FrostWire is a peer-to-peer file sharing program for the Gnutella and BitTorrent protocols. FrostWire is written in Java, and is a fork of LimeWire, another popular Gnutella client. Released under the GNU General Public License, FrostWire is a free software. The project was started in September 2005 by members of the LimeWire open-source community, after LimeWire's distributor considered placing "blocking" code, which it was developing in response to RIAA pressure and the threat of legal action, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. When eventually activated, the code could block its users from sharing licensed files.
As with Limewire, FrostWire is written in Java, and so is capable of supporting multiple platforms. LimeWire is available in both free and privative versions, while FrostWire is released only as a free version. The FrostWire program includes all of the free LimeWire version's functionality, plus a few features of LimeWire Pro's fee based upgrades. FrostWire also provides a chatroom which is absent in LimeWire. FrostWire's interface is nearly identical to that of LimeWire's since it's based on the same code base, however, the color scheme is slightly different as is shown in the picture above. As in LimeWire, the FrostWire skin may also be changed to a variety of different colors.