The latest global internet traffic report shows that the BitTorrent protocol is used much less than before. While it represented the majority of rising traffic a few years ago, it has been dethroned by well-known services.
In the early 2000s, there weren’t many ways to share files over the Internet. Among them, a newcomer quickly takes pride of place: the protocol BitTorrent. This is a peer-to-peer file exchange system (P2P) where, in short, you will retrieve the one that interests you directly from the computers of the people who own it. It is, for example, thanks to him that amateur filmmakers broadcast their film tribute to Matrixtoday the oldest torrent in the world.
Very quickly, BitTorrent became popular and its use exploded. In 2004, barely 2 years after its implementation in the summer of 2002, the protocol represented approximately 35% of all global Internet traffic according to several studies. But following the emergence of other services, its “market share” is declining more and more, and above all is concentrated on rising traffic. That is to say the one that leaves your machine or a network, for example when you send an email or save a file to the cloud. BitTorrent dominates at this level for a very long timebut today he lost his crown.
The BitTorrent protocol no longer represents the majority of rising Internet traffic, it’s the end of an era
The latest report from the Sandvine company, Global Internet Phenomena Report, shows to what extent uses have changed. In the ranking of applications that generate the most traffic on computers, BitTorrent is only 6th with 4% of the total. It is iCloud who is in the lead with 9%followed by FaceTime, Google Cloud, Google And Youtube. On mobile, there’s no point looking, it’s not even in the top 10. Chinese social networks TikTok leads the dance with 8% rising traffic, followed by Messenger of Facebookalso 8%, and Snapchat (6%).
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The study nevertheless specifies that the traffic generated by BitTorrent is significant to the extent that a only a small number of Internet users is responsible for it. This includes those who use it to illegally share copyrighted files, but no distinction is made between users. Sandvine believes that the protocol will continue to lose popularity as people turn more and more to the cloud and the contents accessible in streaming.