Microsoft has approved a torrent client that will work on all its Windows platforms, including Xbox One.
Called Torrex Pro, the software is available now in beta form, ahead of a full rollout.
Produced by Estonian developers Finebits OÜ, the app is designed to not only download files but also stream content via an inbuilt player. It will support torrent files launched via USB stick, or magnet links searched for directly through the console’s browser.
A Finebits representative told WIRED the Torrex Pro app is “fully optimised to the gamepad and easy to use,” and as a “powerful UWP example, it shows how the same app could work on every Windows 10 device and adapts to it.”
Other features of the torrent client – though some are planned and not yet active – include the ability to run torrents in the background, a built-in viewer for music, video, images and text files, support for .MKV format video, customisable layout and colour themes, connection encryption, and download priority filters.
Plans to bring Torrex Pro to Xbox One were revealed in May. The compatibility is made possible due to Microsoft’s push for its Universal Windows Platform – software that runs on any Windows-related device, from smartphones to desktop PCs, via a games console.
The nature of UWP means the app should scale to other Microsoft products too. Finebits already lists support for Windows Holographic, despite the Hololens hardware not being on sale anywhere yet.
What will be interesting to see now is how, if at all, Microsoft polices the app. Torrenting itself isn’t illegal – it’s a perfectly legitimate form of file distribution – but the technology is frequently used in online piracy to share movies, TV shows, and pretty much any other form of media.
Finebits stresses “this application is designed to download/share legal content” – and there’s a tonne of legally available content distributed through torrents, much of it older works that have entered public domain, or modern content offered directly through Bittorrent.
However, Microsoft may not turn such a blind eye if hackers find a way to run pirated games torrented through Torrex Pro direct to the Xbox One.
