Optimizing BitTorrent performance to enable real-time downloads

BitTorrent(BT) in recent years has emerged as the de facto protocol for sharing content over P2P networks. Although BitTorrent was created for purposes of sharing time-insensitive content, streaming is not supported. In this paper, we propose minimal changes to BT´s mechanisms for supporting real-time downloads. The significance of adding such a capability to BT is that the peer will have an ability to start enjoying the video before complete download of the video files. In a nutshell, our conceptual solution-based paper modifies slightly the original BT protocol, where pieces are downloaded in an out-of-order manner based on their rareness. Our approach deals with downloading pieces in their playing order by indexing them sequentially, thus ensuring smooth playback.