How Torrent Works - How It Works

 

Simple Explanation:

The torrent file usually named after whatever you download, that's not the full package though it just lets your computer know what it's looking for. To read that file you need a client something like utorrent or BitTorrent, which manages the download and assembles the fine assembling. Assembling that file is really complicated work. 

When it becomes a torrent your file gets broken down into thousands of tiny snippets and the torrent file lets you know where to find each one. One might be on a computer in Singapore another in Brazil but the client lets you download all of them separately and reassemble them on your computer and once each chunk of data is safely on your computer. You then start sending it out again sharing the parts of the file you have while you look for the ones you don't.

To figure out where those snippets, you need a tracking system typically a server that specified the initial torrent file. It keeps track of who have which snippets, giving you a real-time map where all the different parts of the file are.