EMule

eMule

eMule 0.50a
Original author(s)	Merkur
Developer(s)	eMule-Team
Initial release	May 13, 2002; 22 years ago (2002-05-13)
Final release	0.50a / April 7, 2010; 15 years ago (2010-04-07)[1]
Preview release	0.50b_BETA1 / March 20, 2015; 10 years ago (2015-03-20)
Repository	sf.net/p/emule/code/
Written in	C++[2]
Operating system	Windows
Available in	43 languages[3]
Type	Peer-to-peer file sharing
License	GNU GPLv2
Website	emule-project.net

eMule is a free peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows. Started in May 2002 as an alternative to eDonkey2000, eMule connects to both the eDonkey network and the Kad network. The distinguishing features of eMule are the direct exchange of sources between client nodes, recovery of corrupted downloads, and the use of a credit system to reward frequent uploaders. eMule transmits data in zlib-compressed form to save bandwidth.

eMule is written in C++ using the Microsoft Foundation Classes. Since July 2002 eMule has been free software, released under the GNU General Public License; which has led to eMule's codebase being used as the basis of cross-platform clients aMule, JMule, xMule, along with the release of eMule modifications of the original eMule.

As of October 2023,^[update] it is the fifth most downloaded project on SourceForge, with over 693 million downloads.^[5]

Development was later restarted by the community as eMule Community.^[4]