Vuze

Vuze (formerly Azureus) is an open source project that provides users with a full-featured file sharing application. It is written in the Java programming language and it’s compatible with Linux, Mac and Windows systems. In other words, Vuze is a fast and dedicated BitTorrent client that allows for playback of HD (High Definition) video files. It is distributed as binary and source files for all the aforementioned OSes.

Features at a glance

The application features subscriptions, meta search, faster downloads, web remote, as well as the ability to drag and drop files to be played on mobile devices like iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Apple TV, PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, and TiVo devices. Except for the latest Java runtime environment from Oracle, the application doesn’t require any other libraries of components. However, using the JAR file on a Linux system is somewhat complicated because you will have to keep that binary file on a specific folder and create a shortcut on your desktop.

Looks quite familiar, it's easy to use

Anyhow, ignoring that initial prompt, the application looks quite familiar, simple and easy to use, and provides users with a getting started page. If you’ve used uTorrent before, then you will have no problem using this app. The graphical interface is comprised of the main section where you can see the downloaded files and a sidebar that allows you to access your library, newly added files, notifications, subscriptions, and the Vuze HD network.

Supported distributions of Linux

If you’re lucky enough to have a Linux operating system that provides Vuze on its default software repositories, we strongly recommend to install it from there. But even so, we can immediately notice that the application has been designed for Linux systems, as it requires users to make the /usr/lib/vuze folder writer in order to install updates (this is not the case on Linux).

Bottom line

All in all, the application is quite rich in features, offers an attractive user interface and it’s easy to use. However, on Linux we recommend users to use a native application that does the same thing, not a Java one.

What is new in this release:

• Fix null pointer exception when showing authentication dialog that results in thread hanging.

What is new in version 5.7.5.0 / 5.7.5.1 Beta 9:

• Added some tracker stats to buddies.

What is new in version 5.7.4.0 / 5.7.4.1 Beta 25:

• Fix resume-all missing some downloads
• Improved torrent link selection

What is new in version 5.7.4.0 / 5.7.4.1 Beta 21:

• Tidied up search results view
• Subscription results view now updates on entry changes

What is new in version 5.7.4.0 / 5.7.4.1 Beta 17:

• Fixed continual re-prompting for some SSL certificates
• Increased aggressiveness of auto-memory increase
• Added double-click action for notifications
• Links now supported in chat notifications

What is new in version 5.7.4.0 / 5.7.4.1 Beta 12:

• Added option to disable the ‘sharing progress' popup dialog
• Clicking on search engine icons now performs select actions
• Added option to remove the search results view toggle button
• Column-setup dialog now has filter box

What is new in version 5.7.3.0 / 5.7.3.1 Beta 5:

• Option to disable individual subscriptions
• Fixed general view refresh bug

What is new in version 5.7.2.0 / 5.7.2.1 Beta 9:

• Fix unnecessary file rechecking when adding torrents with DND files

What is new in version 5.7.1.0 / 5.7.1.1 Beta 6:

• Switched aggregate tag actions to be user-definable (stop -vs- pause)
• Added tag individual share ratio exceeding actions (queue/pause/stop)
• Added queue option to ignore checking downloads

What is new in version 5.7.0.0 / 5.7.0.1 Beta 9:

• Added tracker server config to allow blocking of unsupported clients
• Added some pop-out views to the Library sub-tabs (Console, Pieces)

What is new in version 5.6.2.0 / 5.6.2.1 Beta 19:

• Sort subscriptions in the sidebar
• Added ability to bind Vuze Web Remote to an interface as well as an IP address.
• Improved prioritizer probe bandwidth distribution

What is new in version 5.6.1.2 / 5.6.1.3 Beta 12:

• Updated chat sidebar indicator to show if message outstanding for you and roll this up to the top overview header
• Chat messages with your nick now show it in bold font

What is new in version 5.6.0.0 / 5.6.0.1 Beta 34:

• Bugfix for renamed torrents that are also using ‘incomplete suffix' settings - please report any strange behaviour (and steps to reproduce if possible) ASAP. Typical symptoms of an error with this fix will be downloads entering a ‘data file missing' state after completion, although a lot of testing has been performed so this shouldn't happen!

What is new in version 5.5.0.0 / 5.5.0.1 Beta 37:

• Added a create-chat option to status icon
• Fixed reposition in new menu

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 36:

• You guessed it, more menu fixes!
• Added a ‘swarm merge' column to show data merging

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 35:

• More right-click torrents menu fixes
• Subscriptions URL changes were not being persisted reliably

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 34:

• Various tweaks to the new menu (check box state not yet fixed though)
• Added support for automatically merging the swarms of multiple downloads that share common files (determined by size)

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 33:

• New Library/My Torrents right click menu
• Fixed Status Bar's Download/Upload menu on Linux/Mac. You can now click, hold, drag to a speed and let go to set, just like on Windows.

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 32:

• Added trackers to messaging selection

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 31:

• This is just B30 rebuilt with a Java 1.6 compiler to fix some cross-compilation issues introduced with a build system update.

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 30:

• Tabs maximize to detailed view
• Devices now have auto-share-to-tag feature

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 29:

• Added subscription menus to the subscriptions view
• Added file logging to messaging windows
• Added messaging view windows limits to config
• Monitor thread activity for high CPU usage to warn about possible issues

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 28:

• Minor fixes to messaging UI
• Added output redirection to console UI

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 27:

• Comments/Ratings dialog in reasonable shape.

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 26:

• Start of comment lookup during torrent addition

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 25:

• Double click message icon to open all outstanding messages
• Fixed up the download specific messaging key to be more consistent
• Persisted last-seen-message across restarts
• Fixed up disconnect logic for duplicate connections as previous fix was incorrect

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 24:

• Added logic to kick duplicate incomplete outbound connections
• Added a ‘kick' option to peers view right-click menu (no ban)

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 23:

• Added option to hide ‘do not download' files in the Files View:
• Added option to automatically mark files with configured extensions as ‘do not download' when adding a torrent:
• Fixed a bug that caused Vuze to incorrectly send ‘interested' messages to peers.

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 22:

• Improved the installation flow for anon messaging in a few places

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 21:

• First snapshot for 2015 - fixed up some address encodings and added some utility functions

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 20:

• Sharing is now async
• Improved magnet download
• Support multiple concurrent private message channels

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 19:

• Drag+drop sharing of library content/external files in chat window

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 18:

• Schedule subscription updates more fairly
• Browser option for handling non-public URLs

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 17:

• Fix file download dialog name display for urlencoded titles
• Added ability to specify the rendezvous to use when traversing NAT

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 16:

• Don't include file type in name selection in quick-rename dialog
• Added some subscription settings to the right-click menu

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 15:

• Some translation updates and minor fixes

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 14:

• Fixed anon-chat links opening as public
• Added explicit indirect read support for RSS feeds

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 13:

• Fixed some URL encoding issues

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 12:

• Fix various browser based views not closing properly

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 11:

• Added ability to generate RSS feed from channel
• Support pause_tag and resume_tag options in speed limit handler

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 10:

• Added a ‘Chat Overview' view

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 09:

• Support .vuze file plugin installs in the wizard
• Support disable upload/download tag rate limits
• Fixed speed limit scheduler to handle disable up/down tag limits
• Right-click copy option added to message view

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 08:

• Fixed UI highlighting issue when messages truncated

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 07:

• Minor fixes to messaging UI

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 06:

• More sensible default save path location when multi-selecting torrents in open dialog
• Added some error reporting to messaging window
• Fix up non-public network webseeds

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 04:

• Added persistence to favourite channels

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 03:

• Some minor additions to chat UI and support for persisting messages across restart.

What is new in version 5.5.0.1 Beta 02:

• Attempted fix for occasional vanishing status bar content

What is new in version 5.5.0.0:

• A new visual guide that walks you through the find and download features of Vuze to easily connect with free Vuze featured content bundles
• Additional tips and suggestions are provided for using Vuze to find/open torrents, optimize downloads and engage with other Vuze related products
• Option added that allows blocking of local DNS resolution attempts for trackers hosts when using a SOCKS proxy
• Shortcut implemented for download location using CTRL+ to save torrents
• Improvement made to ‘remove top level folder' option when adding torrents, by right-click menu or by right-clicking on multi-selected torrents in the left panel of the multi-torrent options dialog
• Additions of various console-UI commands to improve usability:
• New ‘subscriptions' command has been added to allow subscriptions to be added and removed and each subscription can have its results inspected and marked as read/unread and downloaded
• ‘Hack' command has been extended to allow the setting/clearing of categories and the addition/removal of tags, as well as create tags and categories if needed
• Torrent info now includes category/tag info
• Option to show aggregated transfer rates of selected torrents
• Speed Limit Scheduler features added such as:
• Renamed ‘IP Sets' to ‘Peer Sets' as for a while they have denoted more than just peers selected by IP
• Added tag restriction support to Peer Sets (previously only categories were supported)
• Added Network selection to go along with IP ranges and country codes - use ‘Public', ‘I2P' or ‘Tor' as required
• Updated rate limiting support for Peer Sets to included ‘Disabled' for upload and download rates.
• Added the Peer Set description as a tooltip on the Peer Set name in the Tags Overview view
• Configuration pages now have shortcuts to access specific settings quickly: max simultaneous downloads, global max upload speed and global max download speed
• Get started with Vuze Bittorrent Client 5.5 and bring more power to your torrent experience!

Requirements:

• Oracle Java Standard Edition Runtime Environment