Creating a torrent to share with the world
Creating a torrent is very easy although many people don’t know how. In this post I’ll be showing you how to create a torrent very quickly.
Deciding what you share
First you need to decide what you want to share (duh). This could be your latest Photoshop wallpaper masterpiece or simply a vacation video from Japan to family members back home. The important part is to know what you want to upload before you do it because once you upload the torrent, you cannot modify it. For the sake of this and the next tutorial, I have decided to use one my personal wallpapers.
Multiple files
If you have multiple files, you can place them into a folder. Note that you do NOT have to archive (ZIP/RAR) this folder and it’s recommended that you don’t because it gives downloaders the option to choose what they want to download from the folder, if they don’t want it all.
Where to put the pointer
You also need to decide where you are going to put the pointer file (that small .torrent file a user gets to start a download). There are many sites that index these pointer files, you simply have to search for your favorite and upload your pointer file to their site. We will be looking at uploading in another post.
You can also put this pointer on your own website if you have one or post it on a blog or forum. Wherever you decide to put it, you will probably need to create an account first.
Create the torrent first
Before we can point to anything we need to create the torrent. Different torrent clients will have different ways of doing this but it will basically be the same. In µTorrent we choose File -> Create New Torrent (Ctrl+N). This will present you with a pop-up box similar to the one you see when starting a download.
Select Source:
First up we need to select the source of the file(s) we want to upload. If you have only one file, choose “Add File”. If you have more than one file (and they are inside a folder), choose “Add directory”. Navigate to the file(s), select them and click “Ok”.
Skip Files:
If you want to skip any files, specify them here (Yes there are situations where this is useful or needed).
Trackers:
You will find this on the torrent indexing site you have registered to or choose one or all from our tracker list. Remember that an empty line always comes between each tracker separating them.
Comment:
If you want to add some comments to the torrent, this is where you enter them. These comments are very useful for the person downloading the torrent.
Start Seeding:
Keep this checked and you will start seeding the torrent immediately after you have saved it.
Private Torrent:
Checking this makes the torrent private so that only select people can download it.
Click on “Create and save as”, choose the torrent’s name and where to save it. You have now successfully created a torrent.