Torrent how to speed up download

How To Speed Up uTorrent Downloads

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Torrent

How To Speed Up uTorrent Downloads

Seeders: Seeders are the people who have completely downloaded the torrent file, and now they are sharing it with other people (peers) who are still downloading the file.

Peers: Peers also known as leechers are the people who are still downloading the file and receiving the data. Peers also share data just like seeders, but only share the data that they have already downloaded.

Method #1: Increase Seeders by Adding Trackers

Seeders and peers for a particular torrent file decide how fast it will download The more seeders and peers are available for a particular torrent, the faster the download will be.

Trackers are sources that track and provide seeders and peers for a particular file, the more trackers you have, there is a more chance of finding more seeders and peers.

You can manually add trackers in uTorrent for any particular download. You can copy list of trackers from this updated list for public trackers of year 2015.

Now, right click on the downloading torrent and select “Properties” from the context menu (you can also double-click on the torrent). Here, under the “Trackers” column, “Paste” all the trackers you copied, and click on “OK”. You should see more seeders and peers shorty and may see some increase in download speed

Method #2: Allocate more Bandwidth to a Particular Torrent File

If there is an important file that you want to download faster and you are downloading more than one torrent at a time, then you can also allocated more bandwidth to a specific file.

Now, do the same thing with other torrents, but select “Low” instead of “High” from the side menu. This will allocate more bandwidth to the important file while keeping other downloads in process as well.

Method #3: Change Bandwidth Settings

To change Bandwidth settings, click on “Options” and then, click on “Preferences”. In the preferences, go to “Bandwidth” tab option and set the following parameters:

Method #4: Connect Directly with Seeds

Sometimes firewall can get in the way of seeding process leading to not receiving data from some seeders. You don’t need to configure any firewall settings of the seeder, you can allow your uTorrent client to directly receive data by avoiding any firewall in between.

Optimize Your uTorrent Experience: 16 Easy uTorrent settings (2022 Update)

The default uTorrent settings might be acceptable for the average user. But these settings won’t usually meet higher expectations of serious users.

Yes, uTorrent is already out-of-the-box optimized to speed up downloads. But not everybody has the same network, ISP, bandwidth, or computer. Configuring uTorrent to increase download speed is relative to one’s resources.

But still, you might be fortunate to have a 250-500Mbps or even one Gbps connection speed, but unlucky with slow uTorrent speeds.

There are many uTorrent best uTorrent settings that will let you take full advantage of your resources. You just have to know where to go.

Do you want to increase download speed, protect your privacy, avoid port blocking, increase seeds in uTorrent or improve the experience?

What’s New in uTorrent?

uTorrent (or µTorrent) has diversified from the traditional long-time favorite uTorrent Classic. Now (from a couple of years already), uTorrent brought other versions of their torrent client, including uTorrent Web and uTorrent Android. Now, you can also manage uTorrent Classic remotely. Add, remove or monitor your uTorrent Classic torrents remotely from a web browser and from any device.

The latest features (as of Nov 2021) for the best uTorrent settings are:

Nov 2021 Updates on OS Compatibility.

The following 16 tricks and tips can make your torrenting experience fast and truly amazing.

Best uTorrent Settings for Bandwidth

Before configuring uTorrent, it is essential to know your actual bandwidth. This will give you an idea of how to optimize your speed and performance.

The most popular method is running a speed test at the speedtest.net website. Another easy way is to learn about your contracted Internet speed or plan from your Internet Service Provider “ISP.”

If you want to stick with uTorrent, you can check the current bandwidth and network settings on the platform itself. Once the test is finished, uTorrent will configure itself for best performance.

Setting uTorrent bandwidth.

If you prefer to manually configure your uTorrent bandwidth settings, press Ctrl+P

By default, uTorrent will have an unlimited upload/download speed configured. Having unlimited bandwidth allocated is the perfect value for frequent users. But limiting upload is a different story…

Unlimited Upload Speeds.

Having an unlimited upload rate will not always affect downloading speeds. In fact, limiting your upload power too much can even affect your download speed.

uTorrent employs a mutual fair sharing algorithm that ensures fairness in a torrent swarm. Users that upload more are usually prioritized. And if you limit upload too much, your download speed will be affected as well.

You should limit upload based on your usage frequency and bandwidth plan. For example, if you have a fixed bandwidth (Cable, Fiber, ADSL, etc.), leave defaults. But if you have limited traffic (usually with mobile data plans), then lowering upload speeds is a good idea. Reduce at least 25% of your upload. For example, if your upload speed is 1Mbps (from Speedtest.net) and if 1Mbps is the same as 125kB/s, then 0.75 Mbps is 94kB/s (from Toolstudio).

If you reduce the upload rate too much, the TCP acknowledgment packets will be delayed and get lost. Reducing uploads will bring congestion to your application (slow download rates).

Don’t focus too much on reducing upload speeds; instead, work on smaller queues. A large queue of uploads will affect your download speed.

Queue uTorrent Settings Optimization.

There are no best queue settings in uTorrent; it depends on your downloading needs. If you are eager to download 20 files at a time, you can configure the uTorrent application to do so. But remember, each file that you download simultaneously will take a piece of your resources.

File consolidation and completion will take longer times. If you have all the time in the world, keep a long queue. But if it is download speed that you are looking to improve, a smaller queue will accomplish that.

A low “Maximum number of active torrents” will ensure a steady download speed. To ensure at least two active downloads and one upload, go for a 2:1 download/upload ratio. But remember never to limit uploads too much. In the example picture, from three active “upload/downloads,” two of them will be guaranteed download.

But everything is about your speed. With 500Mbps, you can use a 1:1 ratio and go for 20 active upload/downloads.

Individual Torrent Bandwidth Allocation.

If you have more torrents downloading simultaneously and want to prioritize a specific torrent, you can perform a bandwidth allocation.

But having 20 torrents queued with a high-speed bandwidth allocated will not guarantee anything if you have a seedless or, even worse, a dead torrent. Checking and improving the health of your torrents is a perfect way to ensure high speed.

Improving Torrent Health

A torrent is a small file that contains all the metadata about files and folders. It does not hold any content data. It also includes a list of all the network torrent trackers that link you with the correct torrent seeder.

A healthy torrent contains high activity, especially lots of seeders (or peers—users sharing portions of the file). Before downloading a torrent file, make sure that there are a lot of seeders.

a. Updating torrent trackers.

Automatic Peer Discovery Mechanisms.

Automatic discovery mechanisms help you find more peers in a swarm without manually adding trackers. Ensure the following tools are enabled, as they will help when trackers are challenging to find.

To change the BitTorrent protocol uTorrent setting:

Ensuring Connectivity: Port Forwarding.

Due to many reasons, agencies and ISPs all over the world discourage the use of BitTorrent. Some ISPs will even attempt to throttle or block any incoming BitTorrent traffic into their networks.

If you find yourself unable to download/upload or your speed is too slow, your BitTorrent port might be getting blocked.

To remain connected, you must forward or map a port. Port forwarding or mapping is the act of making your local computer accessible to others through remote Internet access. In the case of uTorrent, port forwarding allows others (your peers) to access your uTorrent through a defined port.

What’s the best port for uTorrent?

The best port for uTorrent is anything above 10000. uTorrent comes with a “Random port” functionality that lets you change the (ephemeral) port range between 10000 to 65535.

Enable UPnP and NAT-PMP port mapping.

UPnP is a highly convenient method for allowing computers to find other computers on a network. The Universal Plug n Play (UPnP) reduces the complexities of port forwarding and setting up new devices. However, bear in mind that this implementation comes with vulnerabilities. The main disadvantage is that any device can go and “modify” your router to allow devices access (via port forwarding) from outside networks.

To allow this (on your own risk):

2. Manual Port Forwarding.

Disk Cache uTorrent Settings.

uTorrent uses “Disk Cache” to maintain frequently accessed data in memory. Disk Cache improves the application’s response because it doesn’t have to read and write every time into the computer’s hard drive.

uTorrent controls these settings automatically and does an excellent job at this. The pre-defined values will usually work fine. It is recommended to change this only if you maintain a high torrenting activity. For example, you are downloading 20 torrents simultaneously at 500Mbps. Otherwise, you might face a disk overloading or a “Disk Overload 100%” problem.

How to Get Rid of uTorrent Ads?

Free uTorrent versions have a terrible reputation for displaying too many sponsored advertisements. As a result, the end user’s experience is not pleasant, as they are forced to see noisy and distracting ads.

But what many people don’t know, ads are one of the reasons why uTorrent is still alive and free. After BitTorrent inc, acquired uTorrent, they inserted ads to generate revenue and keep the free version alive.

Still, for some users that don’t like to see ads, uTorrent gives them two options. One, they introduced a paid pro version that came without advertisements. Of course, you are paying uTorrent to use the product, so they make revenue from you and not from advertising campaigns. Two, they also included options to get rid of uTorrent ads, right from the free client.

Although you DO have the option to disable ads right from the desktop client, uTorrent does not make it that straightforward.

So, how to get rid of utorrent ads?

To get rid of uTorrent ads, you’ll need to tweak some advanced uTorrent settings. Remember that modifying something other than what’s explained here can negatively impact the uTorrent client’s performance. Although the below uTorrent settings will help you remove ads, use them with care.

To disable ads in the uTorrent client, go to Options> Preferences > Advanced.

The large box displays a large set of flags that control the User Interface. This box provides advanced controls that you can modify right from the interface. The options are sorted by name and value columns, which you can search through via the filter box. The “Name” tag shows the actual flag, and the “Value” shows the configured parameter.

Do the same action (as shown above) for the flags shown below. Once you finish, restart the application, so that the changes take effect.

Anonymous Downloading.

Anonymity has one goal: hide your true identity when connected to the Internet. And there are many good reasons to hide your identity. One reason is that P2P clients like uTorrent, make you vulnerable and susceptible. One of your seeders could be a black-hat hacker scanning IPs and looking for victims. Another reason is that your ISP might be monitoring and trying to throttle BitTorrent traffic.

It is so easy to find an IP.

There are some methods you can use to protect your identity and stay anonymous. Using these methods will also help to increase your download speed.

1. Virtual Private Network “VPN”.

VPN uses strong encryption to protect your traffic from being compromised. VPN is the safest method because it hides your true IP, thus your entire Internet connection. When you connect to a third-party VPN, you create a tunnel from your computer to the VPN server. The tunnel bypasses anything on the way, such as hackers, ISP monitors, etc. A popular VPN supporting P2P connections is OpenVPN.

How to use OpenVPN?

2. Proxy Server.

A proxy server doesn’t hide your entire Internet connection like a VPN. It will instead, encrypt only a specific program or port of your computer. Because a proxy is more specific, it is much faster and cheaper than a VPN, but generally less secure. A proxy is one of the best uTorrent settings.

Manually setting up a proxy server from the uTorrent interface:

3.Seedbox or VPS (Virtual Private Server).

If you want to take torrenting to a whole new level, a Seedbox or VPS is your best choice. A seedbox is not an encryption method like VPN or proxy; instead, it is a dedicated server for torrenting.

Seedboxes use these encryption methods and add another extra layer of security. To download/upload torrents, you connect to another “computer” through a VPN. To save installation time, RapidSeedbox comes with pre-installed OpenVPN software.

A Seedbox can also allow easy torrents management through web applications at fast speeds (often from 100Mbps to even 1 Gbps). You don’t need to worry about being limited from your ISP or uploading/downloading too much with a seedbox. Your uTorrent can stay up 24/7 for 365 consecutive days.

RapidSeedbox is the most popular Seedbox/VPS service online. It offers unlimited bandwidth, shell access, dedicated IP address, remote desktop, among other cool features. To learn more about a Seedbox, check out the following video!

Use Magnet Links with uTorrent.

But what is a magnet link?

In a nutshell, a magnet link is a hyperlink that contains the torrent’s hash code. Your uTorrent client can immediately start finding peers with the desired content by only referring to this code. Magnet links use the Distributed Hash Table (DHT) method, which does not depend on the torrent trackers. Magnet links are far more convenient than files, simply because torrent websites no longer need to host files, and second because the user has a lot more flexibility.

How to open magnet links with utorrent?

Help! magnet links not working in utorrent.

You are probably following the step-by-step guide to adding magnet links to uTorrent, but for some reason, the torrents aren’t being added to the downloads list.

So what can you do?

Encrypting uTorrent Traffic.

To recognize torrent traffic patterns and shape them, ISPs use sophisticated application-layer firewalls. Encrypting uTorrent can help evade traffic shaping from those devices. But just enabling “protocol encryption” will not help you become anonymous.

In an interview, the inventor of BitTorrent, Bram Cohen, stated that “The so-called “encryption” of BitTorrent traffic isn’t really encryption, it’s obfuscation. It provides no anonymity whatsoever and only temporarily evades traffic shaping.”

But if your BitTorrent traffic is encrypted while using a VPN, there is little that a sophisticated device can do to identify and shape your traffic. One of the best uTorrent settings is to use a combination of VPN and BitTorrent traffic encryption.

Safe torrenting is not 100% guaranteed. Protecting from malware has a lot to do with common sense and mistrust. The P2P world is full of scammers that will use fake torrents to attract targets and infect their systems.

Whatever special antivirus you use will not help if you keep downloading and connecting to untrusted sites. A famous quote from McAfee; “Social engineering has become about 75% of an average hacker’s toolkit, and for the most successful hackers, it reaches 90%”.

Protecting from that hacker’s 90% ability to trick you has to do a lot about “not trusting everything.” The following are a few recommendations to stay safe in the P2P world.

So how can you protect from the other 10%?

Antivirus software.

uTorrent premium offers automatic protection from viruses and malware. It will save configuration time, but it is just another powerful virus scanner. In the end, you can also get infected using premium versions. The strongest weapon against Malware is your own judgment.

Manage uTorrent Settings and Torrents Remotely.

The uTorrent Remote application allows you to manage the uTorrent app anywhere. You can leave your desktop behind and use your mobile to manage your torrents remotely. The interface is very easy to use and similar to uTorrent.

For many, the idea of creating a “to-do download list” is to look for torrent files, set the list, walk away, and come back after some time to enjoy the downloaded content. Users wait for their media file downloads to complete, and it can be hours until they can finally play them. But what many people haven’t noticed is that they can stream torrents without waiting for the complete download.

For instance, if you want to see a movie from your download list right now, you can use a playback feature to stream uTorrent right from the interface without additional players.

What do you need to stream with uTorrent?

Important note about security. To avoid any security mishaps, such as incorrectly opening “streaming” Malware, the uTorrent Web client uses Adaware’s Browser Safety (a Chrome and Opera web browser extension) to scan websites for potential Malware. Keep in mind that some uTorrent versions will install Adaware Web Protection without notifying you.

How to stream uTorrent?

a. Use uTorrent Web App.

This version of uTorent comes with a simplified web browser interface. It allows you to download, play (stream), and supports magnet links. With the uTorrent web app, you’ll be able to specify a folder location for storage, set download/upload speed limits, and playback torrent files while downloading.

Even though you can playback media files near-instantly as you download them, the application stores the media files locally, so you can use them later as you like.

b. Use the pro uTorrent version.

The pro version of uTorrent also makes it easy for you to Play a file as it downloads or when downloaded. The “Playback” column provides an easy-to-use button to access the file over the uTorrent’s media player. Once you click on this button, the bottom right corner will display the media.

The downloaded media is independent of uTorrent. So, if you don’t like uTorrent’s media player, you can push the media content for streaming to a third-party application, such as Windows Media Player or VLC Player.

You can change the uTorrent player from the Options > Preferences tab > Playback section.

Additional streaming uTorrent files tips and hints.

As you might already notice, your uTorrent app does not have built-in media transcoding features (that would be too much to ask). But what is transcoding? Transcoding is the feature that makes media applications like Netflix or Youtube dynamically adapt the FPS, dimensions, and format of media files according to Internet connection source and playback device.

If you have access to a remote web uTorrent or a mobile client (hosted on a Seedbox VPS), you can view all your media files from anywhere and any device (as long as you have a decent Internet connection) on both ends. But still, it is better to leave torrenting for uTorrent and streaming for the kings of streaming. Use media streaming solutions such as Plex or Kodi with powerful built-in transcoding capabilities. Plus, you can sort, organize, and share all your uTorrent content via these streaming services.

Updating (or downgrading) uTorrent.

A good percentage of loyal users left uTorrent when they started to include bloatware and crapware in their software. In 2015, for instance, uTorrent “silently” bundled a piece of crapware known as the EpicScale software in their installation file. This crapware uses your computer for crypto mining (exploits your computer and bandwidth resources to make money for someone else).

uTorrent installed EpicScale on your computer without your consent— Ouch! a big hit on uTorrent’s reputation.

uTorrent learned the hard way after losing a lot of long-time valuable users. They now have removed all those silent unwanted crapware programs and are attempting to make solid trustworthy revenue via different channels.

Should you update your uTorrent client?

Before clicking “Update,” think about this… is updating your current uTorrent version the best choice? For instance, most uTorrent users are pretty satisfied with the old uTorrent 2.2.1 version. This version was one of the most secure latest stable versions, fast, light, and without ads or crapware. Many users consider the 2.2.1 version one of the best before all the “questionable changes” made to uTorrent version 3.x, including the aforementioned security issues. Bear in mind that this 2.2.1 version only works Windows XP and up (Win 7 and Win 8, both 32-bit and 64-bit).

But still, don’t undervalue some newer versions, such as the v3.5.5 (build 43580); according to Wikipedia, the v.3.5.5, is the latest stable version. Although it still comes with ads, they are less annoying and easier to remove. If you are installing uTorrent for the first time, please Do read and be aware of the entire installation the whole time.

Whether you decide to stay familiar or modernize, take the following steps to either update or downgrade.

1. Automatic vs Manual Update:

Go to Help > Check for Updates. uTorrent will automatically look for updates in its database and will inform you if there is an available package to download.

Updating uTorrent to the latest version will fix “bugs” and introduce new features, but on the downside, it might also mess up with a couple of your uTorrent settings, such as your customized headers. Plus, some private torrent trackers are picky with the uTorrent version you are using. They might not allow you to use a new uTorrent version.

So, believe it or not, one of the most recommended uTorrent settings is to: Update uTorrent manually.

Unfortunately, as for you and I, and for most uTorrent users, the “Automatically install updates” checkbox is grayed out in uTorrent.

Although you could install older versions such as uTorrent 3.4.3 and uncheck the “Automatically install updates,” the uTorrent application will still ignore your selection. If you want to manually update uTorrent, and you have already unchecked the “Automatically install updates,” you’ll still likely face the “You’ve just been upgraded to the latest version of uTorrent,” message within a couple of days later.

According to many users, this is a known long-time uTorrent bug.

What are your options?

Breath in and happily install the latest version of uTorrent OR downgrade to an older uTorrent 2.x version. 2.2.1, if you have the right OS.

How to Downgrade uTorrent?

Unfortunately, uTorrent won’t offer old software versions in its library and there is a good reason why. Newer versions contain sponsored software. And if you didn’t know… this is how uTorrent keeps its software free and makes some revenue.

Final Words.

I hope this step-by-step guide to optimizing uTorrent settings improves your experience or solves your problems. If you know any trick or hint that we missed in this post, please leave it in the comments below.

BitTorrent Speed — что это? (Speed Download Torrents Faster)

BitTorrent Speed — приложение, встроенное в торрент-качалку uTorrent, позволяющее зарабатывать токены BTT за раздачу файлов.

Личное мнение: пока технология сырая, по отзывам пользователей — прибавки к скорости нет, наоборот даже уменьшается.

Чем дольше вы остаетесь на раздаче, тем больше зарабатываете BTT. Что делать дальше с BTT? Все просто — тратить на повышение скорости загрузки торрентов. Скорость может возрасти прилично, чуть ли не в 2 раза. Как понимаю, эта опция нужна чтобы повысить качество загрузки торрента — иногда скорость скачивания низкая, хотя интернет быстрый, система BitTorrent Speed пытается исправить эту ситуацию. Ведь загрузка напрямую зависит от тех, кто уже торрент скачал и остался на раздаче.

Правда неизвестно откуда берется скорость, за счет чего она увеличивается, когда файлы загружаются не из сервера, а из других пользователей, которые уже скачали торрент полностью.

Один пользователь написал, что после включения — скорость упала в два раза. Но самое интересное, что после перустановки uTorrent — восстановилась.

Также пользователи пишут, что опция скорость скачивания с BTT — отключается, а вот опция ускорение скачивания с BTT — нет.

Мое мнение — чудес не бывает, в большинстве случаев скорость вряд ли получится увеличить. Эффект будет только от большого количества пиров, как было испокон веков. В принципе суть BitTorrent Speed — понятна, нацелено все это, чтобы как можно больше людей оставалось на раздаче, тогда конечно будет скорость. Но на данный момент по отзывам от BitTorrent Speed толку мало.

Кнопка Speed Download Torrents Faster ознакомления с функцией:

Надеюсь данная информация оказалась полезной. Удачи.

Slow Torrents? Here’s the fix.

Do you struggle with slow torrent downloads, even though you have decent (or fast) internet speeds when browsing or streaming?

Our guide will show teach you why your torrents our slow, and how to make your torrents download faster, permanently.

Important Note: While some common speed problems can be fixed by tweaking settings in your torrent client, if you’re being throttled (one of the most common causes of slow torrents) then you’ll need a VPN. There’s no way around it.

Of course, you should already be using a VPN while torrenting (to protect your privacy). We recommend NordVPN or Private Internet Access.

What causes slow torrents?

Slow torrent downloads are commonly caused by a few factors.

Some are under your control (router issues, port forwarding, and misconfigured settings in your torrent client (uTorrent, QBittorrent etc).

Other causes, like blocking or throttling by your ISP aren’t easily fixed by tweaking settings. You’ll need a more powerful tool to restore your speeds.

Possible reasons why your torrents are downloading slowly

Torrent Throttling is often the culprit

Torrents and file-sharing use massive amounts of bandwidth. Bandwidth costs money. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that many Internet Providers (ISPs) will do almost anything to limit your torrent speeds.

Sandvine (who designed Comcast’s torrent throttling hardware) publishes periodic reports showing global bandwidth usage statistics. File-sharing has consistently been one of the biggest bandwidth hogs, especially for upstream bandwidth.

This has caused ISP’s to take steps to reduce the amount of bandwidth torrents use on their networks. This is done in two ways:

Blocking
Some ISP’s completely block essential torrent ports (like 6881-6889), making it virtually impossible for their users to seed torrents (upload). Still others prefer to block access to torrent sites themselves (like isohunt and thepiratebay). This practice is common in places like the United Kingdom, Australia, and Russia.

Throttling
Throttling (also known as ‘bandwidth-shaping’) is a technique of filtering certain types of data on a network, and deliberately limiting the speeds (bandwidth) they can access. This is commonly used on high-bandwidth data streams, such as:

If you ever wondered by your youtube videos are constantly buffering or running in low resolution even though your connection is 10mpbs or faster, the answer is simple. You’re being throttled.

Fortunately there is a simple solution that completely blocks your ISP’s ability to throttle you.

It’s called a VPN, and it’s affordable and easy to use. Even better, it can usually fix slowness caused by in-client protocol encryption or port forwarding issues as well (which is a pain to setup manually on your router).

The easy way to make your torrents faster

A significant percentage of torrent users will see a speed boost after signing up for a fast VPN service.

That’s because a VPN can usually:

Is that something you’d be interested in?

Oh, and a VPN will make your downloads more private too, helping you hide your IP address from torrent peers. It can even prevent your ISP from seeing WTF you’re downloading in the first place.

How a VPN can fix Slow Torrents

The benefits of a VPN go way beyond privacy. Many issues that cause slow torrents can be instantly fixed when you use a fast VPN provider. Here’s how:

Slow torrents caused by: Throttling
In order to throttle your torrent traffic, your Internet Provider has to be able to:

When you use a VPN, your ISP can’t do either of these things. This is because an VPN encrypts all data transferred to/from your computer over the internet, making it impossible for someone in the middle (like your internet provider) to read your traffic.

When you use a VPN, your ISP can’t see that you’re torrenting. If they can’t see it, they can’t throttle it.

Blocked Torrents
Some Internet Providers try to block torrent traffic altogether. Comcast, for example, reportedly tried to block all upstream (seeding) torrent bandwidth.

Every torrent data packet sent to/from your computer, has a small ‘Header’. This is like a sign that identifies the type of data (torrent traffic) and where it’s being routed to (port#, ip address, etc). This header is essential, it allows data to get routed to the correct destination, and the correct software program that is looking for that time of incoming data (your torrent client).

These headers also make it very easy for your internet provider to filter and block torrent data packets, while allowing the rest of your data to go through unblocked.

When you use a VPN, the encryption prevents your ISP from reading these headers, making it impossible to block torrents without blocking everything.

Port Forwarding
If your torrents are REALLY slow, like under 500kb/s, there’s a good change that port forwarding is the issue. If you don’t manually forward the ports that your torrent software uses (in your router settings) your router has no idea where to send the incoming data packets. This causes your torrent speed to drop bigtime.

Port forwarding is a big pain, and you have to reconfigure it everytime your router assigns a new internal ip address to your computer (Argh).

Fortuantely, a VPN eliminates the need for port forwarding altogether.

Most routers have a feature called ‘VPN Passthrough’ which allows a VPN connection to be go straight through the router without any interference.

The VPN connection is like a tunnel, and since all the torrent data is inside this tunnel, and the tunnel gets routed straight to your computer, there’s no slowdown whatsoever. Pretty sweet!

Recommended VPN Services

So you’re ready to join the ranks of battle-hardened torrent veterans and get yourself a VPN. But you don’t want just any VPN.

You want one that keeps zero logfiles, and is quite fast (can handle 50Mbps+ downloads).

I recommend either of these 2 excellent services:

For more info about each of these companies, read our guide to the fastest VPNs for torrenting.

Otherwise, feel free to skip ahead to the ‘Manual Troubleshooting Steps’ if you like doing things the hard way.

HOW TO FIX SLOW TORRENTS MANUALLY

Ok, so you don’t like doing things the easy way. That’s cool. Let’s try and fix your slow torrents by troubleshooting the issues one at a time.

It’s important to note, that if your ISP is throttling/blocking your torrent traffic, a VPN (or encrypted proxy) may be the only solution. For the rest of the issues, we can deal with them ourselves.

How to measure Torrent Speed Correctly

It’s a little known fact that most torrent clients report speeds differently than web-based speed tests.

In fact, they’re usually off by a factor of 8.

That’s because torrent clients like uTorrent report speed as Mega Bytes per second, whereas speedtests like speedtest.net report Mega bits.

Since 1 Byte = 8 Bits, then 1 Megabyte per second is equivalent to 8 Megabits/s

uTorrent shows download/upload speed in Megabytes per second

If you have a 200 Mbps internet connection, and you saw the 23.4 MB/s speeds reported by uTorrent…you might be disappointed.

But in reality, 23.4 MB/s = 187.2 Megabits per second (multiply by 8)

That’s over 90% of your maximum speed (quite good).

Check your bandwidth & queue limits in your torrent client

Check your download speed: Most torrent clients allow you to set a maximum download/upload speed per active torrent. You’ll either want to set these to ‘0’ (unlimited) or a really high number.

Too many Torrents: Try limiting the number of active torrents and queue the rest. Anything over 6-8 active torrents is overkill and will hurt overall speeds (and tax your processor and hard drive).

Turn off uTP Bandwidth Limiting (uTorrent only): In Preferences > Bandwidth, make sure to uncheck the box that says ‘Apply rate limit to uTP connections.’ This artificially limits your speeds.

uTorrent Bandwidth Settings (Menu > Options > Preferences > Bandwidth).

Connection Status & Incoming Connections

Most torrent client have an indicator of your connection health (which can alert you to port forwarding or throttling issues). The indicator is usually in the bottom right corner of the software.

Utorrent displays a little alert triangle with an exclamation if there are issues.

Vuze displays torrent health as a color-coded smiley. Green is good, yellow shows issues, red is bad.

If you don’t have a healthy connection status, here are some tips:

Remember, a VPN can fix most port forwarding problems, even if your router doesn’t support uPnP. If you really want to draw doing it manually, you can follow the guides from PortForward.com

Turn on UPnP & Add firewall support in Options > Preferences > Connection (uTorrent)

Is Encryption causing slow torrents?

Most torrent clients have built-in encryption. This lite-weight obfuscation (not unbreakable like a VPN) is designed to fool simple throttling algorithms. That’s it.

But the downside of forcing encrypted connections in your torrent client is that non-encrypted peers can’t connect. This limits your peer availability and thus your speeds.

Note: A VPN doesn’t limit your peer availability because it encrypts your connection whether the peers support encryption or not.

So what’s the fix?

Summary & Action Steps

This article tackled all the most common causes of slow torrents. If you’ve literally tried them all and nothing worked, try a different torrent client. Plug your computer directly into your modem and see if that makes a difference.

And serious, just get a torrent-friendly VPN if you don’t have one yet. You’ll thank me later.

How to improve your torrent speeds (recap)

Make sure to leave any questions in the comments below and let us know how these tips worked out for you!

David Barnes

David started torrenting before it was cool. He enjoys hiking, strategy games and eats watermelon year round. He still rocks his Napster t-shirt once a month.

2 thoughts on “Slow Torrents? Here’s the fix.”

Thank man, I applied the torrent setting you have posted and my utorrent download speed just rocketed. Thanks again

Increase uTorrent download speed

Edited by Michael Mangada, Charmed, Lynn, Melsan and 53 others

uTorrent has come a long way since it first launched back in 2005. In the past 12 years, there have been numerous updates to the program that have improved nearly every aspect of it, including download speeds. Using uTorrent back in the day was a little hit or miss when it came to adjusting or tweaking settings to improve download speeds. Over the years, however, the need for such setting tweaks has diminished to the point where uTorrent, comes nearly optimized right out of the box. Running the programs setup guide will make any adjustments to your settings to help improve your download speed.

Check uTorrent Connection Settings (Recent Versions)

uTorrent has a built-in setup guide to test your connection speed (download/upload), and will automatically adjust the applications settings to help maximize those speeds. More on the uTorrent setup guide here.

Make sure you stop or close any other programs using internet traffic. Streaming, downloading or even viewing other websites should be stopped before starting the speed test. This also includes, of course, other torrents or torrent clients currently downloading/uploading.

Increase Download Speed with Healthy Torrents

This one may seem obvious but the number of people seeding a torrent compared to how many are downloading it makes a significant difference in how fast it can be downloaded. Most sites will display some information on the health of a torrent file, but often times this data can be inaccurate.

For a more accurate reading on the health of a torrent file, follow these steps.

Increase Download Speed with a VPN

Most, if not all ISPs have some kind of system in place to limit or throttle p2p (torrent traffic). Sometimes this slows down your download speeds all together, other times you may only experience slower connections during certain times of the day. Whichever it is, using a quality VPN service will eliminate any interference with your download speeds. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a service that will encrypt your internet connection, allowing you to remain anonymous while online. If your ISP doesn’t see torrent traffic, your connection shouldn’t be limited.

It should be pointed out that, unless you use a VPN (with server speeds similar to your home connection), you most likely won’t see the same download speed as you saw during the setup guide speed test.

There are both free and paid VPN services that allow p2p traffic. Read The Best VPN Services of 2016 to find a quality VPN. Read through the comments as there is good information on each service that may not be included in the article.

To find a free VPN service, follow the steps below

Older uTorrent Setting Tweaks

It’s easy to adjust your uTorrent settings to maximize download speeds. Follow the steps below.

Tips Tricks & Warnings

Questions and Answers

I need help to download my uTorrent files?

I’m downloading a 17GB file, and it’s going very slowly. Please help me.

17GB is a very big file. Use this website to find out how long a 17GB file will take to download on your network. Also, torrenting can be throttled by ISPs, and your torrent will only go as fast as the speed at which your peers are sending it. Additionally, many internet providers throttle P2P high volume traffic such as file sharing programs like uTorrent. If possible temporarily try downloading using a different network and see if this affects your download speed. You could also try connecting to the internet via your phone and see if that makes a speed difference. Of course, you should not do the download over your phone, just do a quick test, unless you have a massive data plan on your cell phone.===I was having 250kbps speed but suddenly it dropped into 5kbps?=== I am having good downloading speed while I download in Google Chrome,

Many ISPs will cap the speed of torrents after a certain amount of usage. So you may have hit one of those caps. Additionally, you may be downloading at a time when many Seeders have stopped uploading the file, so check to see if the number of Seeders has gone down since you originally started downloading it.

How can I increase downloading a movie via uTorrent while using a broadband internet?

I’m only using broadband, I’m downloading a movie, I want to download it to fastest speed

There are a couple of things you can check to see if your download speed is being slowed. First, make sure that your ports are open to uTorrent; secondly, make sure that the movie you’re downloading has more Seeders than Leechers; third, check to see if your computer’s firewall is blocking uTorrent and slowing it down; lastly, check your broadband connection to make sure that nothing else is using up any bandwidth, which you can usually do via your Router’s homepage.

I have doubts about availability of a particular torrent.

Some old torrent have few trackers and do not start immediately

You have several options available: contact the copyright holder for alternative download methods (HTTP, another download client, direct links, etc.) or, if the file is in public domain, look for the torrent in different search engines (https://yahoo.com, https://duckduckgo.com, https://yandex.ru, etc.). One of other solutions, especially relevant for old films, is looking for a BD, DVD, or CD with the requested content sold at any online stores like https://amazon.com or https://ebay.com.

Memory cannot configure correctly?

One day, I cleaned my computer and unplugged the SATA hard connector, after cleaning my computer it is showing an error on boot time: «The memory cannot configure itself correctly». Then, I press the «F1» button and save changes. Then, it shows display. If I cannot press the button «F1», the computer could not work. Please help me.