When you hear about torrents, your first thought might be about pirating files illegally. But in fact, there are all sorts of legal torrents available. In this article we list the best online sources to find legal torrents. Allowing you to download lots of content for free.
Is Torrenting Legal?
You might have heard reports of people getting in legal trouble for using torrents. This has lead to a widespread belief that torrents are themselves illegal. But that simply isn’t the case.
Torrenting is a method of file sharing, in which people (called seeds in torrent-speak) host a file for others to download (called leechers). A torrent file that you download from the internet is just a very small file which shows your torrent client where to look for other users hosting the real file you want.
One common use of torrents online is pirating material such as movies or music albums. This IS illegal, because it is sharing copyrighted content.
When you use a torrent, you are not only downloading the file but also hosting it for others to download from you. This means using a torrent to download a file like a movie could get you in a lot of trouble as you are technically distributing copyrighted content.
However, torrents can also used for all sorts of legitimate purposes, such as sharing open source software like Linux distributions. This method allows the software to be available to everyone, without the original developer having to pay a lot of money to host the file. This is important for free and open source software.
Torrents can also be used for other legal purposes such as sharing non-copyrighted movies or commercial commons music. Many older movies are now in the public domain, which means they are free to watch, distribute, and share. You can use torrents to download these classic movies legally.
To learn more about legal torrents, visit the torrent guide for everyone.
Where Can You Find Legal Torrents Online?
If you want to find a torrent online, there are a number of sites which specialize in only legal torrents. Some sites like Cat Torrent or ClearBits have now shut down. However, you can download torrents from the following websites without worrying about legal issues.
1. Legit Torrents
Legit Torrents has torrents for downloading a host of different types of content, including movies, music, and software.
You’ll find categories for downloading Linux distributions as well as software for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Plus there are categories for entertainment content including anime, books, and games.
This site is one of the most popular legal torrent sites so the torrents you get from here will often have the highest number of seeds for you to download from.
2. Public Domain Torrents
Although this site looks basic in terms of design, it’s one of the best sites on the internet for finding legal torrents. Everything shared on this site is in the public domain, with classic movies spanning genres like horror, drama, animation, and comedy.
It’s a great site for film buffs and B-movie fans, with movies available in to download in multiple formats for mobile devices. There’s also a category for streams if you want to watch online without having to download anything.
3. Vuze
Vuze is best known as one of the best torrent clients. However, it also hosts a directory of legal torrent content. The site hosts torrents for regularly updated video content like news programs, TED Talks, and comedy shows. And it’s a popular place to host audio or video podcasts, which can be downloaded daily or weekly as new episodes come out.
There’s a great selection of informative podcasts about science and nature, as well as other topics. It also has torrents for downloading book bundles, software, new music artists, and classic movies. If you’re looking for a site with torrents for popular content, all of which is available legally and for free, then Vuze should be your first stop.
4. Jamendo Music
If music is your passion and you love to hunt down new bands and artists, then you should try out Jamendo Music. This site features free and independent music which can either be downloaded using torrents or streamed online. It has a large quantity of free music which can be used for videos, such as in YouTube content creator projects, which you can find in the royalty-free music section.
You can also search for artists by genre, or look for the latest or trending tracks. And if you still can’t decide what to download, you can use the Radios function to hear a selection of free music from the genre of your choice.
5. Linuxtracker
If you’re a Linux user, the chances are you already know about Linuxtracker. This site specializes in sharing torrents for downloading Linux distributions.
While the big Linux distros like Ubuntu or openSUSE can be downloaded directly from their websites, this option isn’t feasible for smaller distros which are more niche. For these obscure distros, you’re much more likely to find what you need on a legal torrent site like Linuxtracker.
You can find just about every Linux distro you can think of on this site, as well as multiple versions of older distros which can be useful for testing purposes.
6. The Internet Archive
If you don’t know The Internet Archive, you’re missing out on one the greatest troves of information and content to be found anywhere online. The site is an online library with a huge array of material which can be downloaded legally and for free.
As well as books, software, and music, the site has a massive range of public domain movies. You can watch these movies online or download them via torrent in the site’s Feature Films section. They have a large collection of film noir movies, cult horror classics, and silent movies from the earliest days of cinema. It’s a great resource for true movie buffs.
Download Free Content Online, Legally
People tend to associate torrents with piracy. However, as we have shown here there is a lot of content which can be downloaded legally using torrents. The sites we’ve mentioned will let you download classic movies, open source software, and free music, all legally via torrents.
And if you’re hankering for more free content, check out our list of sites where you can download free music legally.
Read the full article: How to Find Legal Torrents Online: The Best Sources