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1. Preface
Unfortunately the rutorrent ratio groups are not very intuitive to use and also the corresponding documentation is incomplete. Therefore I made this small tutorial. The first part contains a detailed description about the underlying logic of ratio groups. However, if you are only interested in a particular (common) use case of a ratio group, such as seeding torrents to a specified ratio, you can skip to the example ratio groups that I listed in the second part. You can easily amend them to your own needs.
2. How do ratio groups work?
Each ratio group consists of 4 different conditions ( Min,% / Max,% / UL,MB / Time,h ) and an action. Whether the action of a ratio group will be triggered depends on which conditions have been satisfied. Whether an individual condition has been satisfied (for a particular torrent) depends on either
For the sake of simplicity, these four conditions can be put in two different groups:
The Min,% and UL,MB conditions (mandatory)
These conditions are "packaged together". That means only if both conditions have been satisfied, the action will be triggered. One condition alone doesn't suffice.
The Max,% and Time,h conditions (optional)
Each of these condition is independend from all other conditions. That means, as soon as one of Max,% or Time,h is satisfied, the action will be triggered, regardless of whether the other conditions are satisfied or not. So these are hard limits. You can turn the Max,% condition off with "0" and the Time,h conditions with "-1".
The following table shows which combinations of satifsied conditions will trigger the selected action
✔= condition has been satisfied
x = condition has not been satisfied or is turned off
Note that there are limits to what you can do with ratio groups. For example, you cannot require a torrent to have both a minimum ratio and a minimum seed time. However, if you need such conditions you can use another tool such as rtcontrol.
A ratio group / torrent size example
Here is an example that shows after how much uploaded MB the action of a particular ratio group is triggered for torrents with different sizes. The Time condition has not been set (-1) for this example ratio group.
Example ratio group
3. Ratio groups examples
These are examples of commonly used ratio groups which you can easily amend to your own needs.
Example 1
Torrents should stop always after reaching a 2.5 ratio
If Min % = Max % then the UL,MB condition has (practically) no effect. The Time,h condition has to be turned off (-1).
Alternatively you can specify the following conditions
In this case the UL,MB condition (0 MB upload) is always satisfied. So as soon as the torrent reaches a 2.5 ratio the action will be triggered.
Example 2
Torrents should stop always after 48 hours seeding regardless of how much (or little) has been uploaded
Set the Min % condition to a very high value that is very unlikely to be reached by any torrent. This will (practically) turn both the Min % and the UL,MB condition off. So the only remaining relevant condition is the Time,h condition.
Example 3
Torrents should not longer seed than 48 hours and should not have a ratio greater than 1.5
The Time,h condition sets the maximum seed duration in hours. However, the action will be triggered before 48 hours have been passed if the torrent reaches a 1.5 ratio.
Unfortunately the rutorrent ratio groups are not very intuitive to use and also the corresponding documentation is incomplete. Therefore I made this small tutorial. The first part contains a detailed description about the underlying logic of ratio groups. However, if you are only interested in a particular (common) use case of a ratio group, such as seeding torrents to a specified ratio, you can skip to the example ratio groups that I listed in the second part. You can easily amend them to your own needs.
2. How do ratio groups work?
Each ratio group consists of 4 different conditions ( Min,% / Max,% / UL,MB / Time,h ) and an action. Whether the action of a ratio group will be triggered depends on which conditions have been satisfied. Whether an individual condition has been satisfied (for a particular torrent) depends on either
- how much has been uploaded in percentage (Min,% and Max,%) or
- how much has been uploaded in MB (UL,MB) or
- how many hours the torrent has been seeded (Time,h)
For the sake of simplicity, these four conditions can be put in two different groups:
The Min,% and UL,MB conditions (mandatory)
These conditions are "packaged together". That means only if both conditions have been satisfied, the action will be triggered. One condition alone doesn't suffice.
The Max,% and Time,h conditions (optional)
Each of these condition is independend from all other conditions. That means, as soon as one of Max,% or Time,h is satisfied, the action will be triggered, regardless of whether the other conditions are satisfied or not. So these are hard limits. You can turn the Max,% condition off with "0" and the Time,h conditions with "-1".
The following table shows which combinations of satifsied conditions will trigger the selected action
| Min,% |
Max,% | UL,MB | Time,h | Action triggered |
x |
x |
x |
x |
No |
✔ |
x |
x |
x |
No |
x |
x |
✔ |
x |
No |
✔ |
x |
✔ |
x |
Yes |
| x | x | x | ✔ | Yes |
| x | ✔ | x | x | Yes |
x = condition has not been satisfied or is turned off
Note that there are limits to what you can do with ratio groups. For example, you cannot require a torrent to have both a minimum ratio and a minimum seed time. However, if you need such conditions you can use another tool such as rtcontrol.
A ratio group / torrent size example
Here is an example that shows after how much uploaded MB the action of a particular ratio group is triggered for torrents with different sizes. The Time condition has not been set (-1) for this example ratio group.
Example ratio group
| Min % |
Max % | UL,MB | Time,h |
| 100 | 200 | 500 | -1 |
| Torrent size | 700 MB |
| Action trigerred | after 700 MB has been uploaded |
| Reason | the Min 100% upload (700 MB) and UL,MB (500 MB) conditions are both satisfied |
| Torrent size | 350 MB |
| Action trigerred | after 500 MB has been uploaded |
| Reason | the Min 100% upload (350 MB) and UL,MB (500 MB) conditions are both satisfied |
| Torrent size | 100 MB |
| Action trigerred | after 200 MB has been uploaded |
| Reason | the Max 200% upload (200 MB) condition has been satisfied |
3. Ratio groups examples
These are examples of commonly used ratio groups which you can easily amend to your own needs.
Example 1
Torrents should stop always after reaching a 2.5 ratio
| Min % |
Max % | UL,MB | Time,h |
| 250 | 250 | any value | -1 |
Alternatively you can specify the following conditions
| Min % |
Max % | UL,MB | Time,h |
| 250 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
Example 2
Torrents should stop always after 48 hours seeding regardless of how much (or little) has been uploaded
| Min % |
Max % | UL,MB | Time,h |
| 1000000 | 0 | any value | 48 |
Example 3
Torrents should not longer seed than 48 hours and should not have a ratio greater than 1.5
| Min % |
Max % | UL, MB | Time, h |
| 150 | 0 | 0 | 48 |
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