Yes.

This seems like a dumb question, BitTorrent absolutely is still relevant and probably the most popular method of file sharing in the scene. Foss groups use it too for distributing ISO files for Operating systems, and it might even be used as the video hosting provider in future Fediverse YouTube alternatives (I’ve heard talk of a video hosting platform on Fedi which uses activitypub for everything else but hosts videos via BitTorrent) pretty cool stuff.

So yeah BitTorrent is still relevant, and it makes sense since if it isn’t broken why fix it? Not to say that it couldn’t be better, the biggest problem with it is the anonymity issue, but until someone makes something better BitTorrent will continue to be popular, and the ideal choice for decentralized file sharing, especially in the piracy scene.

The article you linked answers most of your questions.

1. Relative global upstream traffic went down, but not due to other file-sharing protocols but entirely different applications
2. I2P is not mentioned anywhere in the article, nor any other sharing alternative
3. VPN is mentioned as a potential reason for not being able to identify torrent traffic; VPN has become much more prevalent and promoted in the scene
4. The article says, in piracy, streaming websites are much more popular now

It has not been surpassed by another protocol. The relative numbers don’t say much about absolute numbers or usage.

And 10 % of global internet upload is certainly no irrelevancy.

I never used torrent as much as the last years

Yep I’ve been using it almost 2 decades with basically no slowdown, I have netflix which is bad enough and refuse to pay for any other streaming service so anything not on there I torrent, in addition to games a few times a year would be more because most large developers are trash but I not much of a gamer

The extra time it takes to find a magnet launch my client and DL is worth the money saved, anything popular has enough seeders to DL quick and anything obscure enough not to have many seeders you probably wouldn’t find on a premium service at all, as is the feeling of getting one over on atrocious companies and the sense of smug superiority over those paying for 5+ services and still can’t watch everything they want

It ain’t going anywhere

I use Torrent daily, I basically never stop seeding what I download to my Plex Server and I also use a Real Debrid account, which essentially caches the torrents to their servers for us to stream through different methods (like Kodi, Stremio, or more recently for me Plex thanks to Riven/Zurg).

There are things like torrentio now which lend BitTorrent piracy a more integrated UX, and that has definitely extended the lifespan of its usefulness to me. Torrents rarely max out my line speed these days, mostly because I have 1000X the bandwidth compared to when I first started torrenting 20 odd years ago. But it’s still one of the fastest and simplest methods to get any file you want, so I think it’s relevant

I doubt it. I think they were still using vacuum tubes back then.

Just taught my ten year old how to.use bit torrent last week. It will live forever!

I2P is not an alternative to bittorrent, but to IP networks. Essentially I2P is an overlay over the IP-based Internet.

bittorrent can work through I2P just like it can over IP or Tor.

Torrenting is a decentralized approach and the corpo parasite hates because there is nothing they can do about it, short of shutting down the internet lol

Get fuck Disney

Yes it’s very much alive and very important. A lot of industries (like their products: books, movies but also games) are getting restricted, taken away, taking down and removed from other platforms. Old ROM sites are taken down. And platforms like archive.org need to remove all their books.

The problem is, that there is nobody archiving anymore… because it’s not allowed due to “copyright infringement”. In the end, all these products like books, movies and (old) games might be gone forever. Next generations will not be able to have access to it. This is what worries me the most. And Torrent might be the only way to fix/solve it. By distributing these kind of material. Especially older books, older movies and older games.

The protocol is still relevant. Is there anything better yet with enough people using it that it’s relatively easy to find anything you want through it?

It’s alive and well. My independent research shows that torrents of users are using it for large foss packages, as well as various media.

This duck in a hoodie shows how both technologies can function together. https://hackyourmom.com/en/pryvatnist/bittorrent-cherez-i2p-dlya-anonimnogo-obminu-fajlamy/

What? Yea