Definition: Gnutella is a decentralized P2P file sharing protocol established in the year 2000. Using an installed Gnutella client, users can search, download and upload files across the Internet. Popular Gnutella clients include BearShare, Limewire and Shareaza.
Early versions of the Gnutella protocol did not scale well enough to match the network's popularity. Technical improvements solved these scalability issues at least partially. Gnutella remains fairly popular but less so than some other P2P networks, principally eDonkey2000 and BitTorrent.
Gnutella is technically a distinct P2P network than the newer Gnutella2.
