XDCC

XDCC (Xabi DCC or eXtended DCC) is a computer file sharing method which uses the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network as a host service.

History

Limitations in the original DCC protocol prevented the transfers of very large files, or groups of files. XDCC was developed to allow batching of files together, and requesting/sending those files to others.

XDCC was initially a script written in 1994 for ircII by Xabi. This script extends the ircII DCC command. Now XDCC refers to IRC bots running file sharing programs in general. XDCC bots serve one or more usually large files for download using the DCC protocol. Though XDCC is commonly employed in distributing illegal content, such as warez releases of software, music, and movies, it can also be used in legal ways.

Features

Unlike peer-to-peer transfers, XDCC servers are often hosted on connections with very high upstream bandwidth, sometimes in excess of 100 Mbit. Often FTP servers are also running on the XDCC servers to facilitate uploading of materials to them. Many XDCC servers run on security compromised computers.