Tribler
Encyclopedia
Tribler is an open source
peer-to-peer
client
with various features for watching videos online. The user interface of Tribler is very basic and focused on ease of use, instead of including features. Tribler is based on the BitTorrent protocol and uses an overlay network
for content searching.
Due to this overlay network Tribler does not require an external website or indexing service to discover content.
Tribler features include: video-only searching, experimental video streaming, and an integrated video player
. Tribler is available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.
The name Tribler stems from the word Tribe, referring to the usage of social networks in this P2P client. The first version of Tribler was a small enhancement on the ABC (Yet Another BitTorrent Client)
In 2009 the development team behind Tribler stated that their efforts for the coming years are focused on integration of Tribler in television hardware.
, somewhat similar to the eXeem
network which was shut down in 2005. The software includes the ability to recommend content. After a dozen downloads the Tribler software can roughly estimate the download taste of the user and
recommends content. This feature is based on collaborative filtering
, also featured on websites such as Last.fm
and Amazon.com
.
Another feature of Tribler is a limited form of social networking and donation of upload capacity. Tribler includes the ability to mark specific users as online friends. Such friends can be used to increase the download speed of files by using their upload capacity.
Due to these features Tribler differs from other popular BitTorrent clients such as Vuze
and μTorrent.
based BitTorrent Internet TV viewer. It allows you to watch BitTorrent-hosted peer-to-peer digital media distribution of video on demand
and plays live Tribler streaming media
. It is based on the same core as the Tribler TV application.
The core software is free and open source software
based on the Tribler platform, licensed under the LGPL 2.1.
Tribler is designed to enhance BitTorrent by removing the need for central elements such as the websites for finding content. The aim is to increase performance, reliability, and scalability.
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
client
Client (computing)
A client is an application or system that accesses a service made available by a server. The server is often on another computer system, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network....
with various features for watching videos online. The user interface of Tribler is very basic and focused on ease of use, instead of including features. Tribler is based on the BitTorrent protocol and uses an overlay network
Overlay network
An overlay network is a computer network which is built on the top of another network. Nodes in the overlay can be thought of as being connected by virtual or logical links, each of which corresponds to a path, perhaps through many physical links, in the underlying network...
for content searching.
Due to this overlay network Tribler does not require an external website or indexing service to discover content.
Tribler features include: video-only searching, experimental video streaming, and an integrated video player
Video player (software)
A video player is a kind of media player for playing back digital video data from media such as optical discs , as well as from files of appropriate formats such as MPEG, AVI, RealVideo, and QuickTime....
. Tribler is available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.
The name Tribler stems from the word Tribe, referring to the usage of social networks in this P2P client. The first version of Tribler was a small enhancement on the ABC (Yet Another BitTorrent Client)
ABC (Yet Another BitTorrent Client)
ABC is a free software, open source BitTorrent client based on BitTornado. It supports a queueing system with priority, global and local preference setting for downloading torrent , 3 upload options to do with completed file, and a system named Upload Rate Manager to force torrents out of queue...
In 2009 the development team behind Tribler stated that their efforts for the coming years are focused on integration of Tribler in television hardware.
Features
Tribler adds keyword search ability to the BitTorrent file download protocol using a gossip protocolGossip protocol
A gossip protocol is a style of computer-to-computer communication protocol inspired by the form of gossip seen in social networks. Modern distributed systems often use gossip protocols to solve problems that might be difficult to solve in other ways, either because the underlying network has an...
, somewhat similar to the eXeem
EXeem
eXeem was a peer-to-peer file sharing client using the BitTorrent protocol. eXeem was designed to replace the need for centralized trackers...
network which was shut down in 2005. The software includes the ability to recommend content. After a dozen downloads the Tribler software can roughly estimate the download taste of the user and
recommends content. This feature is based on collaborative filtering
Collaborative filtering
Collaborative filtering is the process of filtering for information or patterns using techniques involving collaboration among multiple agents, viewpoints, data sources, etc. Applications of collaborative filtering typically involve very large data sets...
, also featured on websites such as Last.fm
Last.fm
Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
and Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
.
Another feature of Tribler is a limited form of social networking and donation of upload capacity. Tribler includes the ability to mark specific users as online friends. Such friends can be used to increase the download speed of files by using their upload capacity.
Due to these features Tribler differs from other popular BitTorrent clients such as Vuze
Vuze
Vuze is a BitTorrent client used to transfer files via the BitTorrent protocol. Vuze is written in Java, and uses the Azureus Engine. In addition to downloading data linked to by .torrent files, Azureus allows users to view, publish and share original DVD and HD quality video content...
and μTorrent.
SwarmPlayer
The SwarmPlayer is a PythonPython (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
based BitTorrent Internet TV viewer. It allows you to watch BitTorrent-hosted peer-to-peer digital media distribution of video on demand
Video on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
and plays live Tribler streaming media
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
. It is based on the same core as the Tribler TV application.
The core software is free and open source software
Free and open source software
Free and open-source software or free/libre/open-source software is software that is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code...
based on the Tribler platform, licensed under the LGPL 2.1.
Development
Tribler was created by university researchers trying to improve peer-to-peer technology.Tribler is designed to enhance BitTorrent by removing the need for central elements such as the websites for finding content. The aim is to increase performance, reliability, and scalability.
Uses
The European Union's P2P-Next project to develop an internet television distribution standard builds on Tribler technology under development at the Delft University of Technology.See also
- Torrent SwapperTorrent SwapperTorrent Swapper is a free software BitTorrent client. The program is used to download files using Peer-To-Peer technology, in this case using the Bittorrent protocol.Their sourceforge home page states:Lightweight python based 4th...
builds on Tribler
External links
- Official Tribler website
- Official Tribler Forum
- Official Swarmplayer 2.0 website
- Several reviews of Tribler
- Part of this video lecture discusses Tribler in the context of bandwidth-as-currency
- TRIBLER PROTOCOL SPECIFICATION
- "Truly Decentralized BitTorrent Downloading Has Finally Arrived' -(TorrentFreak)