Gone are the days when torrent clients were associated solely with piracy, and if you want to take advantage of the fast download speeds that torrenting offers, you're going to need the right software.

Torrenting is ideal for those occasions when you need to download a very large file. It might be a video file, or it could be a large piece of software, but if you download in the traditional way – direct from a host server – you're likely to find that it is a slow experience, particularly if other people are trying to grab the same file.

With increment in the development of peer to peer (P2P) systems, it has additionally gotten to be one of the media for spreading of viruses, spyware, adware, malware through file sharing applications. Users are looking for spotless, protected, quickest and best p2p file sharing applications. Here are some best P2P files sharing programs. How can the answer be improved?

With torrents, however, you can download pieces of the files you want from different people who already have them. A free torrent client will do all the hard work for you, downloading and piecing together the files, you just need to pick the one that does everything you need it to.

That's why we've put together this roundup so you can select the best free torrent client for your needs while avoiding the once that are simply no good. Whether you need something simple that just gets the job done, or something more advanced that can be extended through the use of add-ons, there's something or you here.

• See how to combine your client with a free VPN

Are torrents legal?

Torrents have a bad reputation due to piracy, but they aren't illegal in themselves and have lots of legitimate uses, including downloading open source software and material that's in the public domain.

It all depends on the content you're downloading. Provided the copyright holder has given permission for the file to be shared this way it's fine, but using torrents to download content you'd otherwise have to pay for is illegal.