Bit Torrent Tracker - Trackers and Indexers

Trackers and Indexers

A BitTorrent tracker, also simply referred to as a tracker, is different from a BitTorrent indexer, indexer for short, in that a tracker actually coordinates communication between peers attempting to download the payload of the torrents. By contrast, an indexer aggregates torrent data from one or more tracker sources into a central database, publicly or privately searchable, making available the metadata contained in the .torrent file such as the tracker URL. A tracker is not necessarily affiliated with an indexer.

However, some BitTorrent websites do operate and rely on their own tracker server. Sites such as these allow users to upload torrents to the index with the tracker's URL embedded in them, providing all the features necessary to initiate a download.