Original author(s) | Preview release N/A [±] | |
 | ||
Developer(s) Sledgehammer999, Christophe Dumez, Ishan Arora, Stefanos Antaris, Mohamadad Dib Initial release May 16, 2006; 10 years ago (2006-05-16) Stable release 3.3.11 / March 3, 2017; 15 days ago (2017-03-03) | ||
qBittorrent is a cross-platform client for the BitTorrent protocol. It is free and open-source software released under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2).
Contents
qBittorrent is written in the programming language C++, using Boost so it is an operating system native application. It also uses the Qt framework, version 4 or 5. It uses libtorrent-rasterbar library for the torrent back-end (network communication) functions. Its optional search engine is written in the language Python. Systems with no Python installed cannot use the search function.
qBittorrent aims to be small, powerful, intuitive, visually attractive, and to exceed the current functions provided widely by other applications. qBittorrent is an attempt to provide a μTorrent equivalent that is open-source, multiplatform, and adds a streaming-like function to let users download and play video files. qBittorrent currently offers functions comparable to other BitTorrent clients, such as Vuze, but without needing the Java virtual machine. qBittorrent needs Python for the search engine only, while other clients such as Deluge and BitTornado need it for their BitTorrent protocol. For its BitTorrent and Micro Transport Protocol (μTP) implementation, qBittorrent uses the Rasterbar libtorrent library, which is written in C++.
History
qBittorrent was originally developed in March 2006 by Christophe Dumez, from the Université de technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard (University of Technology of Belfort-Montbeliard) in France.
It is currently developed by contributors worldwide, led by Sledgehammer999 from Greece, who became project maintainer in June 2013.
Features
Some of the features present in qBittorrent include:
Versions
qBittorrent is cross-platform, available on many operating systems, including: FreeBSD, Linux, OS X, OS/2, Windows.
As of September 2012, SourceForge statistics indicate that the most popular qBittorrent version of all supported platforms, 89% of downloads, were for Windows computers.
Packages for different Linux distributions are available, though most are provided through official channels via various distributions.
Reception
A review by MakeUseOf described qBittorrent as "a very stable and elegant tool" with a clean and clutter-free interface. Ghacks suggested qBittorrent as a great alternative to μTorrent, for anybody put off by recent changes made to μTorrent.