A torrent file, often simply called a "torrent," is a small file that contains metadata about the files you want to download from a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, such as movies, games, software, or music. Unlike direct downloads, where a file is downloaded from a single server, torrenting involves downloading a file from multiple users who are also sharing the same file. This decentralized approach allows for faster and more resilient downloads, as the file can be downloaded from multiple sources simultaneously.