Even though streaming seems to be the rage these days, torrenting sites are still a popular option for people who want to download their preferred music, movies or TV shows. Torrent is basically alternatives to DVDs, CDs or Blue Rays and is the handiest tool that most internet users are familiar with.
This is a unique way of file sharing but has gotten a negative reputation in the media. Numerous torrent sites have come and gone over the years and most of them are shut down permanently. However, there are still some sites that have managed to survive.
Finding torrent sites on Google is the most threatening task. Google will generally hide torrent websites and display fake ones that contain irritating ads and dodgy links.
Now, let's have a look at the 10 most popular and survived torrent sites however using VPN while browsing these sites is strictly recommended.
Most popular and survived torrent sites:
1. The Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay is arguably the most popular torrenting site on the whole planet. This website has made its existence since 2003 making it the oldest torrent site on the internet. It has gone through several seizures and domain shutdowns only to re-emerge each time under a new domain name or web address.
Pirate Bay was raided by police in December 2014. Their several pieces of equipment and computers were seized which resulted in Pirate Bay as well as several other file sharing sites going offline. The good news is that it survived and was raised again in 2015 with the phoenix logo symbolizing it had risen again.
Currently, millions of files are available on The Pirate Bay's database. They use a technology called "Skull" to identify files uploaded by trusted users. Each colour indicates the different status or membership class:
I. Green Skull
Green Skull is provided to users or VIPs who are sharing high-quality and safe torrent files for a long time and with consistency.
II. Pink Skull
Pink Skull is provided to verified and trusted uploaders. The moderators and administrators trust those uploaders to share and upload working and safe files on their websites.
III. Blue Skull
It is provided to the most front-liners who helped keep sites from fake files, malware, spam and child pornography. These helpers have been removed from the websites as of February 2015.
2. Limetorrents
Limetorrents acts as a torrent search engine rather and directory than host. It was founded in 2009 and does not host any files. It simply helps users to find the links to torrent sites that are hosted on other websites. Limetorrents, unlike other torrents sites, is family-friendly and does not allows users to search or submit for any pornographic material or pornographic content.
It can be a good alternative if your favourite torrent sites are down. It offers a simple and easy interface however poor torrent health remains to be an issue for Limetorrents.
3. Torrentz2
Torrentz2 can be viewed as an unofficial clone of the original Torrentz site which was shut down in August 2016. Torrentz2 was capable of indexing a total of 60 million torrent files during its initial launch.
In addition, it also complied with different trackers for each torrent that was not initially present in the original .torrent file. This was done to allow other trackers to pick up the load if the default tracker went down.
The original Torrentz2 site was the second most popular torrent site on the internet in 2012. The latest unofficial Torrentz2 has copied everything including its minimalistic interface from its original site.
4. RARBG
It was founded in 2008 and currently operates under numerous domains. It mainly aims at uploading high-quality video releases but also has other files like games and music.
RARBG was forced to shut down for one week in December 2008 due to immense pressure from BREIN ( the anti-piracy organization of the Netherlands).
The sad news is that access to this popular torrenting site has been blocked in several countries like England, UAE, Denmark, Australia, Ireland and Finland. It used to generate more than 300,000 visitors at its peak in 2015. You can still download torrent files from it but registration to this website is currently closed.
5. 1337X
1337X was founded in 2007 and provides users with torrent files and magnet links that can be used for peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing. It was ranked as the third most popular torrent site on the internet as of 2018 after the shutdown of Kickass Torrents.
Google has banned 1337X and it will not appear in SERPs. It was banned after a complaint filed by Feelgood Entertainment in 2015. In October 2015 it moved from its old '.pl' domain to the '.to' domain and this was done to avoid blocks as the site can still be accessed by manually inputting its address on the address bar.
6. Kickass Torrents
Kickass Torrents was created by some of KAT's former staff members and the current version is the revival of the original version. Features and overall design is almost similar to its predecessor.
It was founded in 2008 and became the internet's most-visited torrent site according to Alexa rankings in 2014.
7. Torlock
You will love Torlock if you are addicted to e-books and high-quality anime. This website apart from e-books and anime offers plenty of music torrents as well. The UI is clean and intuitive and helps users to find the best possible content.
Some content offered by this site is almost impossible to find in other trackers. It is more than 4.8 million files to be specific.
One annoying thing about this site is that you will find a sheer number of ads and pop-ups.
8. Torrents Downloads
Torrents Downloads which was created in 2007 houses more than 16 million torrents. It contains almost everything from games, movies, music and e-books.
It offers a straightforward interface with easy navigational options. Users can filter their searches using advanced search options to find their files faster.
The interesting thing about this site is that it allows users to rate files and leave a comment to help lower down the number of fakes on the websites. It can be viewed as one of the best torrents sites in terms of selection and quality downloads.
9. YTS.AM
YTS.AM can be a good option for you if you are a movie enthusiast. It offers a great layout and numerous movie torrent downloads to choose from. It is reliable and goes on the user's bandwidth.. YTS.AM is the successor to the original YTS and YIFI group.
YTS.AM gained its popularity because of high-quality downloads of the latest Hollywood flicks and TV shows.
The only con of this site is that it offers only movies and nothing else.
10. EZTV
EZTV can be your favourite option if you are looking for the latest episodes of your favourite TV shows. It has established its name for downloading TV shows. It came into existence in 2005 and went to a rough patch in 2015. But it has been recovered and is back under new management.
You can find everything from TV series, reality shows, NASCAR races and all.
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