The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

BitTorrent
seed
torrent

    A popular, distributed form of peer-to-peer
   file sharing that enables a client program to fetch
   different parts of a file (a "torrent") from different sources
   in parallel.  The system is designed to encourage users to
   make downloaded data available for others to upload.  This is
   aided by a scheme for exchanging unique identifiers, commonly
   stored in ".torrent" files.  A downloader who does not serve
   data to others is called a "leech".  A "seed" is a computer
   that has a complete copy of a file, possibly the original.

   The bittorrent.com site claims there are over 100 million
   users as of 2007-03-24.

   Most of the data is copyright material like films or
   commercial software.

   (http://www.bittorrent.com/what-is-bittorrent).

   (2007-03-27)