What are NZB's?

NZB is an XML-based file format for retrieving posts from NNTP (Usenet) servers. The format was conceived by the developers of the Newzbin.com Usenet Index. NZB is effective when used with search-capable websites.

These websites create NZB files out of what is needed to be downloaded. Using this concept, headers would not be downloaded hence the NZB method is quicker and more bandwidth-efficient

How do they work?

To understand how NZB files work, I will first explain something about posts on Usenet.

Every file on Usenet is split up into many separate parts. These parts are called articles and are combined again to one file by your newsreader after downloading. Each article has a unique number, the so called message ID. With this number your newsreader knows exactly which file to download, because there is only one file with the same number.

An NZB file is a collection of message ID’s of the files the NZB has been made for. These message ID’s are combined in a text file with the extension .nzb. I you have this .nzb file, import it in your newsreader (see the tutorials for each newsreader supporting NZB file on Binaries4all.nl) and start downloading at once.

How they work with a newsreader?

You can import these NZB files in your favorite newsreader, if it has such functionality of course. In the various tutorials will be explained how to use NZB files with those newsreaders.