A magnet link is a URI scheme that identifies a file by its content rather than its location. Instead of pointing to a server that hosts the file, a magnet link contains a cryptographic hash of the file's content. Any BitTorrent client can use this hash to find peers on the network who already have the file and download it directly from them — no central server required.

Magnet links became widespread as a replacement for .torrent files. They are shorter, can be shared as plain text, and do not require a hosting site to remain online. The link itself encodes everything a client needs: the unique hash, the file name, trackers to connect to, and optionally the expected file size.

Tool description

This tool parses a magnet link and displays all the information encoded inside it in a structured, readable format. Paste any magnet URI and instantly see the info hash, hash algorithm, torrent name, file size, tracker list, web seeds, keywords, exact sources, and peer addresses — without needing a torrent client.

How it works

A magnet URI is composed of a scheme (magnet:?) followed by key-value parameters separated by &. The tool decodes each parameter according to the BitTorrent magnet link specification (BEP 9):

  • xt (exact topic) — the urn:btih:<hash> or urn:sha1:<hash> value that uniquely identifies the torrent
  • dn (display name) — the human-readable name of the torrent, URL-encoded
  • xl (exact length) — the total size of the content in bytes
  • tr (tracker) — announce URLs for BitTorrent trackers, URL-encoded
  • as (acceptable source / web seed) — HTTP URLs from which the file can be downloaded directly
  • kt (keyword topic) — search keywords associated with the content
  • xs (exact source) — a URL pointing to a torrent file or a P2P source
  • x.pe (peer address) — explicit peer addresses in host:port format

Features

  • Extracts info hash and hash algorithm (BTIH, SHA1, etc.) from any valid magnet URI
  • Shows the full decoded display name and human-readable file size
  • Lists all trackers, web seeds, and exact sources line by line for easy copying
  • Displays keyword tags as visual badges
  • Works entirely in the browser — nothing is sent to a server

Use cases

  • Verifying a magnet link before opening it — inspect the info hash and tracker list to check whether a link looks legitimate before handing it to a torrent client.
  • Extracting tracker URLs — copy individual tracker announce URLs from a magnet link to add them manually to another torrent or client.
  • Debugging torrent metadata — developers building BitTorrent tools can quickly inspect how magnet links are structured and validate that parameters are correctly encoded.

Limitations

  • The tool reads only what is encoded in the magnet link itself. It does not fetch the .torrent file or connect to any tracker, so per-file details (individual file names, sizes) are not available from the link alone.
  • Very long magnet links with many trackers may have been truncated by the source that shared them; the tool displays exactly what is present in the link.