Creating a torrent
In order to share data, we first need to create and share a torrent.
- Go to File | Create New Torrent.
We use this interface to create new torrents. Here we can select the source files we wish to share, the trackers to use, and configure other sharing behaviors.
- Click on the Add file / Add directory button. If you plan on sharing a file or sharing a directory, press the relevant button and find the data to share.
- If you wish to skip files in the directory you have chosen, add which files to skip in the Skip Files textbox. This textbox works by matching the filenames within a directory with a string, which can use wildcards (*) and pipes (|).
Note
If you want to match a specific file, enter the full filename (for example, filename.jpg).
If you want to skip all .jpg files, enter *.jpg.
If you want to skip all .jpg files and all .txt files, enter *.jpg|*.txt without spaces.
- Enter the trackers that this torrent will use. By default, uTorrent will enter trackers www.openbittorrent.com and www.publicbt.com, though you can add other trackers to this list if required. By adding more trackers to this list, the torrent will get more exposure to the potential participants.
- If you have the torrent contents accessible on a web server and want to list it as a backup location, enter the URL in the Web Seeds textbox. This option ensures the files inside the torrent are accessible even if no other participants are present to transfer data.
- Use the Comment textbox to enter any extra information that the users may require.
- Keep the Piece size as (auto detect) . This can be altered if desired, but it is better to leave it as it is, since the Piece size relates to how the files will be divided. If you manually choose 16 KB, the data will be divided into 16 KB chunks. Choosing the wrong piece size for the data size can make torrents inefficient, so it is better to let uTorrent decide.
- Enable the Start seeding checkbox. This option will make the torrent available to upload as soon as the torrent creation is complete.
- If you want this torrent to be private, enable the Private torrent checkbox. This will disable the DHT and PEX ( Peer Exchange ) protocols, making tracker the only method of interacting with this torrent.
