Top 25 Best Torrent Sites in 2021

Over the years, there have been a lot of great torrent sites where you could easily download movies, TV shows, music, games, and a lot of other content.

But due to strong surveillance from governments and internet service providers, many torrenting sites couldn’t stand the test of time: They got blocked.

This article will show you the 25 best torrenting sites that are still working in 2021. But first, you need to know the factors that determine the best torrenting sites.

Factors to Consider When Choosing the Best Torrent Sites

1. Download Speed: This is the average speed at which the torrenting site downloads the content to your device. This is a top factor, as you don’t want to spend hours trying to watch a single episode of your favorite show.

2. Size of Content Library: When choosing a torrent site to download torrents from, you’ll want to pick a site that has more content than other websites, prioritizing whichever movies, anime, books, and games you want to access. Mind you, some torrent sites that provide a smaller range of content are still as good as other sites with more robust libraries.

3. Ad Intrusion: If you’ve used torrent sites in the past, you’ll know some torrent sites have annoying, intrusive ads. These pop-ups present fake contests and tell you you’ve won challenges you didn’t participate in. Sometimes, they slow down your download or contain viruses that can potentially harm your device. And you don’t want any of that. We rate ad intrusion on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is least intrusive and therefore the best score.

4. Security: Security is a hot-button topic when it comes to the internet, and you shouldn’t treat it lightly when engaging with torrents. The best torrent sites ensure your searches and activities are secure online. But if you ever leave your personal information exposed, torrenting could be risky. So if you value your privacy, we advise you to use a VPN to protect yourself and your data.

5. Monthly Visitors: The number of monthly visitors a torrent site gets says a lot about its credibility and the amount of content it provides. So is the number of monthly visitors worth taking into consideration? Yes! A larger number tends to indicate higher-quality torrents.

6. Banned Regions: Governments all over the world wage war against torrent sites. It’s very possible for some of the best torrent sites to be banned in your region. Nonetheless, you can still access those sites with a VPN by rerouting your connection to a country where the sites are allowed.

7. Mirror sites: Sometimes, when torrent sites are blocked, you can try connecting to their mirror sites or proxies. A torrent site with mirror sites is more likely to remain accessible than one without mirror sites.

8. Founding Year: Lots of torrent sites have been shut down in the past 5–10 years. So any torrent site that has survived this period is dependable and definitely deserves to be on the list of top torrent sites.

9. Seeder/Leecher Ratio: It’s important to know the seeder/leecher ratio before torrenting because torrent files with more seeders tend to download faster.

Best Torrent Sites That Are Still Working in 2021

This article comprises a list of both private and public torrent sites that can help you download the movies, shows, books, music, games, apps, and other stuff you love.

It also includes mirrors or alternate sites that you can access when the main torrent sites have been blocked by your ISP.

If you’re just starting out with torrenting, you’ll need a torrent client so you can easily download your favorite content to your device. Two of the most common torrent clients are BitTorrent and uTorrent, and they’re free to download and easy to use. uTorrent does not have ads.

The following is the list of best torrenting sites;

1. The Pirate Bay — Overall Best Torrent Site

No other torrent site has the credentials to top this list other than The Pirate Bay. They’ve been ranked the best torrent site on several occasions, and with 20–60 million monthly visits, they’re the crowd’s favorite.

The content library on The Pirate Bay website is the most robust on the internet. You can download millions of torrents in various categories. The user interface is also tidy and user-friendly, and the site won’t disturb you with lots of ads.

And since safety during torrenting is a critical consideration, The Pirate Bay goes the extra mile to secure its users by adding tags that can help them ascertain if a torrent is safe to download or not.

However, The Pirate Bay website has been banned in many countries, so you may need to use a VPN to reroute your connection to another country where it’s accessible.

Features

• Rating: 10/10
• Year Founded: 2003
• Monthly Visitors: 24 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 8,210/2,372
• Download Speed: 6 MB/s
• Alexa Rank: 224
• Ad Intrusion: 2
• Mirrors: thepiratebay.org, tpbpirateproxy.org, proxybay.xyz, thepirate-bay.org, thepiratebay10.org, thepiratebay.rocks, thepiratebay.vip, pirateproxy.id
• Banned Regions: United Kingdom, Spain, Singapore, Argentina, Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Austria, Norway, Finland, Sweden, China, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, India, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Kuwait, Russia, Sri Lanka, Germany, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Belgium

If your internet connection is strong but The Pirate Bay refuses to connect, check if your VPN is on. Or you can google “Pirate Bay mirrors” and find more options on the reclusive second page of search results.

2. Kickass Torrents — Runner Up for Overall Best Torrent Site

Another torrent site that may have the content you’d like to download is Kickass Torrents.

The site has a vast torrent library with plenty of seeds, plus a large, active community. You’ll particularly love the impressive number of movies and TV shows.

This torrent site has addressed some security issues by providing information on whether a user is verified and on the seeder/leecher ratio of the torrents. This information can help you make wiser decisions and download the torrents that are popular and safe.

One downside to Kickass Torrents is that it has ads and pop-ups that might cause you a little trouble with navigation. But as long as your ad blocker is active, this won’t be a problem.

Another issue with Kickass Torrents is that it has also been banned in many countries like Australia, Britain, and the USA. The good news is that you can still download your favorite movies, TV shows, and games on the site by using a good and reliable VPN.

Just reroute your connection to another country where the site hasn’t been blocked. Another thing worth loving about this torrent site is that it’s easy to use. You can easily search by keyword within the category you like and choose the torrent files that appeal to you.

Features

• Rating: 9.3/10
• Year Founded: 2008
• Monthly Visitors: 6.5 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 13,101/9,035
• Download Speed: 6 MB/s
• Alexa Rank: 2,425
• Ad Intrusion: 1
• Mirrors: katcr.co, kickasstorrent.cr, kickasstorrents.pw, kat.am, sitenable.pw, kickass.cd
• Banned Regions: Australia, Britain, and the USA

The Kickass Torrents website is good for downloading games, music, apps, anime, books, movies, TV shows, and lots more.

3. RARBG — Best Torrent Site for downloading 4K movies

Still looking for more of the best torrent sites? You’ll love RARBG.

This P2P file-sharing site uses BitTorrent protocol and allows you to download high-quality torrents in a variety of categories with the support of magnet links.

One of the reasons users love RARBG is that it is a multipurpose torrent site with lots of verified seeders, similar to The Pirate Bay. RARBG also offers its users an impressive personalized experience.

You can find virtually any torrent you’re looking for regardless of its age. Movie torrents are particularly popular on this site. The website actually features a list of the top 10 torrent downloads in these categories: movies, XXX, TV shows, music, and games.

It is also easy to use, as you can simply browse through its library of content or type in keywords to search for something specific using its effective torrent search engine.

However, because the website has been blocked in many countries, you may need a VPN for torrenting with RARBG. Additionally, there are annoying ads that your browser may not block.

Features

• Rating: 8.9/10
• Year Founded: 2008
• Monthly Visitors: 57.1 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 298/22
• Download Speed: 1.9 MB/s
• Alexa Rank: 7,542
• Ad Intrusion: 5
• Mirrors: 185.37.100.122, rarbg.is, rarbgprx.org/index70.php, rarbgunlock.com, rarbgunlock.com/index70.php, rarbgmirror.com, rarbgmirror.com/index70.php, rarbgmirror.xyz/index70.php, rarbgmirror.org/index70.php, rarbgaccess.org/index70.php
• Banned Regions: The UK, Bulgaria, Portugal, Denmark, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Ireland

RARBG can be described as a hybrid between the best public and private torrent sites, as the website lets users log in with a username and password or browse as a guest.

Note: There are a lot of RARBG clones, but they are scam sites. So it may not be in your best interest to look for any mirrors other than the ones we’ve provided.

4. Zooqle — Best Torrent Site for Gaming

If you’re a gamer looking for the most robust library for downloading video game torrents (whether for console or PC), Zooqle may be your best bet.

There, you can find torrents you won’t see elsewhere. This popular torrent site has a library of over 600 TV shows plus 37,000 movies. Software torrent downloads are also popular on this site.

The user interface is also impressive and the site has a search bar to help you easily find any file you’re interested in. Each torrent has detailed information, like the resolution quality of the file, the time it was uploaded, and the seeder/leecher ratio.

Features

• Rating: 9.5/10
• Year Founded: 2013
• Monthly Visitors: 7.7 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 9,736/3,125
• Download Speed: 4.2 MB/s
• Alexa Rank: 2,086
• Ad Intrusion: 1
• Mirrors: zooqle.bypassed.org, zooqle.unblocked.mx, zooqle.unblocked.krd, zooqle.nocensor.club, zooqle.g2g.casa, zooqle.u4m.pw
• Banned Region: None

If you don’t know the name of a movie or TV show but can remember the cast, search for one of the actors and the website will bring up movies they’ve been cast in.

5. 1337x — Best Torrent Site for Software

1337x is one of the best The Pirate Bay alternatives in 2021, and here are the reasons.

Not only is 1337x a site for downloading applications, but you can also find anything you’re looking for, from music, audio, and games to videos, movies, and TV shows. And then some.

The website is heavily moderated despite its large community of torrent uploaders. And even though the freshest content is uploaded almost hourly, the site still features high-quality torrents in all its categories.

If you knew it as one of the poor torrent sites because of the security risks it posed and the difficulty of navigating it, the site has worked on all that now to provide you a better experience.

The site has a simple user interface and an organized directory path to aid your browsing. It also provides some information for each torrent, such as the seeder/leecher ratio and the number of times a file was downloaded.

Features

• Rating: 9/10
• Year Founded: 2007
• Monthly Visitors: 71 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 10,903/5,161
• Download Speed: 4 MB/s
• Alexa Rank: 257
• Ad Intrusion: 7
• Mirrors: 1337x.st, x1337x.se, 1337x.gd, 1337x.is, x1337x.ws, x1337x.eu.
• Banned Region: Australia, the UK, Austria, and Ireland

Despite its excellent quality torrents, I advise using a VPN with malware protection for torrent sites like 1337x. It’s not unusual to see torrents with malware or spyware every now and then.

6. YTS — Best Torrent Site for HD Movies

One of the most popular torrent sites in the world is YTS (otherwise called YIFY).

It is known for its rich library of high-quality HD movies with small file sizes. That means users with limited bandwidth can also download great movies.

You can also find classic movies as well as movies you can’t find on other platforms. Another perk to this website is that most of the movies have subtitles. And the website’s interface is appealing.

Some of the mirrors have annoying ads and pop-ups, so you’ll want a VPN service to access them.

Features

• Rating: 8.5/10
• Year Founded: 2011
• Monthly Visitors: 33 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 3,282/736
• Download Speed: 3 MB/s
• Alexa Rank: 696
• Ad Intrusion: 4
• Mirrors: yts.lt, yts.unblockit.app, yts.unblocked.mx, yts.gm, yts.am, yts.pm
• Banned Region: Ireland, the USA, Britain, Greece, and Iceland

Unfortunately, you can’t download shows, music, games, or software on this site, so you’ll have to look elsewhere for those.

7. Torrentz2 — Best Torrent Site for Music Download

If you’re looking for a public torrent site to find good music, Torrentz2 is one of your best options.

The website is considered a torrent search engine, as it displays results from other torrent sites. You can then download torrent files from the original sites or magnet links.

Torrentz2 is fast and free to use with a simple interface. You can easily find torrents for any music from the past decade.

This site has some intrusive ads and pop-ups, as well as fake links that will take you to dangerous websites. So always use a VPN with an ad blocker to guarantee your safety online and ensure your privacy. Try the newest version of the site.

Features                           

• Rating: 7.3/10
• Year Founded: 2016
• Monthly Visitors: 20.7 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 207/25
• Download Speed: 2 MB/s
• Alexa Rank: 21,682
• Ad Intrusion: 1
• Mirrors: torrentz2.is, torrentz2.me, torrentz2eu.org, torrentz.eu, torrentzeu.org, torrenteu.org, torrentz2.cc
• Banned Region: None

Aside from the poor download speed, another lackluster feature of this website is the search function itself, as it has no filters. But you can still use this site to find music torrents, as well as lots of movie torrents.

8. LimeTorrents — Great for New and Popular Releases

Moving on from a website with no search filters, we arrive at one with amazing search filters: LimeTorrents.

This torrent site lists the top 50 monthly torrents for all its categories and is one of the largest torrent sites in the world with almost 10 millions torrents.

It shows the “Health” of each torrent, as well as the number of seeders and leechers. The more seeders a torrent has, the faster you’ll be able to download it. Among LimeTorrent’s top selling points are its popularity and its comprehensive tracker list for new releases.

It’s easy to find reliable and secure torrents. You can also choose torrents by their verified status (a star symbol to the far right of the torrent’s name) and the number of seeders. In all, the UI is user-friendly for those new to torrenting as well as experienced users.

Features

• Rating: 8.1/10
• Year Founded: 2009
• Monthly Visitors: 17 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 8,849/3,813
• Download Speed: 3.7 MB/s
• Alexa Rank: 3,001
• Ad Intrusion: 1
• Mirrors: limetorrents.co, limetorrents.asia, limetorrents.zone, limetor.com, limetorrents.in, Limetorrents.info, limetor.club
• Banned Region: The UK, France, and Australia

The downside is that it might be difficult to find old torrents on LimeTorrents. Plus, ad disturbance can be high sometimes.

9. EZTV — Best Torrent Site for TV Shows

After going through a lot of reforms, EZTV now ranks among the best torrent websites. It’s particularly known for its impressive library of high-quality TV show torrents.

So when you’re looking for HD torrents of the latest episode of your favorite reality TV program, late-night show, cartoon, or any other TV series, head to EZTV.

You’ll be able to filter TV shows and movies based on video quality and other search options. EZTV also supports downloading through magnet links.

Features

• Rating: 8.4/10
• Year Founded: 2015
• Monthly Visitors: 28 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 510/55
• Download Speed: 4 MB/s
• Alexa Rank: 3,163
• Ad Intrusion: 2
• Mirrors: eztv.unblocked.krd, eztv.tf, eztv.unblockall.org, eztv.yt, eztv.ag, eztv.red, eztv.unblocked.mx, eztv.unblocked.bet
• Banned Region: The UK, Ireland, and Australia

You can’t download full seasons of shows on this site. So you’ll need to torrent each episode, and this can be time-consuming and increases the risk. The best way to do this safely and quickly is by using a VPN.

10. TorLock — Best Torrent Website for Verified Torrents

TorLock is one of the best sites to find safe downloads, and it’s especially good for Mac users. The website is good for downloading anime episodes, music, and eBooks.

It features a top 100 list to help you find the hottest torrent downloads. The website is impressive in that it features files that are difficult to get on other torrent sites. However, I recommend you only use it as a backup.

To demonstrate its commitment to providing its community with quality content, the website pays $1 to any user who spots and reports a fake torrent.

But you can still find some misleading links on the site. Plus, the site is notorious for intrusive ads and pop-ups (especially pornography ads), so always use a VPN with an ad blocker.

Features

• Rating: 7/10
• Year Founded: 2010
• Monthly Visitors: 3.4 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 1,136/49
• Download Speed: 4.4 MB/s
• Alexa Rank: 21,900
• Ad Intrusion: 8
• Mirrors: torlock.unblocked.krd, torlock.unblocked.mx
• Banned Region: The UK, India, and Australia

TorLock focuses on small torrents that you can easily download. But many of the torrents have no seeders.

We’ve now covered our top 10 torrent sites, but let’s continue in case you haven’t found what you’re looking for.

11. TorrentDownloads — Good website for Hard-to-find Content

TorrentDownloads is one of the best torrent sites to download dated content and torrents that you’ve had trouble finding on other sites.

But the torrents aren’t limited to obscure ones. The large library will ensure you find lots of movies, TV shows, games, apps, and files in a couple more categories.

The useful search filters will help you filter search results based on category and status. Try searching for an old eBook or a rare video game—you may be impressed by the results.

TorrentDownloads’s interface is very organized and detailed. You can view the number of seeders and the health of a torrent file. This way, you’ll be able to avoid downloading malicious content on your device.

One shortcoming of TorrentDownloads is that its library is not as extensive as those of The Pirate Bay and RARBG. Hence, there’s been a decline in its traffic.

It also has lots of annoying ads that open in new browser tabs. So you’ll want a strong VPN with an ad blocker for this one.

Features

• Rating: 6.8/10
• Year Founded: 2007
• Monthly Visitors: 5 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for an eBook: 1,188/86
• Download Speed: 2.8 MB/s
• Alexa Rank: 15,639
• Ad Intrusion: 4
• Mirrors: torrentdownloads.unblocker.cc, torrentdownloads.unblockall.org, torrentdownloads.mrunlock.pro
• Banned Region: The UK

While this might be an interesting website to find torrents (including Asian titles), I can only recommend it as an alternative to the top torrent sites. It is blocked in many regions and the ads can be really annoying.

12. iDope — Good for Variety

A list of the best torrent sites wouldn’t be complete without iDope.

One great feature of iDope is its fast downloads. It also mostly provides magnet downloads so you can download your desired content without downloading the torrent first.

The simple UI makes it a good website to easily download trending movies and TV shows on your device.

However, like TorLock, the site doesn’t have many seeders.

Features

• Rating: 7/10
• Year Founded: 2016
• Monthly Visitors: 1.5 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 510/31
• Download Speed: 3.7 MB/s
• Alexa Rank: 34,978
• Ad Intrusion: 4
• Mirrors: idope.bypassed.bz, idope.se, idope.buzz
• Banned Region: None

Finally, you may not be able to download videos in 1080p, but you can still find lots of top-quality videos at 720p.

13. TorrentFunk — Good for Movies and Shows

TorrentFunk is a website with a vast database, and it’s popular among torrenters.

Here, you can find quality content in various categories like software, games, movies, shows, and music. You’ll be able to find almost any title you seek without difficulty.

When you search for torrents, you can use their verified status to help you sift through fake links to find the safe ones. Another way to know if a link is good is by reading through the comments of other users of the site.

Features

• Rating: 5.5/10
• Year Founded: 2010
• Monthly Visitors: 2.5 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 5,179/2,177
• Alexa Rank: 64,318
• Ad Intrusion: 8
• Mirrors: torrentfunk1.unblocked.is, torrentfunk1.unblocked.lol
• Banned Region: None

You can also see the numbers of seeds a torrent has and the health of the torrent. However, using a VPN for torrenting on this site is highly advised because of the intrusive ads.

14. Torrent Galaxy — Good for Variety

Up next among our best torrent sites is Torrent Galaxy—a remarkable and multipurpose torrenting site.

It has quality content in a variety of categories, like sports shows, documentaries, games, eBooks, music, TV shows, anime, and movies. But should you want to download software, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

The user interface is neat and easy to use, so you can quickly access any content you’re interested in. The site even has a special section for users to live stream movies and TV shows.

Features

• Rating: 6.2/10
• Year Founded: 2018
• Monthly Visitors: 7.7 million
• Seeder/Leecher Ratio for a Movie: 384/14
• Alexa Rank: 4,795
• Ad Intrusion: 3
• Mirrors: torrentgalaxy.unlockproject.live, torrentgalaxy.mrunlock.pro, torrengalaxy.nocensor.icu
• Banned Region: None

But Torrent Galaxy has more ads than popular alternatives. We recommend trying the best of the best torrent sites first, like The Pirate Bay, RARBG, and 1337X.

15. ETTV Torrents — Good for Movies and Television

On ETTV Torrents, you can find virtually every episode and TV series you could search for. And these files are high quality.

However, the torrents aren’t limited to the latest television series. You can also find software, books, TV documentaries, and audio content.

And if you’re looking for your favorite TV shows in foreign languages, you can get them from this site’s extensive directory.

The site also features a straightforward interface. Users can quickly search for a torrent of their choice and easily skim through the high volume of search results.

All these features earn ETTV Torrents a spot on our list of the best torrent sites that are still working in 2021.

16. SkyTorrents — Multipurpose Torrent Site with Minimal Tracking

If your privacy is a top concern, you should consider SkyTorrents, as it is one of the top torrent websites where users can download torrents with minimal tracking.

The easy-to-use interface is clean and simple. There’s also minimal ad disturbance. And the website boasts almost 300,000 monthly visitors.

You can download videos, music, eBooks, games, and software from SkyTorrent’s massive database that contains close to 22 million torrents.

And if you’d love to donate to the site’s cause, it accepts donations in cryptocurrency.

17. Torrends.to — Combines Torrents from Other Sites

Torrends.to, formerly known as torrents.io, is also another great torrenting platform. However, it seems to be down a lot lately.

This website is not really a torrent site. It basically works as a meta search engine by tracking torrents and magnet links from other popular sites like RARG and The Pirate Bay. So you’ll most likely find any torrent you’re looking for via this site.

The site’s database provides descriptions and ratings for tons of torrent sites so users can stay safe while finding the files they want.

This site, which attracts around 5 million monthly visitors, has an impressive UI design with little ad intrusion.

You can also find the most popular torrents on the site’s home page.

18. Nyaa.si — Best for Asian Content

If you’re looking for your favorite Asian content, Nyaa.si should be your first stop.

The site features lots of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese content, including software, anime videos, and audio. However, the bulk of its content is anime.

The website features an engaging user interface to make accessing all its content easy.

19. DirtyTorrents

This is an interesting site with a good number of verified torrenters and seeders.

This site acts as a search engine for torrents by showing you torrents on other sites where you can download movies, TV shows, apps, audios, games, and more.

20. GloTorrents

If you prefer to stream videos and listen to live radio, you’ll love GloTorrents.

In addition to these services, it offers thousands of torrents for games, books, anime, movies, TV shows, videos, and more.

GloTorrents gets an impressive 1.3 million visitors every month, but the site has some annoying ads.

Mirrors: glotorrents.siteunlocked.info

Best Private Torrent Sites

So far, we’ve brought you a list of the best public torrent sites that are still working today. Now let’s check out some private torrent sites.

I’d like to point out that while everyone can access these sites, you’ll have to register as a user before you can torrent privately.

Here are a few reasons private torrent sites are great for torrenting

• Private torrent sites are much safer than public torrent sites. This is because users with the intention of spreading malicious files generally find it difficult to gain access.
• Members of private torrent websites have seeding quotas to comply with. This improves the download speeds of the contents on private torrent sites.

So, let’s get into them.

21. IPTorrents — All in One

IPTorrents is a member-only site where you can download torrents in a variety of categories.

This makes it one of the most popular torrent sites on the planet.

It has a huge library of content and an active and engaged community, and the website is almost free of ads. The website’s monthly traffic sits at around 7 million visits a month.

To become a member of this site, you’ll need to be granted an invitation. Or you can donate $20. Unfortunately, the site is not accepting new registrants otherwise.

22. Redacted

Redacted is an audio content torrent site where you can download all sorts of music, from hip-hop to classical music and a host of other genres.

This site gets around a million visitors each month. However, you’ll need an invitation to gain entry.

23. Bibliotik — Best for eBooks

Bibliotik has the largest eBook library. Here, you have access to more than 300,000 torrents.

So if you’re a student or just an avid reader, there’s a great chance you’ll find the title you’re looking for. Bibliotik has monthly traffic of almost 200,000, but it’s difficult to register for.

24. PassThePopcorn — Best for Movies

PassThePopcorn is a very extensive library for good movies. You can get both new and old films in high definition.

Even with 1.4 million monthly visitors, it’s super difficult to sign up for the site.

25. GazelleGames

With an impressive 600,000 monthly visitors and 15,000 gamers, this site is a goldmine for finding almost any game you’re looking for.

What is a Torrent?

A torrent is a file that helps torrenting software (called clients) search for computers sharing a particular file and then pair your computer with them.

A torrent basically holds pieces of information about the file that you’re looking for, such as the file’s location on the web. Then the client reads the metadata and locates users who have that file. Finally, you can download the file you’re looking for from those users.

The whole process can be likened to an electronic directory that contains the contact details of every resident of your city. If you’re looking for a particular person, you can enter the person’s name and the directory will pull up the list of people with that name. Then you can click on any result to see more details about the person and verify that these details match what you’re searching for.

Here, the directory is the torrent site, and a search result, along with its details, is the torrent. So a torrent only aids in searching for a shared file; it doesn’t contain the file itself.

Therefore, torrenting is a way to share data with other computers. The computers are called peers, and the act of sharing files among peers is called peer-to-peer or P2P file sharing. P2P file sharing happens on a P2P network.

This is unlike the traditional method of downloading content, where you connect to a server and download content from that server. That traditional system is described as server-to-client.

How Does Torrenting Work?

Like we said earlier, a torrent helps a client locate computers sharing files on a peer-to-peer network. Two sets of people are involved in this process, seeders and leechers.

Seeders are people who have the file you want to download and are uploading that information, while leechers are people downloading the file from seeders. 

Why should you care about this? The more seeders a torrent has, the faster your download will be. Plus, the number of seeders of a file goes a long way toward indicating the file’s health.

After determining the number of people seeding a torrent, you can’t just start downloading. You’ll need a torrent client like BitTorrent or uTorrent to request the file. P2P file sharing is only possible with a torrent client’s communication protocol.

As we said, the seed is the complete file. Each peer has a different part of the file. So when you’re downloading, bits of the file move from each peer’s computer to the client. Then a tracker helps the client locate the portions of the file while also recording the number of seeders, the total downloads, and other information about the torrent.

After downloading, it’s kind to seed the file to other clients so they can receive a complete copy of the file as well.

With torrenting, large files can be shared and downloaded by multiple people simultaneously without the fear of crashing any servers.

How to Unblock Torrent Sites from My Location

It’s commonplace to have some torrent sites blocked in your country. However, you can unblock these sites by using a VPN for torrenting.

It must be noted that not all VPNs are reliable for torrenting. I suggest ExpressVPN, which I personally use every day on all my devices, including PC, mobile, and Amazon FireStick.

ExpressVPN is torrent-friendly with tons of P2P servers and doesn’t impose any restrictions on the downloads. It also comes with a “no questions asked 30-day money-back guarantee” if you change your mind.

Here’s how to install and start using a torrenting VPN on your device.

Step 1: Get the ExpressVPN subscription HERE.

Step 2: Click HERE to download and install the ExpressVPN app on your device.

Step 3: Click the Power icon to connect to a VPN server.

That’s all. Switch between different VPN servers and visit any torrenting website you like. You are not blocked anymore. Moreover, your connection is now private and your online activities are hidden for everyone.

Why Do You Need a VPN (Virtual Private Network) when Torrenting?

The truth is you don’t really need a VPN when torrenting.

But when downloading a torrent, we advise that you use a VPN to keep your activity private (from governments, hackers, site operators, ISPs, etc.), as a VPN masks your IP address and grants you anonymity.

A VPN also protects you from downloading viruses or malware and from leaking your precious personal information.

Specific torrent sites could be blocked in your location, so if you want to access these sites without physically traveling, you’ll need a VPN to connect to servers in other countries.

And in the case of ISP throttling (when your ISP prevents you from downloading data at standard speeds because of excessive streaming or downloading), a VPN will stop your ISP from monitoring you and may even enhance your torrenting speed.

So here’s how to torrent safely:

1. Go through our list of the best VPNs and install one. You’ll need the VPN to be anonymous online, unblock banned sites, and reroute your connection to a secure server.
2. Enable connection encryption and leak protection. Sometimes, your connection can fail and you can risk exposing personal data or having your network infiltrated. That’s why you’ll want to activate your VPN’s kill switch. In fact, enable all the safety settings you can on your VPN.
3. Finally, install an ad blocker and other safety extensions.

How to Access Private Torrent Sites

It’s easy to access and download from public torrent sites (or open trackers), as they allow anyone in.

But with private torrent sites (also called private trackers), access is limited to members only. So you’ll need an invitation to get in. Private trackers are highly regulated so that all members can get faster and more secure downloads.

To gain access to private torrent sites, you may have to follow torrenting threads on 8chan, Reddit, torrentinvites.org, and other anonymity-focused forums.

Sometimes, invitations are randomly thrown out for a limited time. But you can also find someone (a current member) in any thread who has indicated they have an account with a private torrent site. Then you can try to persuade them to invite you. You may have to commit to being an active member.

You can do this regardless of whether you personally know the person who can invite you.

How to Spot Fake Torrents and Websites

Most sites inform their users how to differentiate between fake torrents and real ones, or from legal torrents and illegal ones.

But if your torrent site doesn’t explain, this section will help you know if you’re in the right place.

• Don’t download the latest movies: While many movie lovers want to download the latest movies, try to stay clear from recent uploads. These come with copyright infringement, as there’s little chance such content is available to the public.
• Assess the seeder/leecher ratio: Real and healthy torrents have a large number of seeders and a smaller number of leechers.
• Download verified torrents: Some websites add a verified status to the torrent’s information so you can avoid unverified torrents that contain malware.
• Avoid files with WMA or WMV extensions: While you won’t find these kinds of files on the best torrenting sites, stay away from them if you ever find them. They’re usually fake.
• Beware of torrents with password protection: These torrents request that you provide a password to access the file and may ask you to visit another site. Beware! They may contain viruses.
• Double-check certain files: Always check the status of your TAR, RAR, EXE, and ZIP files, as these archives could contain malware that’ll hurt your computer.

FAQs

Conclusion

The Pirate Bay, Zooqle, RARBG, and Kickass Torrents are our top picks for the best torrent sites in 2021. But the others on the list are great alternatives, and some may cater to the specific type of content you’re looking to download.