File-sharing networks, usually a hotbed of XXX-rated Paris Hilton videos and pirated versions of the latest “Halloween” remake, are being studied by Harvard University scientists who seek to turn bandwidth into an online “currency.”

Computer researchers at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have rolled out a modified version of Tribler, a peer-to-peer program designed to speed downloads by giving users “currency” for letting other users upload their files.

The project is designed to demonstrate that peer-to-peer networks, already used in applications like the Skype voice-over-IP network, could become the foundation for video-on-demand and other e-commerce services.

The original version of Tribler was created by researchers at the Delft University of Technology and Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, to study file-sharing.

The revised version (available for download at http://tv.seas.harvard.edu) adds a bandwidth tracker called “bartercast.” The system is designed to provide faster downloads to users who lend some of their computer bandwidth for uploading files and allow groups of users to pool their positive upload balance to cut download waits.

Sven Seuken, a doctoral candidate who is working on the project with Harvard Professor David Parkes, said the Tribler revisions will turn the plodding Internet downloads into raging video rivers.

“The new changes we implemented in this version such as the give-to-get algorithm will eventually make video-on-demand possible,” he said in an e-mail. “This just requires that enough people are using Tribler as their file sharing client.”

Organizations like the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, which represent the major record labels and movie studios, have had a running feud with peer-to-peer networks that let users to download content for free. In July and August, the RIAA, which has sued thousands of individual music downloaders, sent “pre-lawsuit” letters to students or employees at 81 colleges and universities.

Mr. Seuken researchers also could find themselves in the cross-hairs.

“We have not yet been contacted by the RIAA, but perhaps soon...” he said.

Despite the two-day crash of the Skype network in August, Harvard researchers still believe that the peer-to-peer architecture is the Internet’s best hope for dealing with the high-bandwidth demands of video.

Mr. Seuken said it remains unclear what caused the Skype crash, though a software engineering flaw is the most likely candidate.

“There is no architectural problem,” he said. “On the contrary, if designed appropriately, P2P systems are more robust than their centralized counterparts.”