P2P explodes by 400 per cent - and it's not all illegal

Peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic is set to skyrocket over the next five years - and the activity won't just be confined to music pirates and file sharers.

According to research by market research company MultiMedia Intelligence, P2P traffic will rise by 400 per cent over the coming years - from its 2007 level of 1.6 petabytes of traffic to 8 petabytes by 2012.

While the increase in P2P traffic as a whole may come as no surprise, interestingly the growth in legitimate P2P will far outstrip that of its illegitimate counterpart - with legal activity growing at 10 times the rate of illegal P2P traffic over the next five years.

MultiMedia Intelligence puts the predicted expansion in legitimate traffic down to a rise in the number of entertainment companies using P2P to distribute content.

The research company found P2P currently makes up 44 per cent of all consumer internet traffic, with music accounting for the most files transferred.