Torrent-dl NPM

Torrent-DL

Download Torrents via the Command-Line.

This is a simple but efficient command-line Bittorrent client, which aims to be "Youtube-DL for Torrents" (except it can download any file from a torrent, of course).

Description

Torrent-DL is an efficient command-line program allowing you to quickly download files via the Bittorrent protocol.

It is built using node.js, but does not require it to be installed on your computer if you download it from the releases page.

The torrent-dl binaries are all approximately 35MB in size, as they come pre-bundled with a small node.js runtime so they can run on any computer.

Installation

Windows users can download the latest torrent-dl release from here and place it anywhere in their system PATH except for %SYSTEMROOT%\System32 (e.g. do not put in C:\Windows\System32).

To install right away for Linux users:

sudo curl -L https://github.com/pigeonburger/torrent-dl/releases/latest/download/torrent-dl-linux-x64 -o /usr/local/bin/torrent-dl
sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/torrent-dl

To install right away for MacOS users:

sudo curl -L https://github.com/pigeonburger/torrent-dl/releases/latest/download/torrent-dl-macos-x64 -o /usr/local/bin/torrent-dl
sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/torrent-dl

If you do have node.js and npm installed on your device, then feel free to install it with:

npm install -g torrent-dl

(requires node.js v12 or higher)

Usage

torrent-dl -i [MAGNET LINK OR TORRENT FILE] [OPTIONS]

At the very basic level, the only option you need to provide is -i, e.g:

torrent-dl -i magnet:?xt=urn:btih:b26c81363ac1a236765385a702aec107a49581b5

This command will start downloading the Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop ISO.

You can also just pass the torrent's infohash:

torrent-dl -i b26c81363ac1a236765385a702aec107a49581b5

You are also able to provide the path to a downloaded torrent file, e.g:

torrent-dl -i /path/to/torrent-file.torrent

You can also provide a link to a torrent without having to download it:

torrent-dl -i https://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04/ubuntu-20.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent

More options available for use are below.

Options

`-i, --input`

Magnet link, infohash, torrent file or link to torrent file REQUIRED

This option can be used more than once to specify multiple references to torrents (they do not all need to be of the same type), e.g. -i torrent1.torrent -i magnetlink -i https://example.com/anothertorrent.torrent

Alternatively, you can also reference a .txt file containing a torrent reference on each line. Take this file, torrents.txt for example:

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:873dd05bd69f2626e4123887e7bb7922aaeb4efa&dn=873dd05bd69f2626e4123887e7bb7922aaeb4efa
https://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04/ubuntu-20.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:0aae223b7c0244e4952158554cd0506f0eca1fdf&dn=archlinux-2021.09.01-x86_64.iso

This file has the magnet link to a Linux Mint ISO on one line, Ubuntu on another line, and Arch Linux on the last line.

You can pass torrents.txt to torrent-dl like so:

torrent-dl -i torrents.txt

This will download all 3 torrents in the txt file, one after another.

The file you specify must have a .txt extension.

`-p, --port`

Port to listen for incoming peers Default is 6881

`-c, --connections`

Maximum number of peers to connect to Default is 100

`-u, --uploadslots`

Number of upload slots Default is 10

`-s, --search`

Download a torrent from a popular torrent site with a search query.

Use this option to specify a supported torrent site (see supported sites below), and then -i will be interpeted as the search query.

Available sites:

tpb - The Pirate Bay
ia - Internet Archive
st - Solidtorrents.net (torrent search engine for multiple sites)

While there are legimate, legal torrents on these sites, you should always take caution and ensure it can actually legally be downloaded in this way (see this notice here also). Legal penalties may apply.

Example usage:

torrent-dl --search tpb -i "ubuntu desktop"

You will then be presented with the first search result, and can navigate through all other results that come up, review their details and then download from one of them.

You can also specify multiple search terms by using -i more than once, or creating a .txt file and specifying a search term on each new line. (Please note that this will require you to manually select a search result for each one)

`-t, --tracker`

Manually add a custom tracker URL (can be used more than once if adding multiple trackers)

`-v, --verbose`

Prints extra informational output (such as data about connected peers)

`-h, --help`

Show the help menu.

`--version`

Print the torrent-dl version number.

Troubleshooting

I'm stuck on "Fetching files....." or "0 peers"

A number of factors could have caused this

The torrent may have 0 seeders, meaning the file cannot currently be downloaded 😬 sorry to be the bearer of bad news if this is the case. You can leave torrent-dl running like that and if a seeder ever pops up again, it will start downloading it.
Some ISPs block commonly used torrenting ports like 6881 - try switching to a different, larger port number. e.g. --port 43022
ISPs can also block P2P communication altogether, if this is the case for you, use a VPN.

My download speed is really slow

Your download speed can only be as fast as the combined upload speeds of all peers you're connected to, and this can vary depending on the torrent. Often, the more peers you're connected to, the faster you'll be able to download the files.

You can increase the maximum number of peers you can connect to with the -c option, e.g. -c 250

To-Do List

~~Add support for passing a .txt file containing a list of multiple torrents.~~ Done.
Proxy support.
Configuration file support.
~~Add automatic search and download functionality for popular torrent sites.~~ Done.
Make --verbose output look less stupid.
Asynchronous multiple downloads(?)

Other Notices

Legal Notice

While torrents themselves are legal, please note that downloading copyright-protected material from torrents is illegal and may result in serious penalties. It is your responsibility to ensure the material you download is legal.