Today’s internet wouldn’t be complete without Bittorrent. After a stormy introduction, the download protocol quickly became the go-to tool for many users, despite some safety concerns. VPN eradicates those, making it safe to torrent without worrying too much about your privacy. VPN for Bittorrent, a match made in heaven?

What is a Bittorrent?

To understand Bittorrent in context, we have to go back to 2006. Around that time the download protocol was good for seventy percent of the total traffic online. Why? Bittorrent was quick, easy, and gave customers access to content that was otherwise unavailable. Programmer Bram Cohen built it in 2001 as a peer-to-peer network. He worked – even in college – on a solution to quickly share large files between computers. Something that did not exist around that time.

His solution was to have computers up- and download small information packages at the same time. A different approach from downloading large files at once, which was the common practice to that day. Cohen also split large files into smaller parts and had computers download these from other computers in the larger network of Bittorrent users.                                                                                                              Simultaneously these tiny files were offered to other users. Creating a steady and quick flow of bits of information to and from various computers. This setup allowed people with slower connections to play a part in the exchange. As long as a single file had enough computers offering it to others, the file would find its way to a computer asking for it.

Today, Bittorrent is no longer reaching that stellar seventy percent threshold. But it is still quite popular, despite the rise of legal streaming services like Netflix (and even slightly less legal ones like Kodi. And the rise of legal protection against illegal downloading.

The downside: exposed IP

The clamp down of lawmakers on illegal downloading practices brought a serious weak point to light: Bittorrent doesn’t shield users’ IP addresses from others in the network, making it possible to prosecute downloaders for sharing files that may have been obtained without paying proper fees.

VPN for Bittorrent

Of course, this did not bring downloading to an end, as the internet will always have new loopholes to circumvent copyright laws. VPN for Bittorrent is one of these loopholes: it connects a fake IP address to your online activities, setting you up for carefree downloads.

Besides this, some of the better VPN providers offer a killswitch to automatically cut off your computer from the internet in the case a VPN link drops away, plus they offer encryption to further protect your data. Free VPN’s are available, but we don’t recommend using these.

Not every VPN provider allows the use of Bittorrent, and they don’t always observe a no-logging policy. You’d be well advised to take the time to choose a VPN provider if you plan to use Bittorrent. Our overview of best VPN for Bittorrent providers may be helpful in your search.