The Best Torrent Sites in 2023

In the list below you’ll find the very best legal torrenting sites. All of the sites are unblocked, still working, and completely safe to use.

None of these recommended sites host copyrighted content or malware. You can skip to the list of torrent sites to avoid to find out which platforms have copyrighted content.

When ranking the best torrent sites we specifically test for:

• The legality of the site
• The quality, quantity, and variety of its content
• The seeder to leecher ratio
• The overall user experience
• The history of the site, including any notable shutdowns

1. Internet Archive: The Best Legal Torrenting Site

The best legitimate torrent site for all types of content, including movies and software.

Pros	Cons
Well-established non-profit operating since 1996 Unprecedented content library Useful advanced search filters No ads Provides evidence of lapsed copyright for each torrent Includes uploader history to increase trust	Doesn’t display seeder-leecher ratio Outdated web design Blocked in Russia

The Internet Archive is the best torrent site overall, providing an unparalleled library of books, movies, TV Shows, music, software, and animation. All of its content is in the public domain meaning it’s legal and safe to use.

It has an easy interface that lets you filter content by type, category, language, and popularity. Each torrent comes with a rating, user comments, and its uploader’s history, which improves the site’s reliability.

The only drawback is that you can’t filter by seeder-leecher ratio, or view the ratio of a torrent prior to its download.

Thankfully, our torrenting tests confirmed that the Internet Archive’s average seeder-leecher ratio was 3:1 – an excellent result.

2. Legit Torrents: The Torrent Site with the Most Seeders

Excellent free torrenting site covering multiple different types of content.

Pros	Cons
Torrents for movies, TV shows, music, games, books, and Linux distros Excellent seeder-leecher ratio Active community with frequent uploads Useful advanced search filters Great for retro games	Hosted on a HTTP connection Some ads Outdated UI

Legit Torrents is one of the best-seeded torrent sites we’ve come across. Every torrent is well-served with an average ratio consistently above 4:1, ensuring fast download speeds.

Its content library is broad and diverse, covering hundreds of TV shows, Linux distros, movies, music, games, and books. We were particularly impressed by its collection of retro games such as Wolfenstein, Doom 1 and 2, and the Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall.

Sadly, Legit Torrents is hosted on an HTTP connection meaning your online activity is visible to anyone monitoring your session. To counteract this, you can install a VPN to hide your activity from potential snoopers.

3. Vuze StudioHD Network: The Best Torrent Site for Modern Movies

Large collection of popular TV Shows and movies.

Pros	Cons
Excellent selection of documentaries, movies, TV shows, and feature length stand-up comedy Recognised brand established in 2006 No ads	Requires installation of Vuze’s proprietary Bittorrent client Doesn’t display seeder-leecher ratio Limited advanced search filters

Vuze StudioHD Network is a well-established torrent site that specializes in movies and video content. You can choose from well-known movies, documentaries, live recordings of stand-up, Ted Talks, and TV shows.

We were able to torrent popular TV shows such as Dexter, Entourage, The Wire, and True Blood.

Frustratingly, you’re forced to download Vuze’s own proprietary torrenting client before you can access its torrents. Our malware tests confirmed that it’s safe to use but we would like the option to use our own client.

It is, at least, based on popular torrenting clients like qBittorent so it should be familiar to experienced torrenters.

4. LibriVox: The Best Torrent Site for audiobooks

Community-driven torrent site specializing in audiobooks.

Pros	Cons
Modern and easy-to-use UI Attentive community with regular uploads Nuanced advanced search filters Active forum with threads for book requests No ads	Doesn’t display seeder-leecher ratio Numerous unseeded torrents Only accommodates movies

LibriVox is a torrent site focused on producing and distributing audiobooks for every book in the public domain.

Its catalog spans 17,000+ titles with 100+ uploads monthly. This is supplemented by an active forum with regular posts and book requests.

The site is attractive and easy-to-use with nuanced search filters, audiobooks in 46 languages, and no ads whatsoever.

However, we were disappointed by its poor seeder-leecher ratio as well as encountering numerous unseeded torrents. As a result, you can expect a slow average bitrate for most titles.

5. Foss Torrents: The Best Torrent Site for Open-Source Apps

Beginner-friendly torrent site focussing on making software accessible to all.

Pros	Cons
Easy-to-use UI and simple web design Minimal ads New upload notifications on social media	Doesn’t display seeder-leecher ratio No advanced search filters Newly established Only accommodates open-source software and games

FOSS Torrents is a newly-established torrent site aimed at distributing open-source software. Its content library is minimal but there’s well-seeded torrents for popular software such as Blender, FreeCAD, Kodi, and Audacity.

The site is simple and easy-to-use, with a clean UI. You can search for specific torrents or filter by type and category. FOSS Torrents also lists the system requirements for each torrent as well as different ways to download.

However, we were disappointed by the lack of advanced search filters and information regarding the seeder-leecher ratio.

6. Academic Torrents: The Best Torrent Site for Research

Extensive database of academic papers hosted by a non-profit organization.

Pros	Cons
Published DMCA requests arge collection of academic papers Great seeder-leecher ratio Useful search filters Multiple channels of support	Some of the torrents are difficult to access Only accommodates academic papers

Academic Torrents is a trusted torrent site with a plethora of published research, datasets, and online courses.

We put the site through several different tests to verify its trustworthiness and transparency. Based on our results, Academics Torrents is one of the cleanest torrent sites we’ve tested.

It includes several different measures to prove its legitimacy, including providing a form for DMCA requests, listing torrents that have been removed due to DMCA requests, and making it mandatory for uploaders to provide citations.

Academic Torrents’ excellent seeder-leecher ratio and intuitive search filters result in a smooth user experience, too.

The major drawback is the inaccessibility of the datasets. Most of Academic Torrents’ data is presented as a series of ‘n-grams’ within a general index. This can be difficult to access, download, and understand.

7. MVGroup: The Best Torrent Site for Documentaries

Large collection of documentaries upon sign-up.

Pros	Cons
Over 15,000 documentaries Includes advanced search filters No ads Rating and comment system to improve reliability	Mandatory account registration Outdated and difficult to navigate website Slow loading times throughout the site Documentaries only

MVGroup is the best torrent site for documentaries with over 15,000 entries. This includes content from the BBC, National Geographic, and the History Channel.

Each torrent is well-seeded, with an average ratio of 4:1 and an abundance of ways to download.

Despite some useful search filters, including sorting by number of seeders, the overall user experience is lacking.

The website is outdated and suffers long loading times, you can’t filter by the genre of documentaries, and you’re forced to create an account before you can torrent anything. The registration process itself was frustrating, requiring multiple email addresses before MVGroup verified our account.

8. bt.etree.org: The Best Torrent Site for Live Music Recordings

Large catalog of audio files compiled from live performances.

Pros	Cons
Long-standing torrent site with no known shutdowns Live recordings spanning two decades Excellent advanced search filters No ads Email support	Hosted on a HTTP server Numerous unseeded torrents Only accommodates live music recordings

bt.etree.org is the best torrent site for music, featuring live recordings from over 400 artists and bands.

It’s a simple, intuitive torrent site letting you filter by seeders and peers as well as artist name. Although the average seeder-leecher ratio isn’t the best at 1:1, we experienced fast torrenting speeds during our tests.

Sadly, bt.etree.org is hosted on a HTTP server meaning your HTTP requests are exposed to anyone monitoring your connection. We also came across multiple torrents that weren’t seeded.

9. Public Domain Torrents: The Best Torrent Site for Classic Films

The largest collection of classic films on the internet.

Pros	Cons
Encyclopedic library of classic movies Includes a feedback feature	Intrusive ads Outdated web design Frustrating user experience Difficult to set up Disappointing seeder-leecher ratio Only accommodates movies

Public Domain Torrents hosts over 981 classic films and B-Movies, more than anywhere else online.

The movies are subdivided into several categories, but that’s the extent of Public Domain Torrents’ limited user interface.

The website is painfully outdated, full of intrusive pop-up ads, and often redirects to empty webpages. Even the alternate ways to download, via iPod or PSP, are indicative of a torrent site in need of an upgrade. Despite this, Public Domain Torrents does regularly upload new content.

We also experienced difficulties when attempting to torrent a file normally. Our troubleshooting revealed that you must first save the torrent’s link address to your PC and then open the link within your files to begin torrenting. This is needlessly complicated and stalls the entire process.

10. Linux Tracker: The Best Torrent Site for Linux Distributions

Useful repository of popular Linux distros.

Pros	Cons
Large collection of Linux distros Excellent seeder-leecher ratio	Outdated and unattractive UI Annoying and intrusive ads No advanced search filters Pages missing content Only accommodates Linux software

Linux Tracker is a torrent site dedicated to Linux distributions, with over 9,000 seeded distros.

New distributions are uploaded hourly and users can leave comments and ratings on each individual torrent.

Unlike most torrent sites, you can view the average seeder-leecher ratio on the Index tab. During our testing it never dropped below 3:1, resulting in fast torrenting speeds.

The site itself is ugly and populated with ads, including frequent pop-up ads. We were also disappointed to see the FAQ tab redirect us to an empty page.

The torrent sites listed below do not meet our testing criteria. Many of them are illegal, host copyrighted content, or contain malware that poses a danger to your online security. As a result, they should be avoided.

We do not condone using illegal torrent sites. However, if you do choose to visit them, be sure to use a top VPN service to mitigate the risk to your privacy and security.

The Pirate Bay

Pros	Cons
An unprecedented collection of movies, TV shows, e-books, anime & software Torrent reliability system to reduce risk Excellent advanced search filters Minimal ads	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries UI requires improvement Subject to frequent shutdowns Inactive support forum

The Pirate Bay is the most popular illegal torrent site on the internet. The latest movies, TV shows, and music are uploaded to the site hourly and packaged in well-seeded torrents.

However, its library consists entirely of illegal, copyrighted content. If you choose to torrent from the Pirate Bay then you will be breaking the law.

Consequently, the Pirate Bay is blocked in a huge number of countries, including the US, UK, and India. It’s also subject to frequent bans with the most recent in March 2020.

There are also reports within the torrenting community that the Pirate Bay has been compromised, and that even ‘verified’ torrents from popular uploaders could contain malware or be a law enforcement honeypot.

The only way to stay 100% safe is to not use the Pirate Bay at all.

1337x

Pros	Cons
Multiple ways to download content Diverse content library with an active community No ads	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries Can’t filter by seeders or leechers Support chat and forum don’t work

1337x is an illegal torrent site with a diverse catalog covering movies, TV shows, games, music, apps, and more. It does not have the right to legally distribute any of these.

The site includes multiple ways to download its content, primarily: magnet links, torrenting, direct download, and streaming.

Its UI requires significant improvements, though. We couldn’t access its chat room or forum and we were frustrated by the lack of search filters.

Don’t expect to be able to access 1337x either, it’s blocked in most countries.

RARBG

Pros	Cons
Varied selection of content Excellent advanced search filters Well-seeded torrents	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries Constant redirects to new tabs Outdated video games selection No support channels & shady past

RARBG is a popular alternative to the Pirate Bay, offering a range of movies, TV shows, and software. We did find its choice of video games to be lacking, only supporting older titles.

It is an illegal torrent site, meaning it hosts and distributes copyrighted content. If you choose to torrent its content, you may face legal repercussions.

In fact, RARBG is blocked in multiple countries such as India and the UK.

It’s not the easiest site to use either. Misclicking outside a link’s hypertext redirects you to an advertisement and there’s no support channels for troubleshooting.

LimeTorrents

Pros	Cons
Massive content libraries Multiple channels of support	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries Constant redirects to new tabs Outdated & unattractive UI

LimeTorrents is a popular torrent site with a content library numbering in the millions. Users have access to movies, TV shows, music, software for multiple platforms, and video games.

It is an illegal torrent site, hosting copyrighted content without the permission of its creator or distributor.

The site is untrustworthy and its design resembles a webpage from the early 2000s. We were particularly frustrated by the continual redirects to random tabs as well as its limited UI.

YTS

Pros	Cons
4K quality movie torrents Includes advanced search filters	Hosts illegal content User agreement warns against accessing the site from the US Only accommodates movies Constant redirects to new tabs No support channel, rating system, or user comments

YTS serves as the successor to popular torrent site YIFY, following the latter’s permanent shutdown in 2015.

YTS is one of the well-known movie torrenting sites, with a wide selection of titles available in 4K and HD picture quality.

Despite its illegitimate status, YTS is only blocked in the UK, but its user agreement states that US residents should not access the site.

It lacks the complexity of competing torrent sites, too. There’s no means to contact support, you can’t rate or comment on torrents, and we couldn’t locate a community forum.

EZTV

Pros	Cons
Great selection of TV shows Active forum and community	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries Awful and outdated UI Lacks nuanced search filters Only accommodates TV shows

EZTV is an illegitimate torrent site for TV shows. Its catalog encompasses older and newer titles and its torrents are generally well-seeded.

The site’s forum is very active, posting regular community announcements and responding promptly to content requests.

We were unimpressed by the site’s stripped-back user interface, especially the lack of advanced search filters.

Allowing users to filter torrents by seeders would drastically improve EZTV’s usability.

EZTV is blocked in several countries due to its copyrighted content, however it is one the few illegal torrenting sites that still work in India.

TorLock

Pros	Cons
Assort content library covers newest releases Torrent health score to minimize risk Intuitive rating and comment system	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries Intrusive and persistent ads Lacks advanced search filters

TorLock has one of the most up-to-date content libraries we’ve tested. It has torrents for movies, TV shows, and video games released in January 2023, all of them in violation of copyright law.

We also appreciated its torrent ‘health score’, represented by a green bar, to signal the reliability of the uploader. However, we still recommend you use a VPN to mitigate any risk on illegal torrent sites.

Our user experience was frustrating. Aside from by category or by name, TorLock doesn’t offer any advanced search filters. Its persistent pop-up ads also impeded our testing and the site’s overall usability.

TorrentGalaxy

Pros	Cons
Multiple content types and subcategories 4K options for movies and TV shows Responsive and helpful forum	Hosts illegal content Poor seeder-leecher ratio for recent uploads Annoying and intrusive ads Content library weaker than competitors

TorrentGalaxy is an easy-to-use torrent site featuring movies, TV shows, music, games, and software.

Its forum responds quickly to queries and covers a range of topics from guides and tutorials, to P2P troubleshooting.

However, TorrentGalaxy’s content falls short of popular torrent sites such as the Pirate Bay and 1337x. Its recently uploaded torrents also lacked the necessary seeders to facilitate fast download speeds.

TorrentDownloads

Pros	Cons
Diverse selection of torrents Torrent health score to minimize risk Multiple ways to download	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries Frequently blocked us from torrenting Google Chrome flags the site as dangerous

TorrentDownloads is a long-established torrent site for a variety of copyrighted content. You can torrent well-seeded movies, TV shows, music, games, software, anime, and e-books.

We found TorrentDownloads horrible to use in our testing. We were frequently directed to advertisements in new tabs, its torrents were incompatible with every torrenting client we tested, and Google Chrome highlighted the site as dangerous.

We recommend you avoid TorrentDownloads at all costs – it’s illegal and unsafe.

Bibliotik

Pros	Cons
Substantial collection of e-books Completely private torrenting sites	Hosts illegal content Not currently accepting new members Unresponsive staff Only accommodates e-books

Bibliotik is an e-book focussed torrent site with an entirely private membership. It allegedly has one of the largest collections of e-books on the internet, although we were unable to obtain an invite and verify this ourselves.

It’s unclear as to when Bibliotik will begin accepting new members again.

Demonoid

Pros	Cons
Varied content n-depth FAQs Excellent advanced search filters	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries History of regular shutdowns Outdated design Inactive userbase Access to the forum requires an account

Demonoid has a diverse content library, accommodating more niche categories like Japanese anime and comics.

There’s an abundance of useful search filters to make navigating the site simple as well as helpful FAQs covering multiple topics.

Demonoid hosts illegal content and has been blocked in several countries such as the US and Canada. It’s also been subject to regular shutdowns forcing the site to periodically change domains.

Despite its regular influx of content, its users rarely leave comments on individual torrents. This further limits the site’s trustworthiness and reliability.

GloTorrents

Pros	Cons
Considerable amount of software torrents Torrent health score to minimize risk	Hosts illegal content Inactive userbase Low seeder-leecher ratio Constant redirects to new tabs

GloTorrents has a varied library, but specializes in software, allowing you to filter by platform and device. It also provides torrents for mobile apps and wallpapers.

We found GloTorrents difficult to use. Clicking anywhere on the site caused us to be redirected to a new tab, stalling our torrenting.

GloTorrents does not own the copyright to the content it hosts, and has a low average seeder-leecher ratio resulting in slow download speeds.

TorrentFunk

Pros	Cons
In-depth FAQs Torrent health score to minimize risk	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries Constant redirects to new tabs Lacks advanced search filters Subpar UI

TorrentFunk is well-seeded with a sizable torrent library.

Each individual torrent is assigned its own health score and the site provides a total count of ‘verified’ torrents. These are welcome features but TorrentFunk’s library still includes copyrighted content which is illegal to download.

We were also unimpressed by the absence of search filters, making sorting through TorrentFunk’s large content library impossible.

YourBittorrent

Pros	Cons
Accessible and modern UI Only verified users can upload files	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries Pop-up ads Annoying redirects Modest user base

YourBittorrent is an easy-to-use torrent site encompassing multiple types of content.

Unlike other torrenting sites, YourBittorrent has a modern design and an intuitive user interface. Site navigation is simple, torrents are clearly labelled with the relevant information, and specific torrents are easy to locate.

Despite its great usability, YourBittorrent does suffer from pop-up ads and occasional redirects to new tabs.

It also has a small user base so torrents can take a while to become adequately seeded.

Angie Torrents

Pros	Cons
Modern design and simple UI No ads	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries Guests can’t use the internal search engine Doesn’t have the latest titles Recently established Modest user base

Angie Torrents is a newly-launched torrent site with a decent-sized library. It doesn’t use any ads or redirects and its design is simple and easy to understand.

This is an illegal torrent site. It hosts copyrighted movies, TV shows, music, software, books, and tutorial videos.

Angie torrents doesn’t have many users which is reflected in its poorly-seeded torrents and dated content.

You also can’t access the site’s internal search engine until you create an account. This makes it near-impossible to locate a specific torrent.

Nyaa.si

Pros	Cons
Comprehensive library of anime torrents Torrent verification system to minimize risk Useful advanced search filters	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries Poor seeder-leecher ratio Limited support channels History of frequent shutdowns Only accommodates anime

Nyaa.si is a clone of the once popular anime site Nyaa.se, with the latter shutting down indefinitely in 2021.

Nyaa.si remains online but, due to its illegal nature, access to the site is blocked in several countries, including India and Japan.

You can torrent the latest animes in both dubbed and subbed with support for multiple languages. However, its average seeder-leecher ratio is poor. We frequently came across torrents with a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio.

RuTracker

Pros	Cons
Large and diverse library Multiple channels of support Massive user base	Hosts illegal content Blocked in Russia Support section hosted on HTTP Unintuitive UI Regularly shut down by Russian government

RuTracker is the largest illegal Russian torrent site, with over 13 million registered users.

Its content library is vast, comprising video games, movies, TV shows, documentaries, sporting events, books, and even language-learning tools.

It’s not the most intuitive site to use. Content is primarily filtered by the year it was created, ‘80s, ‘90s etc., and each torrent’s seeder-leecher ratio isn’t immediately obvious either.

RuTracker is under constant pressure from the Russian government with a site representative claiming that Russian officials demanded access to users’ personal information.

We strongly recommend you don’t use RuTracker.

NoName Club

Pros	Cons
Well-seeded torrents Uploader reliability rating to mitigate risk	Hosts illegal content Blocked in Russia You can’t torrent without an account Not the best for Western titles Unattractive website and awful UI

NoName Club is another illegal Russia-centric torrent site. Its torrents are well-seeded and accommodate a variety of media but we found its Western content lacking.

The site is visually unappealing and its interface is cluttered with tabs and unnecessary information.

You also can’t torrent without first creating an account. Considering its illegally hosted content and Russian jurisdiction, we advise against giving NoName club your email address.

iDope

Pros	Cons
Functions as a torrent search engine Easy-to-use and understand	Hosts illegal content Blocked in several countries Difficult to access Outdated UI

iDope is primarily an illegal torrent search engine but it does host some content itself. Content assigned a pink square can be torrented directly from the site, whereas grayed-out squares are hosted on other torrent sites.

iDope has been blocked in several countries: we were forced to locate a proxy link to access the site. It also employs a woefully outdated design that resembles the Google homepage from the early 2000s.

torrentz2.nz

Pros	Cons
Torrent search engine covering multiple libraries Simple to use	Hosts illegal content Blocked in every country Only available on TOR Negative seeder-leecher ratio Basic UI

torrentz2.nz is a clone of Torrentz, a popular torrent search engine shut down in 2016.

It can only be accessed via the Tor browser as the torrentz2 domain has been blocked everywhere else for hosting copyrighted content, including India and the US. Tor has its own risks and should only be accessed using a trusted VPN service.

Its user interface is minimal, consisting of a search bar and options for the newest, best, and trending torrents.

Despite drawing results from multiple torrent sites, most of the torrents we inspected had an overwhelmingly poor seeder-leecher ratio.

Due to the hosting of copyrighted content, illegal torrent sites are regularly subjected to blocks or shutdowns at the request of government officials, distributors, labels, and ISPs.

Furthermore, these sites often operate on user donations and the personal expenses of their owners, which can also lead to them permanently shutting down their servers.

Below we’ve listed several popular torrent sites that were forced to shut down, along with their stated reasons for doing so:

We identified five key criteria when selecting the best torrent sites to recommend.

Below is a detailed breakdown of our testing methodology:

Legality

Every torrent site we recommend is legal, safe to use, and free from malware.

All hosted and distributed content is within the public domain and therefore completely legal to download.

Any torrent sites that host copyrighted material are automatically excluded from our testing process. This includes popular sites like the Pirate Bay and 1337x.

We reward torrent sites that take measures to improve their legitimacy and transparency. The best torrent sites will provide a privacy policy, respond to and publish DMCA requests, and include contact details

Content Library

Torrent sites are primarily judged on the content they can provide to their users. We take into account the amount of content, the variety of the available content, and the quality of the content.

The best torrent sites excel at covering multiple types of media, including: movies, TV shows, books, software, and anime.

Each content type should have a developed library, encompassing hundreds of torrents.

We also assess how well-developed the torrent is where applicable. For example, we reward torrenting sites that can provide HD-quality films, or high-quality audio files.

Seeder to Leecher Ratio

Ideally, the number of seeders (uploaders) should outnumber the number of leechers (downloaders).

This ensures greater upload capacity and less competition for your download, improving your overall download speed.

The best torrent sites mandate users to seed their torrents following a download until another peer finishes downloading the same torrent – this ensures a base ratio of 1:1 across the site.

We also take into consideration the quantity of seeders per torrent. A greater number of seeders mitigates an individual seeder’s potentially slow internet connection.

User Experience

Torrenting can be inaccessible if you’re not overly familiar with P2P file-sharing. We reward any torrent site that mitigates this by making its torrents compatible with popular torrenting clients as well as clearly labeling the number of seeders and leechers.

We also examine how easy the site is to use. The best torrent sites allow you to quickly download a file without the need to create an account or provide payment details.

We also appreciate any search filters that allow for more defined results, including: the number of seeders to leechers, when the file was uploaded, and different content types.

Lastly, we take into consideration the level of ad intrusion on each torrenting site. Torrenting sites that use excessive pop-up ads are penalized, as are sites that redirect you to a different Window if you misclick.

Founding Year

Illegal torrenting sites experience frequent, and often permanent, shutdowns as a penalty for hosting copyrighted material.

Therefore, a torrent site that’s existed for multiple years without any shutdowns indicates legitimacy and reliability.

All our recommended torrent sites have existed for a minimum of 10 years and in that time have established active communities. This ensures well-seeded torrents and regular content uploads.

Torrenting sites are a depository of torrents for popular media. By downloading a torrent from one of these sites, your computer becomes connected to a decentralized Peer-to-Peer network.

Each user (peer) on this network (swarm) possesses a small component of the movie, TV show, or eBook you’re trying to download, within their own torrent file.

By connecting to this network, you can exchange the files necessary to download your desired piece of content or software.

This eliminates the need to download from a central server, resulting in a faster download time.

We’ve outlined the necessary steps below for using a torrenting site:

Torrenting always carries a risk to your online privacy, even when using legal torrenting sites. Connecting to a P2P network displays your real IP address to everyone else in the torrent swarm, regardless of the legality of the content.

Therefore, it’s recommended to always use a VPN to torrent safely and anonymously.

In the video below we demonstrate how to bind a VPN to your torrenting client, using Mullvad as an example:

Torrenting sites are constantly subjected to shutdowns and ISP blocks, forcing entire domains to migrate.

If you live in the US, India, or the EU then you likely won’t be able to access popular torrenting sites due to strict local privacy laws and litigious distributors.

You can use a VPN to change your online location by connecting to a VPN server in a different region to your own. This ‘spoofs’ your IP address and allows you to bypass local bans on popular torrenting sites.

Are Torrenting Sites Blocked in India?

Visiting and browsing a torrent site in India is not a crime, neither is downloading non-copyrighted content.

However, it is illegal to distribute or download copyrighted content. This has led to India’s Bombay High Court blocking several torrent sites since 2016, including the Pirate Bay, TorrentFunk, and YourBittorrent.

What Is the Safest Torrenting Client?

qBittorrent is the safest torrenting client due to its open-source software, attentive community, and advanced security settings. Moreover, qBittorent doesn’t come with any bundled software or malware.

Do I Need to Use a VPN for Torrenting?

It’s recommended to use a VPN for torrenting to keep your P2P activity anonymous. Connecting to a VPN hides your IP address from other peers in the torrent swarm, and conceals your torrenting activity from your ISP and any other snooping third-parties.

You can also use a VPN to spoof your geo-location and access blocked torrenting sites.

Why Are Torrenting Sites Banned?

It’s illegal to host and distribute copyrighted content without the permission of the copyright holder.

Popular torrenting sites tend to exclusively host copyrighted content, which leads to lawsuits from major distributors, governments, and ISPs.

It’s also common for scam sites to masquerade as P2P sharing platforms and bundle malware within its torrents. This can cause the domain to eventually become blocked.

However, it is legal for a site to host content that’s available within the public domain. This includes self-published music from independent artists, classic movies, and older books.