Forward Ports on Your Router for BitTorrent

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Port Forward Staff
May 12, 2022 (Last Updated: ) | Reading Time: 2 minutes

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.

Remember to Do These Things Before You Forward a Port

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

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:

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.

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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.

Find the IP Address of Your Router

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.

Setting Up a Port Forward for BitTorrent

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 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.

Use a VPN When you Torrent

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:

NordVPN birthday deal!

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.

NordVPN birthday deal!

You might notice that most of our site doesn't have ads on it. This is because we use partnerships with companies like NordVPN to keep the site running. Thank you for supporting us by using our referral links.

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