A lightweight BitTorrent client designed to be low on resources and compatible with many OSes and desktop environments
What’s new in Transmission 3.00:
- All Platforms:
- Allow the RPC server to listen on an IPv6 address (#161)
- Change TR_CURL_SSL_VERIFY to TR_CURL_SSL_NO_VERIFY and enable verification by default (#334)
- Go back to using hash as base name for resume and torrent files (those stored in configuration directory) (#122)
Transmission is a free, cross-platform, open-source, and remarkably capable BitTorrent client. It’s so well-rounded that it’s the default BitTorrent client for a plethora of Unix and Linux distros out there such as Ubuntu, Mint, openSUSE, Fedora, Debian, Arch Linux, Gentoo, FreeBSD, and CentOS, just to name a few.
What makes Transmission stand out?
Besides the fact that it packs a ton of useful features (which we’ll cover a bit later), that it works on all major OSes, that it’s absolutely free, that it doesn’t have ads, it has one of the best GUIs out there.
This is definitely one of Transmission’s biggest advantages. The GUI is simple, sleek, modern, and it manages to pack all the app’s features in a way that doesn’t intimidate users. Then there is the multitude of customization options. In short, it strikes a perfect balance between functionality and simplicity, without compromising either.
Feature-packed torrent client, but not necessarily the best one out there
You really have to struggle to find things you don’t like about Transmission. The whole user experience is great, partly thanks to the GUI, and partly to little aspects such as the fact that it can be configured to download files from folders, RSS feeds, and man other sources, without having to manually control the process.
It can also be controlled remotely, just like most modern apps of this sort. All the basic features one might expect from a torrent client are here.
You can open torrent files, start, pause, or remove active downloads, limit download or upload speeds, view a series of useful stats, and enable alternative speed limits.
There are multiple ways to sort torrents in the GUI, and there’s even a super-handy built-in search function.
In regards to advanced features, you get download scheduling, remote management, and IP filtering, encryption capabilities, as well as support for NAS, personal servers, HTPCs, and even Raspberry Pis.
The fact that Transmission provides both local and remote access, coupled with the availability of a web GUI, command-line tools, and optional Daemon support are also big advantages.
Final thoughts
To conclude, Transmission is one of the best torrent clients out there. It has all the qualities of an open-source product, and then some. It boasts a minimalist yet powerful GUI and enough powerful features and customization to satisfy even advanced users.
Of course, this is only true if said advanced users are not looking for a torrent client that has proxy server support, a feature that was present in older versions of Transmission and has yet to find its way back to this day. Other than that, for the day-to-day user, Transmission is pretty much close to perfect.
