Fast data. Smooth sailing.
A fast, lightweight download tool for magnet links and .torrent files
Portable: unzip it and run it, no installer and nothing else to install. Free, open source and private: no tracking, no ads, no data collection.
For Windows 10 and 11. Linux comes later.
Portable
Settings and your download list live next to the program, so it also runs from a USB stick. No admin rights needed.
Private
Nothing leaves your computer except the download traffic itself. Crash reports stay on your computer.
Safe
Files are never written outside the download folder you chose, and files BitDinghy didn't download are never overwritten or deleted.
Light and quick
A small download that starts fast and uses little memory. A window and a command line, sharing one engine.
What it does
- Downloads from magnet links,
.torrentfiles (open, drag and drop, or paste a path) and web links to.torrentfiles (securehttps://only, unless you allow plainhttp://). - Choose which files to download, at any time.
- Pause, resume, remove (keeping or deleting only the files it downloaded); the list survives restarts and crashes.
- Check files on disk again, and use files that are already there.
- A queue (how many downloads run at once, in an order you choose), speed limits, sharing limits (ratio or time), and a port setting with optional UPnP.
- Recommended settings learned from your own downloads (never a speed test).
- History: speeds of the last ten minutes, daily totals for 30 days, removed downloads.
- Plain-language problems (a full disk, a file another program holds, a FAT32 drive…).
- Crash reports that stay on your computer.
- Opens magnet links and
.torrentfiles from your browser and Explorer, if you choose it in Windows’ Default apps (it always asks before adding). - Not yet: encryption of connections (the engine it is built on doesn’t support it yet).
Two programs, one engine
The zip holds two programs that share the same engine and the same saved list:
- BitDinghy: the window, for everyday use.
- dinghy: the command line, for scripts and for people who like a terminal
(
dinghy get <link>,dinghy list,dinghy pause 1…). With the window open,dinghytalks to it over a channel only your own computer can use.
The guide shows how to use both.
Free, and staying that way
BitDinghy is free and open source (MIT or Apache-2.0). There are no ads, no “pro” version and no pop-ups asking for money. If it’s useful to you, you can support its development.
BitDinghy is a general-purpose download tool. Only download and share content you have the right to; Linux distribution images and other openly licensed files are good examples.