Wikipedia

Draft:BiglyBT

BiglyBT
Original author(s)
  • parg
  • TuxPaper
Developer(s)Bigly Software
Initial release27 July 2017[1] Edit this on Wikidata
Stable release
3.6.0.0[2] Edit this on Wikidata / 24 April 2024
Repository
Platform
LicenseGPLv2 or later

BiglyBT is a BitTorrent client written in Java forked from Vuze. It is free and open-source software and ad-free.[3]

Features

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BiglyBT has most of the features of Vuze, its predecessor. However, it lacks Vuze's premium and proprietary features and features the developers considered bloat, including DVD burning, gaming promotions, the video-sharing content network, and the installer's advertisements.[3][4] Some removed features such as the embedded media player, RSS scanner, and iTunes integration are available via downloadable plugins.[5]

BiglyBT's features include swarm merging, using different torrents to download the same file;[6] limiting download/upload speeds by tag, peer-set (e.g. country), network (public or I2P), and individual peer;[7] detecting and integrating with VPNs;[5][7] support for the I2P network;[8] remote control[7] with any Android app that supports Transmission's RPC protocol; compatibility with WebTorrent; decentralized chat (via distributed hash table[9]); and "robust settings".[10] Many of these features are included via bundled plugins.[11]

History

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See also: Vuze § History

Development of Vuze ground to a halt in early 2017, with no new releases or commits being made since April, featured content from the content network becoming inaccessible, and users reporting outdated antivirus definitions.[12] The two main developers, parg and TuxPaper, left the project and focused their efforts on an ad-free fork called BiglyBT with goals of shedding commercial interests.[13] They proceeded to remove Vuze’s premium and proprietary features and license the entire project under the GNU General Public License.[14]

In December 2017, after pushing an update for review, the Android version of BiglyBT was rejected from Google Play for mentioning "other brands: Bittorrent" in the app listing's description, surprising the developers. The app was restored to Google Play after all mentions of "BitTorrent" were replaced with "torrent".[15]

Version 2.5, released 22 September 2020, added support for version 2 of the BitTorrent protocol,[16] making it the first BitTorrent client to do so. The updated protocol features improved checksums, including per-file hashes that allow improved swarm merging. libtorrent, a BitTorrent library used by popular clients such as qBittorrent and µTorrent Web but not BiglyBT, implemented the functionality a few weeks prior (with version 2.0, released 7 September 2020[17]), but clients that use the library had yet to incorporate the functionality as of BiglyBT's update.[6][18]

Reception

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In April 2020, TorrentFreak named BiglyBT the tenth popular BitTorrent client with 0.3% of the market share.[19]

Reviewers noted the higher amount of computer resource consumption due to using Java and appreciated the amount of features, praising the swarm merging feature and amount of options.[5][7] Whitson Gordon of PCMag described BiglyBT as "Features Galore, If You Want Them".[20]

References

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  1. ^ "Release v1.0.0.0". Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Release 3.6.0.0". 24 April 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b Georgopoulos, Stergios (4 August 2017), "Former Vuze developers launch new open-source torrent client without any ads or bloat", Neowin, retrieved 12 May 2024
  4. ^ Urban, Petr (7 August 2017), Vývoj Vuze stojí, původní vývojáři stvořili otevřeného nástupce. BiglyBT je bez reklam [Development of Vuze halts, original developers created an open successor. BiglyBT has no ads] (in Czech)
  5. ^ a b c Crawford, Douglas (17 August 2023), Five best torrent clients for your privacy 2023, Proton VPN (published 20 February 2023), retrieved 5 August 2024
  6. ^ a b Ernesto Van der Sar (11 October 2020), "BiglyBT is the First Torrent Client to Support the BitTorrent V2 Spec", TorrentFreak, BiglyBT is the first torrent client to add full support for the BitTorrent v2 specification, including hybrid torrents. The client is far ahead of the curve as the first torrent site has yet to adopt the new specification.
  7. ^ a b c d "The best torrent clients for 2022", Digital Trends, 18 October 2021, retrieved 19 June 2024
  8. ^ Tyagi, Anubhav (7 January 2024), "12 Best Free Torrent Clients For macOS in 2024", Techworm, retrieved 19 June 2024, Taking the anonymous download baton forward, BiglyBT has I2P support is available, installed by default as a plugin. Naturally, the download will be slower than the default settings owing to peer relay.
  9. ^ parg, "Decentralized Chat", BiglyBT Wiki, GitHub, retrieved 1 August 2024
  10. ^ Bigly Software, "Feature List", BiglyBT, retrieved 1 August 2024
  11. ^ parg (20 June 2024), Plugins, GitHub, retrieved 1 August 2024
  12. ^ Maxwell, Andy (3 August 2017), "Tumbleweed at Vuze as Torrent Client Development Grinds to a Halt", TorrentFreak, archived from the original on 12 February 2020
  13. ^ Van der Sar, Ernesto (3 August 2017), "Former Vuze Developers Launch BiglyBT, a 'New' Open Source Torrent Client", TorrentFreak, retrieved 5 May 2020
  14. ^ Teah, Ted (29 November 2017), "The Licensing and Compliance Lab interviews BiglyBT", Free Software Foundation, archived from the original on 28 October 2018, retrieved 30 December 2019
  15. ^ Van der Sar, Ernesto (13 December 2017), "Google Play Store Rejects App For Using the Word "BitTorrent" * TorrentFreak", TorrentFreak, retrieved 5 August 2024
  16. ^ BiglyBT (22 September 2020), "2500 Released!", BiglyBT Developer Blog, Tumblr, retrieved 1 August 2024
  17. ^ arvid (7 September 2020), "BitTorrent v2", libtorrent blog, retrieved 1 August 2024
  18. ^ Дмитрий Степанов (13 October 2020), "Выпущен первый торрент-клиент нового поколения с ускоренной закачкой и экономией трафика" [The first torrent client of the new generation with accelerated downloading and traffic savings was released], CNews (in Russian)
  19. ^ Van der Sar, Ernesto (5 April 2020), "uTorrent is the Most Used BitTorrent Client By Far", TorrentFreak, The list is further completed by qBitTorrent, Deluge, Free Download Manager (FDM), and BiglyBT. The latter is operated by former developers of Vuze, which was the second most-used torrent client ten years ago, but is no longer actively developed.
  20. ^ Gordon, Whitson (13 September 2019). "The Best BitTorrent Clients for 2019". PCMag. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
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