uTorrent Web launches

Martin Brinkmann
Sep 6, 2018
Updated • Sep 6, 2018
Internet
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Bittorrent Inc, which was recently sold, has launched the first public version of uTorrent Web, a web-based torrent client optimized for streaming media.

While uTorrent is under heavy criticism ever since Bittorrent Inc began integrating adware, offers, advertisement and other unwanted things in the client, it is up to this day a very popular client for seeding and downloading torrent files.

We looked at a preview version of uTorrent Web in February 2018 after Bittorrent Inc revealed in 2017 that the next major version of uTorrent would be web-based.

Today, the final version of uTorrent Web that has been released for Windows. The company promises that a Mac version will follow soon; reason enough to take another look at the application.

Attention: Reports suggest that the Windows installer may include third-party offers for installation.  I ran the installer twice on two different machines and did not get any. The offers may be limited to certain regions in the world or limited in other ways.

uTorrent Web

The uTorrent Web client runs on the local system after installation but all management options have been moved to the browser.

The interface should open automatically in the default browser on launch; if that is not the case you may click on the uTorrent Web icon in the System Tray area on Windows to launch it.

The main interface displays search functionality at the top and below that options to add torrents or magnet links to uTorrent Web.

Search is more or less useless at this point in time as it just redirects to a Google Search. If you search for EXAMPLE, search redirects to the search results page for EXAMPLE torrent on Google.

Adding torrents is quite easy. You may drag and drop torrent files to add them to uTorrent Web or use the "add" button to add magnet or torrent links instead.

Downloads start as soon as you have added a new torrent or magnet link and uTorrent Web switches to its media view which gives you options to play the first video of a torrent right then and there.

The media player has limited playback capabilities. Mp4 video files worked fine for the most part but I got only audio or no playback at all for other video formats.

The downloading happens in the background and it worked fine out of the box. Users should not expect a wealth of configuration options at this point in time though. In fact, the only download related options right now are to limit the upload and download bandwidth in the settings.

Note that downloads continue for as long as the uTorrent Web process runs on the local system; this is the case even if you close the web interface. If you want torrent downloads to stop, you need to close the client on the local system.

uTorrent Web plays the first media file it encounters by default. You may click on the files button next to a torrent to display all files it contains. From there it is just a matter of selecting a different file or format to play it.

play video

Whether it is possible to play the video file right away depends largely on the device's download speed and the seeders of the torrent.

Included media files played nearly instantly in some cases but they may not do so in others.

Files included in a torrent get downloaded to the local system so that you may play them locally at any time as well; this is useful for files that uTorrent Web's player can't play.

Note that uTorrent Web limits downloads to media files currently. The application did download avi, mp4, or ogv files included in a torrent but did not download xml or gif files. You need to click on files and toggle the download switch for excluded files to have them downloaded as well and you may use the feature to block files from being downloaded.

A setting to always download all files is not available. Basic torrent management options are provided by the web client. You can open the local folder of the torrent or remove the torrent from the local system.

The client supports sort and filter options, and you may pause, stop, or force downloads using the action menu.

Closing Words

uTorrent Web works surprising well. The main thing the application has going for it right now is that it is super simple to use and that users can start to stream media files included in torrents shortly after they have added the torrent to the download queue.

There are downsides, however: the media player lacks support for many common media formats and options to customize the application are scarce.

May not be a problem for some users but most probably like more control over the torrent client.

Now You: What is your take on uTorrent Web?

Summary
software image
Author Rating
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2.5 based on 7 votes
Software Name
uTorrent Web
Operating System
Windows
Software Category
Internet
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Comments

  1. kmo911 said on September 21, 2019 at 7:09 pm
    Reply

    it got ads from getb8.*** WARRNING!

  2. DB said on August 29, 2019 at 10:11 am
    Reply

    Does not work on Mac, sadly…

  3. Anonymous said on September 6, 2018 at 7:57 pm
    Reply

    Am I reading it wrong? Web based but need installation?

  4. Rick said on September 6, 2018 at 5:41 pm
    Reply

    https://web.utorrent.com/

    is the correct link for the site; http://www.utorrent web.com/ doesn’t work (your link to the product)

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on September 6, 2018 at 6:35 pm
      Reply

      Thanks Rick, corrected.

  5. txtim said on September 6, 2018 at 3:00 pm
    Reply

    i like to use WebTorrent it can usually max out my 150 MB vpn download speed

    1. noemata said on September 6, 2018 at 6:36 pm
      Reply

      @txtim

      but webtorrent uses webrtc and webrtc is known for leaking ip addresses (trough a vpn). anything but safe. best, deactivate webrtc completely. firefox, about:config: “media.peerconnection.enabled” to false. and forget about webtorrent.

      1. txtim said on September 6, 2018 at 10:23 pm
        Reply

        i use windscribe vpn it is firewalled

  6. Anonymous said on September 6, 2018 at 12:14 pm
    Reply

    1) It’s NOT “web based” if you need to install something locally. WebTorrent is web based. This is not. Why do they spread this confusion ? Also, I don’t see the point of this browser integration at all. If anything this is very suspect, when one knows all the dirt that the ordinary uTorrent already contains.

    2) Even before this browser integrated version people had already no rational reason to use this proprietary piece of crapware full of ads and that installed coin mining malware. While there exist superior, user-respecting and free software replacements like qbittorrent.

  7. noemata said on September 6, 2018 at 8:37 am
    Reply

    https://www.ghacks.net/2018/06/19/bittorrent-and-utorrent-reportedly-sold/.

    justin sun = cryptomining while it is in use? certainly not “for free.” i don’t trust this company for a second. not to mention the third-party offers (mentioned by martin). bad news, again. good news: the new tor browser & ff 63.0b3 .

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