Vuze

Last updated
Vuze
Developer(s) Azureus Software
Initial releaseJune 2003;21 years ago (2003-06)
Final release
5.7.6.0  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg [1] / 2 November 2017;6 years ago (2 November 2017)
Preview release 5.7.6.1 Beta 1 (November 2, 2017;6 years ago (2017-11-02)) [±] [2]
Repository
Written in Java [3]
Platform Java (software platform)
Size
  • Source code: 9.7  MB
  • Linux: 18.9 MB
  • Windows (x86): 9.1 MB
  • Windows (x64): 9.0 MB
  • Android: 5.4 MB
  • OS X: 10.1 MB
[4]
Available in38 languages [5]
List of languages
English, German, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Polish, Finnish, Danish, Italian, Russian, Norwegian, Bulgarian, Brazilian-Portuguese, Czech, Lithuanian, Slovenian, Turkish, Catalan, Galician, Greek, Hebrew, Serbian, Serbian (latin), Malay, Japanese, Hungarian, Romanian, Thai, Korean, Slovak, Bosnian, Frisian, Macedonian, Georgian
Type BitTorrent client
License GNU General Public License v2
Website www.vuze.com

Vuze (previously Azureus) is a BitTorrent client used to transfer files via the BitTorrent protocol. Vuze is written in Java, and uses the Azureus Engine. In addition to downloading data linked to .torrent files, Azureus allows users to view, publish and share original DVD and HD quality video content. [6] Content is presented through channels and categories containing TV shows, music videos, movies, video games, series and others.

Contents

Azureus was first released in June 2003 at SourceForge.net, mostly to experiment with the Standard Widget Toolkit from Eclipse. It later became one of the most popular BitTorrent clients. [7] The Azureus software was released under the GNU General Public License, and remains as a free software application. It was among the most popular BitTorrent clients. However, the Vuze software added in more recent versions is proprietary and users are required to accept these more restrictive license terms.

Features

Vuze (classic UI) statistics page Azureus Statistics.png
Vuze (classic UI) statistics page

Bridging between I2P and the clearnet

Vuze is the only client that makes clearnet torrents available on I2P and vice versa. It has a plugin that connects to the I2P network. If the user adds a torrent from I2P, it will be seeded on both I2P and the clearnet, and if a user adds a torrent from the clearnet, it will be seeded on both the clearnet and I2P. For this reason, torrents previously published only on I2P are made available to the entire Internet, and users of I2P can download any torrent on the Internet while maintaining the anonymity of I2P. [8] [9] As of 2023 BiglyBT added support for using the I2P HTTP(S) proxy for eepsite URLs. [10] By default BiglyBT is configured to use StormyCloud Inc I2P Outproxy. [11]

History

Azureus

Azureus Azureus screenshot ubuntu.png
Azureus

Azureus was first released in June 2003 at SourceForge.net. The blue poison dart frog ( Dendrobates azureus ) was chosen as the logo and name of the brand by co-creator Tyler Pitchford. This choice was due to Latin names of poison dart frogs being used as codenames for his development projects.

Vuze

In 2006 Vuze was released as an attempt to transform the client into a "social" client by a group of the original developers forming Azureus Inc., shortly to be renamed Vuze, Inc. A Vuze-free version of Azureus was released along with Vuze during the beta period. The releases used version numbers 3.0, while the Vuze-free versions continued with the 2.5 release numbers. [12] In addition, some developers voiced opposition to the idea of completely transforming the client.[ citation needed ] Starting with an unknown version, Vuze was coupled with Azureus. Soon after, "NoVuze" modified versions were released on The Pirate Bay, and as of September 15, 2008, are available for versions up to 3.1.1.0. On June 16, 2008, the developers of Azureus/Vuze decided to stop releasing versions named Azureus, and complete the name change with the release of version 3.1. The client engine however, remains unchanged as Azureus.

License change

Up to version 2.5.0.4, Azureus was distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL); beginning with the version 3 distribution, the license presented upon installation changed. While it still states that the "Azureus Application" is available under the GPL, completing installation requires the user to agree to the terms of the "Vuze Platform," which include restrictions on use, reverse-engineering, [13] and sublicensing. [14] As with many similar licenses, the Azureus licence includes a prohibition on use of the software by people "under the age of 18." [15] Allegedly, the TOS only applies to the website, vuze.com, and not the software, [16] however the actual TOS include the application as part of the platforms. [17]

Acquisition by Spigot Inc

Vuze was acquired by Spigot Inc in December 2010.[ citation needed ]

Development hiatus and fork

Maintenance and development of Vuze ground to a halt in early 2017, with no new releases or commits being made since April, featured content becoming inaccessible, and users reporting outdated antivirus definitions. [18] The two main developers left the project and focused their efforts on a fork called BiglyBT, [19] which removed Vuze's premium and proprietary features [20] such as DVD burning, gaming promotions, the video-sharing content network, and the installer's advertisements. [21] [22]

Criticism

Vuze is categorized as adware by Softpedia, [23] due to its inclusion of a Vuze Toolbar for web browsers. Vuze changes or offers to change home page and search and to install a promotional component not necessary for the program to function. [24] However, all adware can be declined by using a custom installation. In February 2010, What.CD and Waffles.fm, two large music sharing sites at the time, decided to ban the use of Vuze. [25]

However, Vuze cites its Softpedia Editor's pick award, having received an editor score of 4 out of 5 from two reviews: One on 23 November 2005 [26] and another on 7 February 2012. [24]

Vuze includes built-in support for Tor, an anonymity network. The onion routers are run by volunteers using their own bandwidth at their own cost. Due to the high bandwidth usage caused by the BitTorrent protocol, it is considered impolite and inappropriate by Tor community members to use the Tor network for BitTorrent transfers. [27] [28] By default, the Tor exit policy blocks the standard BitTorrent ports. [29]

It also includes I2P support via an official plugin. In contrast to Tor, I2P is built for P2P traffic and encourages its use.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

BitTorrent, also referred to simply as torrent, is a communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a decentralized manner. The protocol is developed and maintained by Rainberry, Inc., and was first released in 2001.

An anonymous P2P communication system is a peer-to-peer distributed application in which the nodes, which are used to share resources, or participants are anonymous or pseudonymous. Anonymity of participants is usually achieved by special routing overlay networks that hide the physical location of each node from other participants.

The Invisible Internet Project (I2P) is an anonymous network layer that allows for censorship-resistant, peer-to-peer communication. Anonymous connections are achieved by encrypting the user's traffic, and sending it through a volunteer-run network of roughly 55,000 computers distributed around the world. Given the high number of possible paths the traffic can transit, a third party watching a full connection is unlikely. The software that implements this layer is called an "I2P router", and a computer running I2P is called an "I2P node". I2P is free and open sourced, and is published under multiple licenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BitComet</span> BitTorrent, FTP and HTTP client

BitComet is a cross-protocol BitTorrent, HTTP and FTP client written in C++ for Microsoft Windows and available in 52 different languages. Its first public release was version 0.28. The current BitComet logo has been used since version 0.50.

In file sharing, super-seeding is an algorithm developed by John Hoffman for the BitTorrent communications protocol that helps downloaders become uploaders more quickly, but it introduces the danger of total seeding failure if there is only one downloader.

A BitTorrent tracker is a special type of server that assists in the communication between peers using the BitTorrent protocol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FrostWire</span> Free and open-source BitTorrent client

FrostWire is a free and open-source BitTorrent client first released in September 2004, as a fork of LimeWire. It was initially very similar to LimeWire in appearance and functionality, but over time developers added more features, including support for the BitTorrent protocol. In version 5, support for the Gnutella network was dropped entirely, and FrostWire became a BitTorrent-only client.

Protocol encryption (PE), message stream encryption (MSE) or protocol header encrypt (PHE) are related features of some peer-to-peer file-sharing clients, including BitTorrent clients. They attempt to enhance privacy and confidentiality. In addition, they attempt to make traffic harder to identify by third parties including internet service providers (ISPs). However, encryption will not protect one from DMCA notices from sharing illegal content, as one is still uploading material and the monitoring firms can merely connect to the swarm.

Peer exchange or PEX is a communications protocol that augments the BitTorrent file sharing protocol. It allows a group of users that are collaborating to share a given file to do so more swiftly and efficiently.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deluge (software)</span> BitTorrent client

Deluge BitTorrent Client is a free and open-source, cross-platform BitTorrent client written in Python. Deluge uses a front and back end architecture where libtorrent, a software library written in C++ which provides the application's networking logic, is connected to one of various front ends including a text console, the web interface and a graphical desktop interface using GTK through the project's own Python bindings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tribler</span> Peer-to-peer filesharing software and protocol

Tribler is an open source decentralized BitTorrent client which allows anonymous peer-to-peer by default. Tribler is based on the BitTorrent protocol and uses an overlay network for content searching. Due to this overlay network, Tribler does not require an external website or indexing service to discover content. The user interface of Tribler is very basic and focused on ease of use instead of diversity of features. Tribler is available for Linux, Windows, and OS X.

The following is a general comparison of BitTorrent clients, which are computer programs designed for peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phex</span> Peer to peer file sharing client

Phex is a peer-to-peer file sharing client for the gnutella network, released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, so Phex is free software. Phex is based on Java SE 5.0 or later.

Micro Transport Protocol is an open User Datagram Protocol-based (UDP-based) variant of the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing protocol intended to mitigate poor latency and other congestion control problems found in conventional BitTorrent over Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), while providing reliable, ordered delivery.

The following is a list of notable software for running a BitTorrent tracker.

The usage share of BitTorrent clients is the percentage of users that use a particular BitTorrent client, regardless of version.

Mainline DHT is the name given to the Kademlia-based distributed hash table (DHT) used by BitTorrent clients to find peers via the BitTorrent protocol. The idea of using a DHT for distributed tracking in BitTorrent was first implemented in Azureus 2.3.0.0 in May 2005, from which it gained significant popularity. Unrelated but around the same time, BitTorrent, Inc. released a similar DHT into their client called Mainline DHT, and thus popularized the use of distributed tracking in the BitTorrent protocol. Measurement showed that by 2013, the concurrent number of users of Mainline DHT is from 16 million to 28 million, with intra-day changes of at least 10 million.

μTorrent Proprietary adware BitTorrent client

μTorrent, or uTorrent, is a proprietary adware BitTorrent client owned and developed by Rainberry, Inc. The "μ" in its name comes from the SI prefix "micro-", referring to the program's small memory footprint: the program was designed to use minimal computer resources while offering functionality comparable to larger BitTorrent clients such as Vuze or BitComet. μTorrent became controversial in 2015 when many users unknowingly accepted a default option during installation which also installed a cryptocurrency miner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WebTorrent</span> Peer-to-peer web-based torrent client

WebTorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) streaming torrent client written in JavaScript, from the same author, Feross Aboukhadijeh, of YouTube Instant, and the team at WebTorrent and on GitHub, for use in web browsers, as well as a WebTorrent Desktop stand alone version able to bridge WebTorrent and BitTorrent serverless networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BiglyBT</span> BitTorrent client

BiglyBT is a BitTorrent client written in Java forked from Vuze. It is free and open-source software and ad-free.

References

  1. ↑ "Changelog". Vuze Community. Archived from the original on 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
  2. ↑ "Vuze - Dev Home". Vuze Development. 2017-11-02. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
  3. ↑ Lextrait, Vincent (January 2010). "The Programming Languages Beacon, v10.0". Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
  4. ↑ "Azureus/Vuze.com - Browse /vuze at SourceForge.net". Azureus.Sourceforge.net. Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
  5. ↑ "Vuze FAQ". Vuze.com. Archived from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2013-07-24.
  6. ↑ Azureus' HD Vids Trump YouTube Archived 2013-10-27 at the Wayback Machine , Calore, Michael (Wired News): (2006-12-04)
  7. ↑ "SourceForge Top Projects". Sourceforge.net. Archived from the original on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  8. ↑ "Vuze Speeds Up Torrent Downloads Through "Swarm Merging" - TorrentFreak". torrentfreak.com. 20 March 2015. Archived from the original on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  9. ↑ "I2PHelper HowTo - VuzeWiki". wiki.vuze.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  10. ↑ "I2P". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
  11. ↑ "StormyCloud - I2P Outproxy | I2P Anonymous Network". stormycloud.org. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
  12. ↑ "Confusion about name change". Apcmag.com. June 17, 2008. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2009.
  13. ↑ "Section 8.12". Vuze.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  14. ↑ "Section 8.2". Vuze.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  15. ↑ "Section 1 and Section 8.10". Vuze.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  16. ↑ "Azureus 2 / 3 and Vuze". AzureusWiki. 2008-06-27. Archived from the original on 2009-07-17. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  17. ↑ "Section 0". Vuze.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  18. ↑ Maxwell, Andy (2017-08-03), "Tumbleweed at Vuze as Torrent Client Development Grinds to a Halt", TorrentFreak , archived from the original on 2020-02-12
  19. ↑ Van der Sar, Ernesto (2017-08-03), "Former Vuze Developers Launch BiglyBT, a 'New' Open Source Torrent Client", TorrentFreak, retrieved 2020-05-05
  20. ↑ Teah, Ted (2017-11-29), "The Licensing and Compliance Lab interviews BiglyBT", Free Software Foundation , archived from the original on 2018-10-28, retrieved 2019-12-30
  21. ↑ Georgopoulos, Stergios (2017-08-04), "Former Vuze developers launch new open-source torrent client without any ads or bloat", Neowin , retrieved 2024-05-12
  22. ↑ Urban, Petr (2017-08-07), Vývoj Vuze stojí, původní vývojáři stvořili otevřeného nástupce. BiglyBT je bez reklam [Development of Vuze halts, original developers created an open successor. BiglyBT has no ads] (in Czech)
  23. ↑ "Download Vuze (formerly Azureus) 4.2.0.5 Beta 03 / 4.2.0.4 Stable Free Trial – A freeware Java based BitTorrent client". Softpedia. Archived from the original on 2009-02-12. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  24. 1 2 "Download Vuze". Softpedia . SoftNews. Archived from the original on 6 July 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  25. ↑ "Vuze and Deluge to be banned". FILEnetworks Blog. 2010-02-20. Archived from the original on 2010-02-23. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  26. ↑ "The Torrent Master Is Back". Softpedia . SoftNews. 23 November 2005. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  27. ↑ "doc/TorifyHOWTO/BitTorrent – Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki". Wiki.torproject.org. Archived from the original on 2022-02-05. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
  28. ↑ "Why Tor is slow and what we're going to do about it | The Tor Blog". Blog.torproject.org. 2009-03-13. Archived from the original on 2013-01-28. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
  29. ↑ "doc/TorFAQ – Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki". Wiki.torproject.org. Archived from the original on 2008-04-21. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
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