The idea of streaming over the BitTorrent network isn't new. In fact, that's largely what Popcorn Time and all its derivatives do, but the difference is that formal streaming services like Netflix have gained a lot of ground, and users are beginning to reject the complexity associated with BitTorrent and its clients. One possible solution is WebTorrent, a BitTorrent streaming client that works with WebRTC, eliminating the need for plugins and external software.
The world of BitTorrent and file sharing has received a huge amount of legal impacts in recent months. Trackers and providers vanish into thin air, clients stop working, lawsuits for millions of dollars, private agreements... something changed, and no one doubts it. At the same time, we must recognize that users always lean toward simple solutions. BitTorrent is easy to use for those of us who have spent years exploring its territory, but there is a whole new generation that feels very comfortable under Netflix's wings, and the feeling is that BitTorrent is losing steam. Of course, these details are intertwined with its most popular use, not with the technology itself. The BitTorrent protocol is formidable for decentralizing content, and with that in mind, WebTorrent appears.
At its core, what the WebTorrent project proposes is to imagine a sort of YouTube where each user is responsible for hosting a small part of the content, and when someone requests it, all the nodes spring into action. The great detail in WebTorrent's favor is that it does all this directly on the browser through JavaScript and the WebRTC API, without the need for plugins or external clients. The popularity of browser streaming, backed by the robustness of BitTorrent technology. WebTorrent is a creation of Feross Aboukhadijeh, a Stanford alumnus who in his time created the PeerCDN content distribution system, which in 2013 was acquired by Yahoo!.
WebTorrent still needs a lot of work (its proof of concept has proven to be quite slow), but it has already captured the interest of several giants, including Netflix itself. The reason is logical: one of the virtues of decentralization is the reduction of costs. If each user of a future version of Netflix shares a couple of gigabytes of content with the rest of the platform, Netflix could offer a more robust service (especially at peak hours) with the assistance of this P2P technology, without installing more servers. I imagine that Internet and cable providers will not view this favorably, but that's where the Web is heading, and they will have to adapt in some way...
