Transmission (BitTorrent client)

Transmission allows users to quickly download files from multiple peers on the Internet and to upload their own files.{{Cite book |last=Richard Petersen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h1QnCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA209 |title=Beginning Fedora Desktop: Fedora 20 Edition |date=2 July 2014 |publisher=Apress |isbn=978-1-4842-0067-4 |pages=209– |access-date=1 November 2016 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117214025/https://books.google.com/books?id=h1QnCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA209 |url-status=live }} By adding torrent files via the user interface, users can create a queue of files to be downloaded and uploaded. Within the file selection menus, users can customise their downloads at the level of individual files. Transmission also seeds, that is, it will automatically share downloaded content.{{Cite book |last=Richard Petersen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w5oNBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT246 |title=Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6: Desktop and Administration |publisher=Surfing Turtle Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-936280-25-4 |pages=246– |access-date=1 November 2016 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117214042/https://books.google.com/books?id=w5oNBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT246 |url-status=live }}

Transmission allows the assigning of priorities to torrents and to files within torrents, thus potentially influencing which files download first. It supports the Magnet URI scheme{{Citation |title=Magnet links, extension for peers to send metadata files |url=https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/2096 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805182755/https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/2096 |publisher=Trac.transmissionbt.com |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-date=5 August 2017 |url-status=live}} and encrypted connections. It allows torrent-file creation and peer exchange compatible with Vuze and μTorrent. It includes a built-in web server so that users can control Transmission remotely via the web.{{Cite book |last=Scott Granneman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qG2Bb4JtfwgC&pg=PT237 |title=Mac OS X Snow Leopard for Power Users |date=18 October 2010 |publisher=Apress |isbn=978-1-4302-3031-1 |pages=237– |access-date=1 November 2016 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117214037/https://books.google.com/books?id=qG2Bb4JtfwgC&pg=PT237 |url-status=live }} It also supports automatic port-mapping using UPnP/NAT-PMP, peer caching, blocklists for bad peers, bandwidth limits dependent on time-of-day, globally or per-torrent, and has partial support for IPv6.{{Citation |title=IPv6 does not work against dual-stacked trackers |url=https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/1731 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805182616/https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/1731 |publisher=Trac.transmissionbt.com |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-date=5 August 2017 |url-status=live}} It allows the use of multiple trackers simultaneously,{{Citation |title=Adding lists of trackers to torrents |url=https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/2713 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805182548/https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/2713 |publisher=Trac.transmissionbt.com |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-date=5 August 2017 |url-status=live}} Local Peer Discovery,{{Citation |title=Local Peer Discovery protocol implementation |url=https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/3060 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805220719/https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/3060 |publisher=Trac.transmissionbt.com |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-date=5 August 2017 |url-status=live}} Micro Transport Protocol (μTP),{{Citation |title=Add uTP support |url=https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/2338 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713083357/https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/2338 |publisher=Trac.transmissionbt.com |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-date=13 July 2019 |url-status=live}} and UDP tracker.{{Citation |title=UDP tracker protocol support |date=12 February 2011 |url=https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/117 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805181344/https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/117 |publisher=Trac.transmissionbt.com |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-date=5 August 2017 |url-status=live}}

It does not support directly subscribing to RSS feeds containing torrent files for automatic download, but third-party add-ons can supply this functionality.{{rp|229}}

macOS-specific features include Dock and Growl notifications, automatic updates using Sparkle and Universal Binary (up until version 2.22).

Transmission 4.0.0, released in February 2023, added support for hybrid torrents so that it can work with v1 and hybrid (v1/v2) torrents.{{Cite web |title=Support for Bittorrent v2 (bep 0052) · Issue #458 · transmission/transmission |url=https://github.com/transmission/transmission/issues/458 |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=GitHub |language=en}}

File:Transmission 2.94 on 18.10 Info window.png

Transmission 1.60 and later removed support for Mac OS X v10.4. Currently, Transmission 1.54 is the last version that runs on Mac OS X 10.4. Although it is possible to compile later versions from source, either by downloading from the project's website{{Cite web |title=Building – Transmission |url=https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/Building |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831094352/https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/Building |archive-date=31 August 2011 |access-date=4 May 2011 |website=trac.transmissionbt.com}} or using a package manager like Fink or MacPorts, it is unsupported and any bugs specific to 10.4 will not be fixed. Starting with Transmission 2.30{{Cite web |title=Transmission ChangeLog |url=https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/Changes#version-2.30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524013026/https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/Changes#version-2.30 |archive-date=24 May 2015 |access-date=19 May 2011 |df=dmy-all}} an Apple Mac with an Intel CPU is needed; PowerPC-based systems are no longer supported natively. Since Transmission 4.0, Apple Silicon is supported as well.{{Cite web |title=Transmission 4.0.0-beta.1 |website=GitHub |url=https://github.com/transmission/transmission/blob/6c1cee5f79d8bbdc78f96640b52e49441d70247c/news/news-4.0.0-beta-1.md#macOS-Client |access-date=11 May 2023}}

The Transmission back-end (libTransmission) also serves as the basis of the Transmission daemon. The daemon supports a web front-end called Clutch. Older versions have been ported to form the basis of the update system for the video game Metal Gear Online on PlayStation 3,[https://forum.transmissionbt.com/viewtopic.php?p=22905#22905]{{dead link|date=August 2012}}{{Cite web |title=P2P Communication Technology: BitTorrent Large-capacity Data Distribution |url=http://cedec.cesa.or.jp/2009/ssn_archive/pdf/sep1st/NW43.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305204214/http://cedec.cesa.or.jp/2009/ssn_archive/pdf/sep1st/NW43.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2012 |access-date=31 July 2021}} as well as the backend for ImageShack's BitTorrent service.

A portable version is available on PortableApps.com.{{Cite web |title=Transmission-Qt Portable |url=http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/transmission-portable |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141202041246/http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/transmission-portable |archive-date=2 December 2014 |access-date=29 November 2014 |website=PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB, portable and cloud drives}}

Transmission is a set of lightweight BitTorrent clients (in GUI, CLI and daemon form). All its incarnations feature a very simple, intuitive interface on top on an efficient, cross-platform back-end.

There are several transmission clients for different operating systems including Unix-like, macOS and BeOS/ZETA. Each operating system front-end is built using native widget toolkits. For example, transmission-gtk uses the GTK interface, transmission-qt the Qt interface, and transmission-cli a command-line interface. Transmission-remote-cli is an ncurses interface for the transmission-daemon. Python-transmissionrpc is a Python module implementing the JSON-RPC protocol for Transmission.

An unofficial port of Transmission using a command-line interface (CLI) on iOS was accomplished on 3 March 2008.{{Cite web |title=Torrent | CoreOS - iPhoneUnix |url=http://wickedpsyched.net/iphone/torrent |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308221104/http://wickedpsyched.net/iphone/torrent |archive-date=8 March 2008 |access-date=6 April 2008}} In November 2010, iTransmission, another unofficial port, was released for jailbroken iPhones sporting a GUI that is capable of downloading directly to the device over WiFi or 3G.{{Citation |title=iTransmission, a native BitTorrent client on iOS |url=https://github.com/ioshomebrew/iTransmission-4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129023318/https://github.com/ioshomebrew/iTransmission-4 |publisher=github.com |access-date=27 July 2016 |archive-date=29 January 2016 |url-status=live}} A Transmission remote was released for Android, with the name of Transdroid but does not currently support downloading directly to devices.{{Cite web |title=Readme - About |url=https://github.com/erickok/transdroid/blob/master/README.md |access-date=2018-07-14 |website=Transdroid |publisher=GitHub.com |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117214004/https://github.com/erickok/transdroid/blob/master/README.md |url-status=live }}

On Windows, Transmission-Qt can be built with MinGW,{{Citation |title=Building TransmissionQt in Windows |url=https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/BuildingTransmissionQtWindows |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814161100/https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/BuildingTransmissionQtWindows |publisher=Trac.transmissionbt.com |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-date=14 August 2012 |url-status=live}} the daemon and console tools can be built with Cygwin,{{Citation |title=Building |url=https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/Building |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120514231629/https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/Building |publisher=Trac.transmissionbt.com |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-date=14 May 2012 |url-status=live}} also there are two third-party GUIs: transmission-remote-dotnet{{Citation |title=A µTorrent like Windows remote control for the Transmission client |url=https://code.google.com/p/transmission-remote-dotnet/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120808034339/http://code.google.com/p/transmission-remote-dotnet/ |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-date=8 August 2012 |url-status=live}} and Transmission Remote GUI,{{Citation |title=Cross platform remote GUI for the Transmission daemon |url=https://leonsoft-kras.github.io/transmisson-remote-gui/ |df=dmy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160727022906/http://leonsoft-kras.github.io/transmisson-remote-gui/ |publisher=github.com |access-date=27 July 2016 |archive-date=27 July 2016 |url-status=dead}} as well as unofficial full builds of Transmission's Qt Client.{{Citation |title=Transmission 1.76 Windows |url=http://www.sb-innovation.de/f93/transmission-1-76-windows-17975/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719082053/http://www.sb-innovation.de/f93/transmission-1-76-windows-17975/ |publisher=Sb-innovation.de |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-date=19 July 2011 |url-status=live}}{{Citation |title=Transmission-Qt |url=http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/ |df=dmy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825050551/http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/ |publisher=Sourceforge.net |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-date=25 August 2012 |url-status=dead}} There is also an unofficial full build of Transmission daemon which can be run as a Windows service.{{Citation |title=transmission-daemon-cygwin |url=http://sourceforge.net/projects/transmissiondaemon/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202185533/http://sourceforge.net/projects/transmissiondaemon/ |publisher=Sourceforge.net |access-date=27 January 2014 |archive-date=2 February 2014 |url-status=live}} This same unofficial full build of Transmission daemon running as a Windows service can be used for direct streaming of the downloading file(s).{{Citation |title=Streaming - The Simplified HOW TO |url=https://sourceforge.net/p/transmissiondaemon/discussion/general/thread/57f64ca4/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210193239/http://sourceforge.net/p/transmissiondaemon/discussion/general/thread/57f64ca4 |publisher=Sourceforge.net |access-date=27 April 2016 |archive-date=10 December 2015 |url-status=live}}

A port for all platforms enhanced with streaming of the downloading file(s) is located on GitHub.{{Citation |title=cfpp2p/transmission: Up to date Fork of the Transmission BitTorrent client |url=https://github.com/cfpp2p/transmission |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180416122659/https://github.com/cfpp2p/transmission |publisher=github.com |access-date=27 April 2016 |archive-date=16 April 2018 |url-status=live}}

It is also ported to the Maemo OS of the Nokia N810 internet tablet and N900 smartphone as well as to the MeeGo/Harmattan OS of the Nokia N9 and N950 smartphones, on which it does download the torrents to the device.

In March 2016, Palo Alto Networks reported that Transmission's official website was compromised and tainted .dmg files were uploaded to the site, using an Apple Developer signature to bypass the OS X gatekeeper feature.{{Cite web |last=Clark/Nikdel/Powell |title=New OS X Ransomware KeRanger Infected Transmission BitTorrent Client Installer |url=http://researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com/2016/03/new-os-x-ransomware-keranger-infected-transmission-bittorrent-client-installer/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307035516/http://researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com/2016/03/new-os-x-ransomware-keranger-infected-transmission-bittorrent-client-installer/ |archive-date=7 March 2016 |access-date=7 March 2016 |website=Palo Alto Networks Blog|date=6 March 2016 }}{{Cite web |last=Jim Finkle |date=7 March 2016 |title=Apple users targeted in first known Mac ransomware campaign |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-ransomware-idUSKCN0W80VX |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701233010/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-ransomware-idUSKCN0W80VX |archive-date=1 July 2017 |access-date=2 July 2017 |website=Reuters}}{{Cite web |title=Apple Macs targeted by KeRanger ransomware for first time |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/07/apple-targeted-by-keranger-ransom-malware-for-first-time |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307165132/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/07/apple-targeted-by-keranger-ransom-malware-for-first-time |archive-date=7 March 2016 |access-date=8 March 2016 |website=the Guardian|date=7 March 2016 }}

The tainted packages installed a ransomware application (a variant of Linux.Encoder.1, but recompiled for Mac, known as KeRanger) that encrypts the user's files and attempts to force users to pay 1 Bitcoin (worth roughly US$404 at the time of the attack) in order to get the decryption pack. The Transmission website advised Mac users to immediately upgrade to a new version that removes the malware-infected file. Apple revoked the developer certificate that was used to sign the tainted package, and added the package's signature to the XProtect anti-malware system.

Transmission is the default BitTorrent client of many Unix and Linux distributions,{{Cite book |last=Mike McGrath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hZLIBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT85 |title=Linux in easy steps, 5th edition |date=10 June 2010 |publisher=In Easy Steps |pages=85– |id=GGKEY:EE005NUYU77 |access-date=1 November 2016 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117214045/https://books.google.com/books?id=hZLIBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT85 |url-status=live }} including Ubuntu,{{Citation |last=Pitt |first=Martin |title=Ubuntu Changelog |date=14 January 2008 |url=http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/main/u/ubuntu-meta/ubuntu-meta_1.87/changelog |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813104055/http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/main/u/ubuntu-meta/ubuntu-meta_1.87/changelog |access-date=15 May 2008 |archive-date=13 August 2011 |url-status=dead}} Mint,{{Citation |title=Elyssa Release Notes |url=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_elyssa.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150731000203/http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_elyssa.php |access-date=23 August 2009 |archive-date=31 July 2015 |url-status=live}} Fedora,{{Citation |title=Distribution/Download/BitTorrent |url=http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/Download/BitTorrent |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804175005/https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/Download/BitTorrent |access-date=19 August 2009 |archive-date=4 August 2019 |url-status=live}} Puppy,{{Citation |title=Puppy Linux 4.2 Release Notes |url=http://www.puppylinux.org/wiki/development/puppy-4-series/puppy-linux-42-release-notes |df=dmy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090719101951/http://www.puppylinux.org/wiki/development/puppy-4-series/puppy-linux-42-release-notes |archive-date=19 July 2009 |url-status=dead}} Zenwalk,{{Citation |title=Zenwalk Package List |url=http://packages.zenwalk.org/?b=/xap&zversion=snapshot |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171526/http://packages.zenwalk.org/?b=%2Fxap&zversion=snapshot |access-date=20 March 2021 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=dead}} and the GNOME flavor of openSUSE.{{Citation |title=Make Transmission the default BitTorrent client in 11.2 |url=https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=530416 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113195603/https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=530416 |access-date=19 August 2009 |archive-date=13 January 2016 |url-status=live}}

Fon ships its routers with Transmission pre-installed.{{Citation |title=FON Starts Selling Fonera 2.0n Router with Transmission |url=http://www.shareconnector.com/fon-starts-selling-fonera-20n-router-with-transmission-rapidshare-support |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120004004/http://shareconnector.com/fon-starts-selling-fonera-20n-router-with-transmission-rapidshare-support/ |access-date=9 December 2009 |archive-date=20 January 2015 |url-status=dead}}

CNET editor Paul Huges praised Transmission for its "simplicity, lightweight, as well as being feature-packed" and as of April 2017 the software ranked third in P2P downloads for Mac on CNET.{{Citation |title=Transmission for Mac |url=http://download.cnet.com/Transmission/3000-2196_4-79101.html |work=download.cnet.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170512103049/http://download.cnet.com/Transmission/3000-2196_4-79101.html |access-date=12 April 2017 |archive-date=12 May 2017 |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=P2P & File-Sharing Software for Mac |url=http://download.cnet.com/s/internet-file-sharing/mac/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412144216/http://download.cnet.com/s/internet-file-sharing/mac/ |archive-date=12 April 2017 |access-date=11 April 2017 |website=download.cnet.com}}

{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}

• Comparison of BitTorrent clients
• File sharing

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{{Commons|Transmission (BitTorrent)}}

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