system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How do torrents work?
gpt
You download a torrent file, which is basically a shared link to a ton of different people's computers. Then, when you download it, your computer connects to tens, if not hundreds or computers of people with the file. And instead of downloading the one big file at once, it downloads it in hundreds and thousands of little pieces. This also helps make it look like you're not downloading pirated material. Then, the torrent program (BitTorrent or μTorrent or the like) assembles the pieces together into a complete file.