Peer-to-Peer Network

A peer-to-peer network (P2P), is a type of network in which each computer can be both a client and a server. A p2p network does not have a centralized server, rather, it relies on the various computers within the network to provide (essentially share) the files.

The advantage to peer-to-peer networks is the fact all of the clients can contribute bandwidth. With shared bandwidth, the total available download bandwidth for the average user increases as more and more computers join the network. This advantage reduces the high bandwidth cost of operating a centralized server, where adding more clients could mean slower data transfer for all users. The peer network benefits from more users.

File sharing networks such as BitTorrent use peer-to-peer networks. A "peer" as it pertains to a BitTorrent network is simply another computer that contains pieces of the file being downloaded. The torrent file pulls the pieces of the file from multiple peers simultaneously to capture the complete file. When a peer has all of the data to make a complete file, it then is known as a "seed".