How To Download Torrent Files On Linux

Linux has a few pretty great BitTorrent clients available, but our favorite would have to be the feature-filled, easy-to-use Deluge.

Open up the Linux shell if you are currently in the Linux GUI. The shell can be opened by using the following key combination: Control + ALT + F1. You can also open a Terminal that acts as a shell from your System Tools folder. All commands listed below can be entered at the command line in the Linux shell or Terminal. Originally designed for Linux and Mac users only, but now there’s a version for Windows as well. Anyway, since it was created with Linux in mind, it performs exceptionally well on the OS. As a matter of fact it is the default BitTorrent client for most Linux and Unix distributions such as Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, Solaris, Gnome and Puppy. How to Download Torrents from the Command Line in Ubuntu By Derrik Diener – Posted on Nov 16, 2016 Mar 11, 2018 in Linux Though Torrenting is usually regarded as a dirty word, there are a lot of positives to using it, especially when talking about Linux. Apr 24, 2016 - Simple tutorial on how to download Torrent file using Linux terminal. All you need is Linux system and Internet to download files from online.

Note: If you don't know much about BitTorrent and want to learn, check out our beginner's guide to BitTorrent.

A beginner's guide to BitTorrent

Click to viewDespite the fact that BitTorrent has been around for a good 6 years now, the lightning …

Deluge

Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux
Price: Free
Download Page

Features

Download torrents (obviously) and manage/prioritize multiple torrents
Automatically download torrents through torrent RSS feeds (via a plugin)
Rich plugin collection that lets you add only the features you want
Monitor and control your torrent downloads remotely, from any computer or mobile device
Schedule its bandwidth usage, so it isn't using too much data when you need it
Encryption, DHT, UPnP/NAT-PMP, Proxy, and lots of other advanced features

Where It Excels

Deluge aims to be a simple, cross-platform, feature-rich client, and it does it well. The plugin architecture is especially nice, so you can add on just the features you want instead of downloading a 'bloated', feature-filled app. Its GUI is pretty easy to use, especially those coming from something like uTorrent on Windows, and its advanced features like remote access and bandwidth scheduling are must-haves for any BitTorrent user.

The Best BitTorrent Client for Windows

Parks and rec bloopers download torrent. While you have a few choices of BitTorrent client on Windows, uTorrent is hands down the best…

Where It Falls Short

Deluge is written in Python, which allows it to be cross-platform, but not quite as lightweight as some other clients. As such, if you're using a particularly old computer, you might not like Deluge since you'll be delegating a lot of RAM to the simple task of downloading files. In addition, its plugin system can sometimes feel like a crapshoot—while it's definitely an advantage of the program, you can run into outdated plugins every once in a while, which is very disappointing when you want a certain feature.

The Competition

If you don't like Deluge, try qBitTorrent. The two are very similar, though differ in a few minor features—for example, Deluge can run as a Daemon and has a nice plugin library, while qBitTorrent has a few more built-in features and is more lightweight. Essentially, qBitTorrent is probably the most feature-filled client out there, while Deluge is the client you can heavily customize, turning into the 'perfect client for you'. They're both fantastic programs; in fact, they're probably on par with one another—if we could say they're both the 'best', we would. If you're using KDE and would like a well-integrated torrent client in the style of Deluge and qBitTorrent, KTorrent is a great option.

Transmission is great if you want something super lightweight and simple, but it lacks a lot of the features that more advanced programs offer (even compared to its still-feature-light Mac version). If all you want is to grab that Linux live CD, Transmission is fine, but if you're a heavier torrenter, you'll probably want to stick with something like Deluge or qBitTorrent.

Vuze is a popular client for very advanced users, offering more features than most other clients out there. The problem is, the app is very slow, bloated and to be honest, you probably don't need a lot of the features it offers unless you're a pretty advanced user. Though it does have some pretty cool streaming features if you want to watch your videos on your TV.

Lastly, rTorrent is a popular client that differs a lot from the other option in the sense that it has no GUI. Instead, you run it in a terminal, and you can remotely monitor it via SSH for an insanely lightweight BitTorrent experience. It's definitely not your traditional client, but Terminal nuts out there will probably love it for its simplicity.

Got a favorite we didn't mention? Tell us about it in the comments.

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this one has been bugging me for a while and I cannot find any answer. In fact I usually get google results for cli torrent clients rather than what I want.

So rtorrent is notorious about crashing when fed with magnet links. So to circumvent that I want to download torrent files directly from the command line. More often than not kickass torrents provide torrents of interest (f.e. slackware dvds) but by right clicking and 'copy link location' will provide a link of the sort:

If I wget this link, I'll receive a corrupt file named

'85922FBEE6DCE5E2F5491E16BCDD9E6E427BA5AA.torrent?title=[kat.cr]slackware64.14.2.iso'

which does not load in rtorrent correctly.

curl also says:

curl: (3) [globbing] error: bad range specification after pos 86

Is there another command or some argument for curl or wget that I miss and which would correctly download the file?

thank you

nassnass

1 Answer

ok I finally sat down and looked into the contents of the file. It appears that kickass torrents sends a gziped version of the torrent file and the browser quietly gunzips it.

How To Download Torrent Files In Linux Mint

so I created the following download script to get the torrent files.