How to get uTorrent to download faster

If you have been wondering how to get uTorrent to download faster, stay tuned. Torrenting remains one of the most reliable methods to share large files.

Even though most people think that torrents are used only for piracy, that’s not a true fact.

It is extremely useful to share files in a decentralized manner. This makes software like uTorrent valuable.

Software distributors like Linux OS rely on them to get their software into the hands of their users.

For that purpose, you might be looking at ways to make your downloads faster.

Sometimes, even if you have a fast broadband connection, your download speed in uTorrent may be only a fraction of it.

So, it’s vital to make sure that all the settings are optimized to get you the best speeds possible. Below we take a look at some ways you can do that.

How to get uTorrent to download faster
Wrap Up

How to get uTorrent to download faster

Allocate the right bandwidth

Not many people might know this but you can speed up your downloads by tweaking how uTorrent connects with other peers on the network. There are also other parameters you can change to have the same effect.

Let’s take a look at the steps involved to achieve this:

Open the uTorrent software;

Click on the “Options” button on the upper-left corner of your screen. A drop-down menu will pop-up;

Click “Preferences”. This will open up a settings panel;

Go to “Bandwidth” on the left sidebar. This will open up all the settings related to how uTorrent connects to the torrent networks;

Now, on the right side, you need to make a handful of changes. First, click on the check box next to “Apply rate limit to transport overhead”;
Then, change the “Global maximum number of connections” to 2329;
Next, set “Maximum number of connected peers per torrent” to 257;
Then, change “Number of upload slots per torrent” to 14;
Finally, change “Maximum upload rate” also to 14.
Once you’re done, click “Ok”.

Change the port

One other way to increase the download speed is by changing the port. In most cases, the default port allocation is below 6999. However, you can set a higher number to get faster download speeds. To do so, you can follow the below steps:

Follow the first three steps mentioned above to get to the settings panel;
Next, click on “Connection”;

If your port number is below 7000, change it to anywhere from 10000 to 12000.

Change “Queueing” settings

Queueing is basically how uTorrent manages multiple downloads. If you set this up in the right manner, you might be able to squeeze more speed from uTorrent. Let’s take a look at the steps involved:

Follow the same first three steps as mentioned above to get to the settings panel;
Click on “Queueing” on the left sidebar;
Here too, you need to make a handful of changes. First, change “Maximum Number of Active Torrents” to 10;
Next, set “Maximum Number of Active Downloads” to 10;
Finally, set the “Seeding Goal” minimum ratio to 0;
When you’re done, click “Ok”.

Prioritizing a torrent

Let’s say you are downloading multiple torrents. Each torrent file will download at its own speed depending on several factors.

Now, if you want to help one particular file download faster, you can follow the below steps:

Right-click on a torrent;
Select “Bandwidth Allocation” and then click on “High”. Doing so will put this particular torrent into priority;
Right-click on other torrents in progress;
Select “Bandwidth Allocation” and then click on “Low”.

Wrap Up

uTorrent is a great way to download large files over the torrent network. In fact, it is much more reliable than a direct download since torrenting breaks a file into multiple pieces and so, the chances of downloads failing are pretty low.

Now, depending on your broadband speed, you can actually speed up your downloads.

All you have to do is play with some settings in the Preferences panel.

These are not that hard to do and you only need to change them once.

Then, you can keep enjoying higher download speeds!

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Table of Contents

How to get uTorrent to download faster

Allocate the right bandwidth

Change the port

Change “Queueing” settings

Prioritizing a torrent

Wrap Up