{"slug": "webtorrent", "name": "WebTorrent", "category": "dev-libs", "category_name": "Libraries and frameworks", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 5, "warners": 1, "score": 1.357, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2025-11-30", "latest": "2026-10-09", "why": "I've always thought it had a worthy place in the modern P2P conversation.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I've always thought it had a worthy place in the modern P2P conversation.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "webtorrent.io", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://webtorrent.io/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["WebTorrent"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 795075537, "item_id": 49692221, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49692221", "by": "bc3mc2", "date": "2026-09-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it uses Webtorrent to stream and share content in context bubbles", "excerpt": "I'm working on a p2p streaming/sharing app called bubbleBASED. Its here https://bubblebased.com/ its based! on bubbles! But it uses Webtorrent to stream and share content in context bubbles. You already need peers for a social network\u2014so why not use those same peers to seed the media? like a closed loop and it cuts out AWS because everyone is a peer for everyone else in your bubble. There is an assist from Heroku and", "context": "", "use_case": "browser p2p streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (September 2026)"}, {"id": 794707249, "item_id": 49669203, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49669203", "by": "bc3mc2", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Webtorrent gets BETTER with scale so its something to look forward to.", "excerpt": "Hi HN, First off sorry about the landing page but if you just click the green button it takes you to the home page anyway. Also this whole app is by invitation anyways so it\u2019s actually super important. I've been building a social app on top of WebTorrent instead of centralized cloud storage. The basic idea: its BASED... but on bubbles. :) No feed. You're in a series of small, private \"bubbles\" (think Discord servers,", "context": "", "use_case": "P2P media delivery", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 749275920, "item_id": 46829745, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46829745", "by": "xd1936", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've always thought it had a worthy place in the modern P2P conversation.", "excerpt": "Fun! I wish WebTorrent had caught on more. I've always thought it had a worthy place in the modern P2P conversation. In 2020, I messed around with a PoC for what hosting and distributing Linux distros could look like using WebTorrent[1]. The protocol project as a whole has a lovely and brilliant design but has stayed mostly stagnant in recent years. There are only a couple of WebRTC-enabled torrent trackers that have", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Peerweb: Decentralized website hosting via WebTorrent"}, {"id": 737533008, "item_id": 46095813, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46095813", "by": "meatjuice", "date": "2025-11-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WebTorrent works on the browser", "excerpt": "WebTorrent works on the browser but I'm not sure if this is what you're asking for https://webtorrent.io/", "context": "", "use_case": "Browser torrent streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Streaming a Bittorent Video from a Webpage?"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "bc3mc2", "context": "built ebubbl", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50016043", "date": "2026-10-09"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["p2p media sharing", "browser p2p streaming", "p2p media delivery", "peer-to-peer streaming", "browser torrent streaming"], "compared": [], "makers": [{"id": 797768768, "item_id": 49860548, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49860548", "by": "transitivebs", "date": "2026-09-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "this is exactly why i worked on webtorrent ~13 years ago", "excerpt": "this is exactly why i worked on webtorrent ~13 years ago https://github.com/webtorrent/webtorrent", "context": "", "use_case": "P2P torrent streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46829582", "title": "Peerweb: Decentralized website hosting via WebTorrent", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50016042", "title": "WebTorrent Broadcasting / ebubbl / web 3.1", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49842764", "title": "PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49686380", "title": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (September 2026)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49669202", "title": "item 49669202", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46089661", "title": "Ask HN: Streaming a Bittorent Video from a Webpage?", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 800256688, "item_id": 50016043, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50016043", "by": "bc3mc2", "date": "2026-10-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "it uses webtorrent behind the scenes to beef up the network", "excerpt": "Hi all! you usually want to talk about webtorrent in here? i feel like web 3.0 was p2p and then AI came around and we went to web infinity.infinity. This site is based on the dichotomy of some people want to broadcast to the world and others just want a small online footprint. This site caters to both but it uses webtorrent behind the scenes to beef up the network. It has a livestream component and static photo/video", "context": "built ebubbl", "use_case": "p2p media sharing", "switched_from": "", "story": "WebTorrent Broadcasting / ebubbl / web 3.1"}, {"id": 795075537, "item_id": 49692221, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49692221", "by": "bc3mc2", "date": "2026-09-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it uses Webtorrent to stream and share content in context bubbles", "excerpt": "I'm working on a p2p streaming/sharing app called bubbleBASED. Its here https://bubblebased.com/ its based! on bubbles! But it uses Webtorrent to stream and share content in context bubbles. You already need peers for a social network\u2014so why not use those same peers to seed the media? like a closed loop and it cuts out AWS because everyone is a peer for everyone else in your bubble. There is an assist from Heroku and", "context": "", "use_case": "browser p2p streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (September 2026)"}, {"id": 794707249, "item_id": 49669203, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49669203", "by": "bc3mc2", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Webtorrent gets BETTER with scale so its something to look forward to.", "excerpt": "Hi HN, First off sorry about the landing page but if you just click the green button it takes you to the home page anyway. Also this whole app is by invitation anyways so it\u2019s actually super important. I've been building a social app on top of WebTorrent instead of centralized cloud storage. The basic idea: its BASED... but on bubbles. :) No feed. You're in a series of small, private \"bubbles\" (think Discord servers,", "context": "", "use_case": "P2P media delivery", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 749400784, "item_id": 46837549, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46837549", "by": "khimaros", "date": "2026-01-31", "stance": "warn", "quote": "", "excerpt": "been waiting for this for a while https://github.com/transmission/transmission/issues/47 https://github.com/arvidn/libtorrent/issues/7283", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Peerweb: Decentralized website hosting via WebTorrent"}, {"id": 749282000, "item_id": 46830125, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46830125", "by": "kamranjon", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "for example WebTorrent: https://webtorrent.io/faq", "excerpt": "I think one of the values of (what appears to be) AI generated projects like this is that they can make me aware of the underlying technology that I might not have heard about - for example WebTorrent: https://webtorrent.io/faq Pretty cool! Not sure what this offers over WebTorrent itself, but I was happy to learn about its existence.", "context": "", "use_case": "Peer-to-peer streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Peerweb: Decentralized website hosting via WebTorrent"}, {"id": 749275920, "item_id": 46829745, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46829745", "by": "xd1936", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've always thought it had a worthy place in the modern P2P conversation.", "excerpt": "Fun! I wish WebTorrent had caught on more. I've always thought it had a worthy place in the modern P2P conversation. In 2020, I messed around with a PoC for what hosting and distributing Linux distros could look like using WebTorrent[1]. The protocol project as a whole has a lovely and brilliant design but has stayed mostly stagnant in recent years. There are only a couple of WebRTC-enabled torrent trackers that have", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Peerweb: Decentralized website hosting via WebTorrent"}, {"id": 737533008, "item_id": 46095813, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46095813", "by": "meatjuice", "date": "2025-11-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WebTorrent works on the browser", "excerpt": "WebTorrent works on the browser but I'm not sure if this is what you're asking for https://webtorrent.io/", "context": "", "use_case": "Browser torrent streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Streaming a Bittorent Video from a Webpage?"}]}