Forward Ports on Your Router for BitTorrent

You might need to forward some ports in your router when you use BitTorrent. By forwarding ports you allow connection requests coming from the internet to be directed to BitTorrent.

Routers generally do not allow incoming connection requests from the internet. A port forward can overcome this limitation.

Make sure that you know these things before forwarding a port:

• Your router's internal IP address.
• The IP address of your download client.
• A list of TCP and UDP ports that need to be forwarded.

Use a VPN Instead

Have you considered using a VPN instead of forwarding a port? For most users, a VPN is a much simpler and more secure choice than forwarding a port.

We use and recommend NordVPN because not only is it the fastest VPN, it includes a new feature called Meshnet that makes forwarding a port no longer necessary for most applications. With NordVPN Meshnet, you can connect to your devices from anywhere in the world, completely secure, over a highly encrypted VPN tunnel.

When shopping for a VPN, make sure that they meet the following criteria:

• Your VPN provider should have a no-logs policy. This means that they do not keep any logs of any kind.
• Make sure that your VPN provider has lots of exit nodes all around the world.
• Check that your VPN will not affect your speed.
• Verify that your VPN provider uses WireGuard as the underlying protocol.
• Many people prefer a VPN provider that is not based in the United States.

This is the list of requirements that we used when we were shopping around for a VPN provider. There are lots of free, shady VPN providers out there that we looked at and dismissed.

Based in Panama, using diskless servers, and with over 6,100 servers in 61 countries, we can safely say that NordVPN satisfies all of these requirements.

Once you've set up your NordVPN account on multiple computers and enabled Meshnet, you can seamlessly access all of your devices as if they were on the same network. You don't even have to log in to your router. It's very simple.

Every time you click on one of our affiliate links, such as NordVPN, we get a little kickback for introducing you to the service. Think of us as your VPN wingman.

You can run our free Router Detector software to locate your router's IP address. Our Router Detector tool is free to use and is part of our Network Utilities software.

You can also follow our Find Your Router IP Address article.

We have Network Utilities software that can forward ports for you. Our Network Utilities software allows you to add port forwards and also remove them when you no longer need them to maximize your network security.

Alternatively you can do it by hand. The process for forwarding a port is:

• You can start by logging in to your router.
• Find the port forwarding section in your router.
• Put the IP address of your download client in the proper box in your router.
• Enter the TCP and UDP ports that you need to forward for BitTorrent in the corresponding boxes in your router.

You probably will need to reboot your router for the changes to take effect.

You can choose your router from our list to see exactly how to forward ports for BitTorrent:

List of Routers - Customized for BitTorrent

Setting Up a Port Forward for BitTorrent

Here is a list of the ports that need to be forwarded for BitTorrent:

BitTorrent - PC

• TCP: User configured
• UDP:

That is the process required to forward ports in your router for BitTorrent.

Are you using a VPN with your torrent client? If not, you really should be. A VPN solves many of the issues surrounding torrents, including:

• A VPN hides your identity from other torrenters and from your ISP.
• A VPN increases your torrent download speeds by preventing your ISP from throttling your download speeds.
• A VPN allows you to improve your seed ratio by allowing incoming connections to your torrent client.

We use and recommend NordVPN because not only is it the fastest VPN, it includes a new feature called Meshnet that makes forwarding a port no longer necessary for most applications. With NordVPN Meshnet, you can connect to your devices from anywhere in the world, completely secure, over a highly encrypted VPN tunnel.

Every time you click on one of our affiliate links, such as NordVPN, we get a little kickback for introducing you to the service. Think of us as your VPN wingman.

Don't forget to sign up for NordVPN's promo deal before it's gone.