P2P file-sharers shun music for software and games

Peer-to-peer networks are no longer dominated by pirated music files - now, a study has found, it's cracked software, games and films that are doing the rounds on P2P.

According to research from CacheLogic, video content now makes up almost 62 per cent of all traffic on the four largest P2P networks - BitTorrent, eDonkey, Gnutella and Fastrack, the network used by Kazaa.

CacheLogic found that file-sharers prefer Microsoft file formats for sharing videos but are more agnostic towards their music.

Audio formats are now just some 11 per cent of all P2P traffic, with the remaining 27 per cent being dedicated to 'other' content, such as games and software.

CacheLogic found that file-sharers prefer Microsoft file formats for sharing videos but are more agnostic towards their music. The most-used video formats travelling across the net are Redmond's proprietary offerings, at 46 per cent of P2P videos, while MP3 is the format of choice for music P2P.

eDonkey is now the video-sharer's favourite network, the research found. It surpassed Kazaa last year for music-swapping users, following a series of high-profile lawsuits aimed at fining illegal file-sharers for their activities.

Illegal file-sharing of music has started to stabilise, according to European music industry body the IFPI, while legal music downloading has tripled in the last year.

The CacheLogic research also found BitTorrent was the network of choice for "expert users", due to the volume of files shared with uncommon file extensions.

BitTorrent was also favoured by legal file-sharers, who are swapping software and games.