as you said it’s way too unstable! Under Ubuntu, my computer freezed or crashed many times because of it :-(
However, when Deluge will be stable I will definitely give it another try ;-)
the upward trend for utorrent will definitely continue as compared to limewire utorrent is very light on resources, and you definitely can do more with utorrent. torrents are some of the greatest things internet has to offer. limewire is great for downloading songs (not even whole albums) and maybe music videos. i haven’t been able to use it to download a movie, and i definitely don’t trust it enough to find me a virus-free program.
I have installed Utorrent, Limewire, Emule and Bearflix.
But only use emule rarely and Utorrent 24-7.
Undoubtly the best client ever.
BitTorrent and TV sets are alike, they’re both for dumbfucks. Freedom will always mean less security. If you’re a dumbfuck, by all means, stay away from Gnutella (LimeWire) and use the safer BitTorrent. If the dumbfucks, who are mostly leeching bitches anyway, disappear from Gnutella, the spam and malware will disappear, too. If the same dumbfucks stopped using e-mail, e-mail spam would like-wise vanish. Too bad human rights get in the way of the ultimate anti-spam solution, you goddamn dumbfucks.
This debate is only going on because y’all winfolks can’t use Transmission. Seriously the best client ever.
This is the thrid time recently I have read this flawed report, the real headiline should read [b]only those with problems on their machines or spyware had these applications installed[/b], thats the real headline that seems to have escaped Ernestos grasp.
A quick read of the reports metholodgy will confirm this.
If uTorrent is so much more popular than Azureus (which I use and much prefer), then why when I look at the clients used by the peers I am connected to, most of them are using Azureus?
Azureus has always worked for me but limewire isn’t even bittorent.
Strangely, the number of DHT nodes reported by uTorrent went down quite hard recently. I usually saw ~318 nodes and now it is just ~170. Is there something going on? My feeling tells me there might be coming after uTorrent users.
LimeWire has had support for BitTorrent for quite some time now. It certainly isn’t a great BitTorrent client but if you didn’t know that, you’ve been out-of-the-loop for quite some time and better STFU before someone notices your incompetence.
μTorrent is fast because it is written in C++, precompiled for Windows; Azureus is slow because it has to run in a JIT compiler, being compiled in real-time on the JVM.
Azureus would do well to write a “lightweight” version; I guarantee they could compete with μTorrent.
P.S. Just because you can use a torrent doesn’t make you leet… I bet you types are the same people who put windows and 20 lights in your computer and sign your forum posts with your gey computer specs lul lul lul
You forgot to add “on windows” to the end of just about every sentence. As you know more and more people are using Linux (especially ubuntu) and macs and combined probably equal 10 to 15% of p2p clients.
Ktorrent FTW!
The report should read “p2p client stats for windows using morons (is there another kind?) with spyware installed (do windows machines without spyware exist?).”
To all the utorrent fanyboys who think they are uberleet because they aren’t “14 yr old girls running limewire” just remember there’s a whole world of leetness you haven’t even heard of yet.
I use deluge and its has lots of features..intuitive,things r where it should be, a removable feature-set..and lots of counter-counter-measures capability..
I have transmission installed as default in my GNU/Linux distribution..
but deluge is the best and very low foot print..
I use “Free Download Manager” for torrents, and I find it faster than Utorrent or Azureus. Besides, it is able to accelerate http-ftp download. It is an all-in-one file trasfer application, and it is open-source.
Free Download Manager is the best for downloading it can resume also with mirrors and it also can download torrents that’s very good but I mostly use uTorrent for torrents
18 references to this post
Add your response