What is P2P?
Tags: p2p, torrent, networks
Published: 2021-06-07 13:23:09

The Internet is currently one of the most used ways to share all kinds of experiences, mainly thanks to social networks, but also to share with others a large amount of material of all kinds, such as video, audio, and images. In this area, there is no doubt that the so-called P2P network, which offers the possibility of exchanging material between computers over the Internet, is the simplest and most private way, is one of the most used tools.

A P2P (peer-to-peer) network, also known in Spanish as a peer-to-peer network, is currently one of the most important and popular ways of sharing all kinds of material between Internet users, regardless of the software platform used. Nor the place or time in which they are. If you want to know more about P2P networks, we invite you to continue reading the rest of the article.

## What are P2P Networks?

Since Napster came onto the market in May 1999, considered the first application to launch Peer Peer networks, P2P technology has not stopped growing, both in terms of users and advances in its structure.

P2P networks arise under the premise of a philosophical idea that states that all users who participate in the said network have obligations and rights when sharing content through it. Although it is a philosophical aspect, the truth is that P2P networks use this concept for their operation. Hence the user who shares the most material will access more privileges, both in terms of speed and content.

Emphasizing this philosophy, it is possible that the P2P network system can ensure availability in its shared contents since if users do not collaborate with the growth of the network, it could not continue to exist.

All those users who share material on P2P networks are called "Seeders." In contrast, those who only take said content without giving anything in return are called "Leechers" (leechers), who with their behavior endanger the availability of content on the network, as they use bandwidth for their own benefits, thus reducing P2P resources.

In this way, and unlike other methods based on dedicated servers, in P2P networks, all users who connect to it provide the bandwidth and storage capacity, points necessary for its correct operation. In other words, each computer, also called a node or Peer, which is connected to the network, provides the required resources, thus allowing the traffic in it to experience higher transfer rates.

One of the most important characteristics of this type of network is that instead of stopping completely when failures arise in one of the nodes that compose it, the P2P network will continue to function without problems since the requested content is offered by another node.

This is the reason why, despite the existence of a large number of tools to share material between distant computers, P2P networks are currently the protocol most used by users of this type of activity. Compared to other types of networks, the so-called Peer-to-Peer (P2P) is usually one of the most recommended for sharing content due to the distribution of its resources, since, as we mentioned, each of the connected computers in it. They provide bandwidth and storage space, which means higher transfer speed, in addition to the powerful robustness that it registers.

On the other hand, it should be noted that there are currently three different types of P2P networks: centralized, pure, and mixed. To find out more about how each of these types of networks works, we recommend reading the article "Types of P2P networks and software used" to find out which applications are commonly used for these networks.

## How a P2P network works

Basically, P2P networks are a computer network that works without the need for clients or fixed servers, giving you the flexibility that would otherwise be impossible to achieve. This is obtained thanks to the fact that the network works in the form of a series of nodes that behave as equals. This, in short, means that the computers are connected to the current P2P network at the same time as clients and servers concerning the other connected computers.

Another of the advantages associated with P2P networks is that they can take better advantage, that is, obtain a better benefit and optimization, in the use of the bandwidth available between users for file exchange, which allows this To obtain a better performance and performance in the connections, which translates into a better transfer speed, and therefore in a faster file download.

P2P networks manage the use of available bandwidth marks a noticeable difference in performance with other types of more centralized networks, where the bandwidth is provided by a set of servers that could never outnumber the found in peer-to-peer networks.

## What is a P2P network for?

P2P networks are beneficial for everything that has to do with sharing data between users and is widely used today to share all kinds of material between users who connect with any of the clients that exist in the market, both video, like audio, programs, and literature, among others. Moreover, money is also belongs to "data" so p2p can be the best practice for sending payments. This article [https://boston-unisoft.com/blog/how-to-build-a-custom-p2p-payment-app-in-2021.html](https://boston-unisoft.com/blog/how-to-build-a-custom-p2p-payment-app-in-2021.html) explains how to create p2p payment app and how transactions are made in this network.

Also, many companies make use of this peer-to-peer technology to provide services to their customers. A typical case of this is Skype and its successful VoIP phone service. Also, other companies that use P2P networks to set up their services are Netflix, with its streaming of movies on demand, Spotify, and many more.

## P2P and legality

Regarding the legal aspects that revolve around P2P networks, material that is often subject to copyright is usually shared. However, there are no prohibitions that limit the use of this type of network; in many countries, there are sanctioned users who have content protected under copyright law, as in the case of Spain, where there have been large fines for this type of event.

Despite all the material subject to the different laws for the protection of intellectual property that we can find in P2P networks, they themselves are not illegal, what is considered illegal in many countries of the world are the sites that provide the links to that we can download this type of content, being one of the most severe countries with this type of behavior Spain.