BitTorrent Protocol is a peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) communications protocol, famous (or infamous) for its ability to distribute large data files. Usage of the protocol accounts for significant traffic on the Internet. Peer-to-peer networks are charachterized by a decentralized topology of temporary peer nodes that join and leave the network, unlike traditional client-server networks. BitTorrent is maintained by BitTorrent, Inc. There are numerous compatible BitTorrent clients, such as uTorrent, BitComet, Deluge, TurboBT, and Transmission. (Xunlei is a Chinese-language file sharing client that uses BitTorrent, eMule, so-called, HTTP Download Acceleration--which is just clever use of the HTTP 'Range' header--and its own proprietary protocol.)

BitTorrent clients may also use encryption techniques to evade firewall application control. For this reason, we recommend enabling SonicWALL Encrypted Key Exchange signature id 5 in addition to the BitTorrent Protocol application signatures for complete control over this protocol.