Speed up your torrents
Written by Ernesto on November 30, 2005Help! BitTorrent is slow… This is probably one of the most frequently asked questions I get about BitTorrent. Unfortunately there’s not some kind of magic trick that makes your torrents go through the roof. But you could take some simple steps to optimize your speeds.
1. Cap your upload (most important)
Limit your upload speed to approximately 80 percent of your maximum upload rate. You can check your upload speed over here (never trust your isp). Once you know your maximum upload speed, change the max upload (to 80%) speed in your torrent client’s preferences.
Don’t get me wrong, everyone should share as much as possible, but if your upload rate reached it’s max, your download rate suffers significantly.
2. Hack the max TCP connections
If you’re on XP sp2, your TCP connections are limited to a maximum of 10. This seriously hurts your downloading speed because it wont let you connect to a high amount of ip numbers. It is supposed to slow down viruses because their spreading strategy is to connect to a high amount of ip numbers, but it also cripples your torrent downloads.
A nice way to fix this is to download this patch, it allows you to set the maximum allowed connections to any number you want. Any number between 50 and 100 is ok (more on this).
3. Check seeds and peers
A simple tip, but o so important. Always look for torrents with the best seed/peer ratio. The more seeds (compared to peers) the better (in general). So 50 seeds and 50 peers is better than 500 seeds and 1000 peers. So, be selective.
4. Change the default port.
By default, BitTorrent uses a port 6881-6999. BitTorrent accounts for a lot of the total internet traffic (1/3), so isp’s like to limit the connection offered on the these ports. So, you should change these to another range. Good clients allow you to do this, just choose anything you like. If you’re behind a router, make sure you have the ports forwarded or UPnP enabled.
5. Disable Windows Firewall
It sucks. Windows Firewall hates P2P and often leads a life of it’s own. So disable it and get yourself a decent firewall, Kerio or Zone Alarm for example.
Last but not least… Buy a faster connection…
Read more on optimizing your BitTorrent Speed.
Here’s a list of 20 BitTorrent tips and tricks.
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248 Responses
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my bitorrent speeds are faster than firefox download manager for some reason my firfox downloading is slow like 100kb/s and torrent speed some times reah 1mb/s then stays at 600kb/s
Ok before you guys freak out over how the speeds are being killed just remember that running the patch again can restore your old settings. Read the instructions for once in a while.
I came across a useful little program today which increased my download rate from 40kb/s to 80kb/s. Try is out, not sure how it works, if anyone could tell me then thanks :)
http://shareme.com/details/bittorrent-speedup-pro.html
Hello there,
I really appreciate all your tips but it seems that whatever happens i will still have very low download speeds in U Torrent :(
- I’m using U Torrent 1.7.7
- I’ve foreworded the port which is 45682 successfully
i have a 1 Mbit connection
- I’m using Windows XP SP2 ( i’ve removed the XP Download-speed limit as i installed the patch that you gaev to us )
-I’ve enabled the Encrypting thing as well
-I’m downloading files with thousands of seeders and leechers
but i still get the maximum speed of around 15 KB/S which is unfair
any suggestions ?
Thanx alot in advanced
-Hammoda-
dont forget to check out http://metorrents.com
torrent freak hi
i am usuing utorrentand i did all the steps you said but nothing happend my speed still remained 0 kbps please will you post or send me a mail in nishranth_saravanan@yahoo.com sending all the tricks
I followed this guide years ago and saw absolutely no difference. I found out that was because I was with Tiscali Broadband (UK) who are AWFUL with capping traffic.
I’ve recently moved to sky after re-installing windows xp mce sp2 (moved back from vista) and noticed some really nice speeds, due to now no capping and a faster internet connection. I had forgotten about the connection limit in XP, so I installed that patch again and my speeds have quadrupled. Thank you!
Got lots of infos
Thanx….
To 231-NIshranth:
U must start downloading something if u want to go above 0Kb/sec ;p
Very simple way to spee up torrents.
SEED
If everyone seded there downloads, even just for a day after ccompletion then everyone speeds would increase. Some progams actually limit your DL speed if your share rate i not high enough. EEmporium.com checks and limits you to seed only until you share enough to be fair. Good idea
Hey way about windows vista TCP?? should i change it so it has like alot say around 2000 connections?
I’m disappointed that Lifehacker points to a site that is distributing a virus!!
Hi My ISP block p2p sharing from 6am to 6 pm and I cant download torrent at this times ! so is there any way to solve this problem???
They told me not to do it.
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