WebTorrent with Feross Aboukhadijeh
Software Engineering Daily · softwareengineeringdaily.com
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Show Notes
WebTorrent is a streaming torrent client for the browser that can be used without any additional plugins, extensions, or installations. It is written entirely in JavaScript, and uses WebRTC to handle peer-to-peer communication. There are some limitations to making BitTorrent work over the web using WebRTC, including the inability for a browser-based WebTorrent client or “web peer” to communicate directly with a torrent client.
However, the potential for every browser to contribute to the hosting and streaming of files is unprecedented. Imagine if large content sites like Netflix or YouTube did not have centralized hosting, and instead relied on its users to seed the content to each other using their web clients. This enables not only more efficient networks, but also the ability for each user to contribute to and be part of the content delivery network.
Feross Aboukhadijeh is the creator of WebTorrent. Previously he built PeerCDN, a peer-to-peer content delivery network, which was acquired by Yahoo in 2013.