uTorrent vs. BitTorrent – Which is Faster for Mobile/Desktop in 2021?
When it comes to torrent clients, uTorrent and BitTorrent are two veterans with huge, loyal followings.
But what makes one better than the other? Is it a greater variety of settings, or a richer package of features? Maybe speed or practicality is the deciding factor?
While uTorrent and BitTorrent are in fact very much alike, there are some key distinctions between the two. This article will help you understand the similarities and differences.
It will also teach you how using a VPN (virtual private network) can increase your download speeds, and protect you from the dangers of downloading torrents.
Specifically, it’s important to know that torrenting isn’t legal everywhere, and even where it is, some have been issued fines – and even arrested – for downloading copyrighted media.
However, with a VPN, your internet activity can’t be traced back to you. Therefore, no one will know what content you download, or even the fact that you’re downloading torrents at all.
That said, not all VPNs are the same.
Fortunately, we evaluated a ton of VPNs and figured out which are the best for downloading torrents. With their powerful security protocols and servers dedicated to torrenting, CyberGhost is a particularly good choice.
And if you’re really new to torrenting and want to learn how to do it safely and anonymously, check out this tutorial.
uTorrent and BitTorrent Have Nearly Identical Interfaces
If you’ve used both uTorrent and BitTorrent, you’ve probably wondered why their interfaces are almost identical. Indeed, if it wasn’t for the name and colors, you could easily mistake one for the other.
uTorrent Interface:
Both interfaces follow the same format
BitTorrent Interface:
You can see that they use the same software
That’s because they’re virtually the same software. Both clients are owned by BitTorrent, Inc.
BitTorrent (the client) was developed in 2001 to implement the BitTorrent protocol. At that time, uTorrent hadn’t yet been designed — in fact, initially it wasn’t even BitTorrent’s product. It started out as a one-man project in late 2004, and it was first released in September 2005. BitTorrent, Inc. acquired uTorrent in December 2006.
So, while BitTorrent was the first to implement the protocol, today both clients are run by the same company and use the same code. This doesn’t mean there aren’t any differences, but you won’t spot them at first glance.
So How Are They Different?
BitTorrent and uTorrent are sibling products, and as such, they share a lot of common features — interface, settings, unlimited downloading, free and paid versions, etc.
However, they are not exactly the same. Here are the differences:
1. Size: uTorrent is much lighter than BitTorrent. At less than 1 MB, uTorrent is much less taxing on your operating system than many other torrenting clients. By comparison, BitTorrent is almost 3 MB.
2. Frequency of Updates: uTorrent is constantly being developed, with alpha and beta versions being released, while BitTorrent only releases stable versions. That means that while you’ll get more cutting edge features with uTorrent, it might be at the expense of reliability.
3. Platform Compatibility: BitTorrent is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Android, but uTorrent is also available on Linux.
4. Cryptocurrency Mining: Both uTorrent and BitTorrent have partnered software offers during installation (often called “bloatware” by the less charitable). However, uTorrent has been known to have had a few slip ups in the past, including silently dropping crypto miners on computers, which drain users’ CPU without their permission. This was obviously off-putting to many, so to avoid something like that happening to them, many users have gone as far as installing older versions of the client, despite the security risks of using outdated software.
But Which One is Faster? Does it Matter Whether I’m Using Windows or a Mac?
That said, you’re probably still looking for an answer to a very important question: which client is faster?
To that we’ll say that there’s no one torrent client that will make your downloads blazing fast, regardless of which operating system you use.
Speed depends on your internet connection and the number of seeders a torrent file has. BitTorrent isn’t faster than uTorrent, or vice versa.
However, combining a VPN with uTorrent or BitTorrent can dramatically increase your download speeds.
Which is Faster for Android, and Which for iOS?
As we’ve already said, when it comes to speed, there isn’t a real difference between uTorrent and BitTorrent, and the same is true for your Android device. The two clients even have the exact same rating in Google Play (4. 5 stars).
Nevertheless, with over five times the number of reviews as BitTorrent, uTorrent is worlds more popular than BitTorrent. So if you believe in the wisdom of crowds, uTorrent will be your best bet.
uTorrent Reviews:
You can see uTorrent’s popularity based on the volume of reviews
BitTorrent Reviews:
BitTorrent has less reviews, but similar positive scores on average
As for your iPhone, the question of which is faster isn’t so relevant, since iOS doesn’t support torrent clients.
If you’re really committed to finding a workaround to this issue, you’re going to have to jailbreak your device, which will allow you to download apps unavailable in the Apple App Store.
How to Speed Up Your Torrent Downloads
Regardless of which device or operating system you use, there’s still a way to improve your torrenting speeds.
That’s because – due to the fact that torrenting can use up a lot of bandwidth – your internet service provider may be throttling your connection during downloads.
The best way around this is to install a VPN. A VPN will encrypt and reroute all your internet traffic through a remote server, so your ISP won’t be able to monitor any of your online activity – including torrenting.
And if they don’t know you’re torrenting, they won’t be able to slow you down.
Plus, VPNs have uses beyond torrenting as well. Because of their encryption capabilities, they can protect you from hackers, and because they use remote IP addresses, they can give you access to geo-restricted web content like American Netflix.
For high speeds, airtight security, and unmatched access to geo-restricted content, here are some of the best VPNs:
And if you’re interested in checking out different BitTorrent clients or finding out which torrent websites are the most reliable, we’ve got you covered there too.
You might also like:
5 Best (REALLY FREE) VPNs for Torrenting with No P2P Limits
10 Most Popular (NON BLOCKED) Torrent Sites in 2021 [Updated]
Top 10 Best VPNs for Torrenting
Privacy Alert!
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The information above can be used to track you, target you for ads, and monitor what you do online.
VPNs can help you hide this information from websites so that you are protected at all times. We recommend ExpressVPN — the #1 VPN out of over 350 providers we’ve tested. It has military-grade encryption and privacy features that will ensure your digital security, plus — it’s currently offering 49% off.
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BitComet Pollutes BitTorrent with Junk Data – TorrentFreak
Home > Anti-Piracy >
Due to a new feature recently introduced into Bitcomet’s torrent maker, people who do not use BitComet (the majority) are sometimes forced to download so called “padding files” which is — for them — a waste of time and bandwidth.
So what are these padding files?
For every file in a multi-file torrent, BitComet includes a padding file by default. This overcomes the problem of ending one file and beginning another on the same BitTorrent “piece. ” The feature was added to support finding sources from /ftp/ed2k services on multi-file torrents.
For example, if BitComet users are downloading a set of. mp3 files, it tries to get some of those files from a non-BitTorrent source if possible. This is good both for the (BitComet) user and the swarm. However, the implementation of these padding files create problems for non-Bitcomet clients and the web sites that carry information from the *. torrent files.
Why is this a problem?
Unfortunately, BitComet’s development team sprung these padding files on to the rest of the community. If they had been more communicative, such as pre-publishing a specification, client makers and administrators of Torrent sites could then program their systems to mask them.
It impacts people who use uTorrent, Azureus or any other client than BitComet. The padding feature is enabled by default, so if a BitComet user created a. torrent, non BitComet users have to download these useless padding files. A padding file is created for every file in the. torrent, so if you download a collection of 100 MP3s you’ll be forced to download 100 (useless) padding files (see example). The average added overhead for an MP3 album will be around 3%, not too bad, but annoying because its junk data to most people. However, it is possible in rare circumstances that the amount of junk data caused by these files might exceed 10%.
The padding file feature might come to bite BitComet users. It has been reported that a malicious user could create a torrent with a fake padding file. This means that Bitcomet 0. 85+ users will never be able to complete their downloads without switching to another client.
Some BitTorrent users are starting to get annoyed by these (for most people) useless padding files. “Fuzzier, ” who has been leading the charge on several forums (including Wikipedia), sums it up:
“I and lots of my friends don’t use BitComet, and many others stick with older versions of BitComet. We see more and more useless padding files in torrents, and it gets really inconvenient — delete them then we cannot pass hash check and cannot seed; and no matter what, we get a bunch of wastes especially our precious upload bandwidth. ”
Unless this practice becomes more widely adopted in the BitTorrent community, BitComet might consider disabling this feature by default, and suppling client makers and administrators of BitTorrent sites with the specs so they can decide how to deal with them.
How to Remove BitComet.exe – Comodo File Intelligence
First Seen: 12 November 2011 at 9:33 am
No.
Company
File Type
SHA1
MD5
DigitallySigned
FileVersion
ProductVersion
SubmittedFrom
1
Executable
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4d09a6306679afed9536347478d5c846
Yes
1. 32
Poland
2
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efc5325f0587a498fb39d0be716c50c8
1. 36
Mexico
3
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7852075aefc7b9b552f09a13763a4cd0
No
1. 33
Internal Submission
4
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aeb352e818af1de09894d5d50a7478cc
5
4f6c2909e9fc5e2f63de5681c825a5a0a2808518
4b44a8e7c24f5aca5c874580058ae5ff
1. 40
10. 224. 1. 57/32
6
f0a9f58f3b5cea2ea42a70aabb686196f23a9f50
31c962027490b166920bd4a2176a2f4c
1. 31
10. 54/32
7
4fdf5ff785c5ebb5517f2c7197f9590d69261fbb
d464a2b05d1b3a4160e2b2447faf1c90
1. 35
10. 117/32
8
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1. 28
Turkey
9
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10. 55/32
10
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20120221
Thailand
11
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10. 116/32
12
cb13e22af763b519b3220acf07a552f2beb27b1a
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20131204
13
N/A
246479046d8c602037a46f5833e8e3ea63f14c43
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14
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15
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0. 54. 0830
United States
16
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362ad87af60a29684a67267009f99490
0. 57. 0426
17
10. 63/32
18
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19
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21
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0. 0905
22
23
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20130131
24
312cc10404961caad56d841e785d670f2aad59f3
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0. 61.
25
cdfc7e813c06df079ca40135796c383d1b0b56b9
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20111207
26
b869658cadde2c8fccaf63871c6dec7e9d607c98
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1. 29
27
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28
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Canada
29
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30
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10. 22/32
31
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1. 80
10. 25. 207/32
32
df284f45eba90378953758ad372be58c0381b39e
d14d89bdd46e38da0b356f1e83f090b5
33
60a416dbd3a1cbff04b2fa923eebafef3d9cee4e
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1. 30
Bulgaria
34
35
cac1387e1d170efb3e9690bd9eb98ff7a1d482ee
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1. 37
10. 60/32
36
d0e728742b73844613b81256df5666350b65f8ba
121b2db8444970e9d46ee86cbae363c1
1. 38
37
3f9930aeb5176692cdc2788fab579b9559495d69
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38
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39
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10. 65/32
40
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20131226
41
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42
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20071205
43
10. 100. 130. 247/32
44
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45
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Brazil
46
47
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20131129
48
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10. 53/32
49
50
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20130425
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0. 57.
53
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Frequently Asked Questions about bittorrent bitcomet
Is BitComet better than uTorrent?
Speed depends on your internet connection and the number of seeders a torrent file has. BitTorrent isn’t faster than uTorrent, or vice versa. However, combining a VPN with uTorrent or BitTorrent can dramatically increase your download speeds.
What is a BitComet padding file?
So what are these padding files? For every file in a multi-file torrent, BitComet includes a padding file by default. This overcomes the problem of ending one file and beginning another on the same BitTorrent “piece.” The feature was added to support finding sources from http/ftp/ed2k services on multi-file torrents.Aug 23, 2007
Is BitComet malware?
BitComet.exe is a legitimate file process developed by Bitcomet. It is associated with program BitComet – a BitTorrent Client. … The virus is created by malware authors and are named them after BitComet.exe file.