Torrents - Please explain...

[starrylizard]

I know other people torrent things on a regular basis and I understand the basis of how the things work.

However, I'm currently trying to torrent a file that's supposedly 700.69mb.

So far I have (according to BitLord) downloaded 975.02mb and (again according to BitLord) still need to download 3.75mb and I've dled 99.4% of the file. (I've uploaded 689.28mb)

Excuse me , but huh?

Am I missing something here? Why have I downloaded 274.33mb more than the file size and it's still going? I'm so confused. :(

I wanna watch it! *pouts*

Comments

[thudjack.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... don't know! Stop the torrent and try to play the file. If it's playable and watchable i.e. not skipping or stalling every few minutes then i'd say it's downloaded so stop the torrent but *shrugs*

[missyvortexdv.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing it's something to do with what parts of the file are available and whilst you may have been downloading at X speed for X time causing a calculation of that downloaded amount you might yet to have downloaded all the bits you need for the file to be complete. I can't say I full understand it but I think there's some amount of redundancy happening on the downloading due to who's sharing what % themselves since not everyone has 100% and it might be you are waiting on someone with 100% having a free connection for you to connect to to get the last few bits you need off them.