Is being a seeder for Bitcoin Core torrent really necessary?

I’m a big fan of using torrents. I enjoy finding and watching those old movies and shows that are hard to get anywhere else, and I usually keep them seeded for as long as I can even when I’m often the only one seeding them. Recently, I noticed that there aren’t many seeders for the Bitcoin Core torrent, which is linked at the top of this forum, and honestly, it kind of bummed me out. I get that torrents are fading away, but I thought this would be different. I’m planning to download it and keep it seeded just to support the culture of torrents. But do you think it’s worth it? Or is torrents for downloading Bitcoin Core just gonna fade into oblivion soon? How would that impact the Bitcoin network, its decentralization, and the whole process of getting new users onboard?

I don’t think torrents need to be the most popular way to download Bitcoin Core to still be worth keeping around. Most people will naturally use the official download page because it’s quick and convenient. But having another way to distribute the software still has value. If the community is willing to share the bandwidth instead of relying entirely on a few servers, that’s a good thing in my view. It also fits quite well with Bitcoin’s philosophy. We often talk about reducing unnecessary points of dependence, and I don’t see software distribution as being any different. The only thing I’d stress is that downloading via torrent shouldn’t change anyone’s security habits. Whether the file comes from the website or a torrent, verifying the release signatures is still the part that really matters.

Internet speeds have only gotten faster over the years. So I don't see the advantage torrenting would provide to someone, unless they have a really crappy internet connection, and for those who do, they probably rather use a lightweight wallet like Electrum instead of running a full node.

But isnt providing a torrent download for Bitcoin Core providing another access point for anyone to download? surely its actually a good move or at least a positive move? Im my mind providing as many download options for Bitcoin Core as possible is slightly related to having as many Bitcoin Nodes as possible. Torrents - I had actually forgotten about them. I used to use them ALOT back in the day, and I never managed to download any malware (that I know of)

I doubt it'll be dead. At least on Bitcoin community, i can find at least one people who have concern bitcoincore.org server could be down or it's domain hijacked. For people who torrent regularly, i expect some of them find it's more convenient to download things through their torrent application.

What might be the reason for that? As far as I'm concerned, I usually use torrent if the files I downloaded are only hosted on premium hosting as the only available alternative. In the past the ability to resume anytime is convenient due to slow speed, but as of now even 100GB is not really a big deal for my network. It's still the most convenient ways for sailing the seas I guess.

Sure the torrent option should be maintained, simply to as a back up for when there are issues with the server. But one or even a few people is not enough, unless, of course, at least one of them is seeding 24/7. I think it's a good idea to keep seeding it at least when you use your PC. FWIW, over the last day I've observed a number of active seeders at different times from 1 to 9, which is not that bad actually.

The Bitcoin Core archive is no more than 40 megabytes in size. Torrents distribute larger files. I encountered a problem: the latest version of Bitcoin Core doesn't support older wallets created with version 20. I haven't encountered such problems with Electrum, but Electrum installs very quickly, unlike Bitcoin Core.

Thanks for the reply, your post actually made me realise something... Obviously torrenting doesn't need to and cannot be the most popular way to get Bitcoin Core on your pc, but the P2P nature of it is very Bitcoin-aligned and hence should be preserved if possible. Besides it's always good to have reduced reliance on servers and hostings.

A hardcore fan here, I have fast internet connection but some things are just to hard to get (files, videos, software and others) so the best way to get them at times is torrent, it's not about the speed of my internet but for what I need. Seeding is every important for torrent files to be easily available for others, if no one is seeding it can be almost impossible to download any files, I remember trying to get a Chinese tool that I can't find online elsewhere, it took me a week to download that file because of seed. Somehow it works later and the download was very sluggish but I waited it out, the thing is Bitcoin core today is better download different for many, if there is no one wanting it through torrent then it's game over.

BitTorrent is quite obsolete from a technical perspective even though it's good to seed some files as a historical reference, as alternatives or just for culture sake. Bitcoin's native architectural design does much more because of the global data sharing abilities it has which makes it as efficient as possible for all the heavy work persay. It was around 2012 - 2014 that torrented files were a thing, not in this present dispensation anymore. However, in 2015 everything changed so much so that one could easily download the Blockchain through native Bitcoin P2P protocol, directly without any need or thought of ever using BitTorrent. This shows Bitcoin technological evolution and it's success in total.

It is not IMPORTANT to be a seeder but it is not useless either.  You could help out by seeding it, it would not do any harm but rather help people.  It is important however to not rely on a single point of failure so a Bitcoin Core torrent adds one more possible download source which is great.

I think this is due users who've downloaded it being selective on which files to download since normally, you only need the specific binary for your system. Since they only need one or three files, they wouldn't be able to seed to other users who needs the entire torrent or the other unwanted files. E.g.: me, I only tick one binary file, then the "hashes" and "signatures" for verification, leaving the rest. Normally, in other torrent files, users who use the default setting automatically become a seeder of the file they've downloaded. This usually increases the seeders by a few or a lot depending on how famous it is. But in this case, its limited to those users who actually decide to be a seeder by downloading the entire torrent. At least, 2 seeders > one centralized server when it comes with decentralization no matter how seemingly insignificant it is. Take note that OP is talking about the binaries which is the torrent link above the forum, not the Bitcoin blockchain.

In the context of installing a Bitcoin Core, I think having the know how to build the app ourselves is also a great help to maintain distribution. I've build one or two programs from GitHub in my whole life and while it can be challenging, a good documentation helps a lot. I think that's possible for a project as popular as Bitcoin. There's a high chance someone would just create a mirrors for the app if something happened to the main website too.

Its more useful to share the blockchain itself. People can jumpstart their full nodes that way.