Following ExtraTorrent Shutdown, 3 Replacement Sites Surface

In true whack-a-mole style, ExtraTorrent’s death is driving millions of users to other illegal torrent sites.

Following an extended downtime earlier this week, ExtraTorrent finally shut down for good.  Website owner SaM didn’t specify why.  He only said, “It’s time we say goodbye.”

The world’s second-largest torrent indexing site leaves behind millions of users.  However, as with most infringing sites, three replacement torrent sites have quickly emerged.

In the music and entertainment industries, shutting down pirating sites was once a game of ‘whack-a-mole’.  Eliminating one site immediately produced several clones.  As of late, though, something has changed.  On July 21st, 2016, US federal authorities shut down one of the world’s top torrent indexing sites, KickAssTorrents.  To ensure website administrators wouldn’t follow suit with clone sites, authorities immediately seized six related domain names.  Under pressure from the MPAA and RIAA, the US arrested alleged site owner Artem Vaulin.

While KickAssTorrent mirror sites have surfaced, they have yet to reach the popularity of the original site.  Authorities have since reportedly extradited Vaulin to the States.  He will face charges of money laundering and criminal copyright infringement of up to $1 billion.  If convicted, he may face up to twenty years in jail.

So, what’s changed?  Besides stronger prosecution against torrent site owners, top software companies, including Microsoft, have developed stronger tools to detect and block illegal downloads.  In fact, this may be why ExtraTorrent permanently shut down.

So, following ET’s closure, where have pirate consumers flocked to?

Three sites have emerged as alternatives.

1. The Pirate Bay

Despite several combined industry efforts to shut down The Pirate Bay, it still remains strong.  Dubbed “the King of torrents,” TPB has offered users with illegal content for years.  Infringing files include music, movies, games, software, ebooks, audiobooks, pornography, and a whole lot more.  The website has continued to operate from its .org domain.

RARBG

Following ExtraTorrent’s closure, RARBG has taken second place right behind The Pirate Bay.  Founded in 2008, RARBG first started off as a Bulgarian tracker.  It currently offers indexed torrent files and magnet links for movies, tv shows, games, music, software, and pornography.

YTS/YIFI.ag

As stated on their blog, the current YTS website is not related in any way to the original YTS site nor the YIFI group.  However, they successfully “borrowed” the group’s name and installed itself as a top movie torrent site.  Despite stealing the YTS and YIFY names, they ask users not to use any cloned proxy sites.

Image by Casey Marshall (CC by 2.0)

53 Responses

  1. irritated

    The Pirate Bay ‘appeared’?

    What, about 15 years ago?

    • MuadDib

      torrentproject.se as of today, 06/19/2017, has its domain up for sale and appears to have closed its doors in the fashion of extratorrent and others. i truly hope that i am wrong but the “for sale” sign is out and there is no access to its files at present. anyone with more information is encouraged to post it here so that we may know the entire story.

      • MuadDib

        i”m sorry. i was just at torrentproject.se and they seem to be doing just fine. i don’t know what became of the “for sale” notice for the domain, but it is not longer there and the site seems to be back to normal again. sorry for the scare, but all is well now. “praise be!” ( to whomever it is that one gives praises to on these occasion }.i do know that i, for one, am ecstatic that torrentproject is still with us. praise…whomever or whatever. the force is with us!

  2. Sceletor

    Just appeared… really how silly is this comment, then again it is the press reporting FALSE information as has been the norm for the past 25 years… bring on Media Regulations

  3. Batsman

    why not recommend katcr.co? it’s legit. it’s better. it has better Interface, search engine, moderation, etc. TPB is full of unverified torrents with viruses, abysmal comments system, no ability to insert images in posts, etc.

    • Mara

      Thats a fake mirror to kickasstorrents who shut down.

      • Bob

        Is not! It is run by the old staffers, and moderators!
        The people who actually owned and hosted the old site are gone but the moderaters and staffers are running katcr.co!

        • Yuu

          because that site is no contender, with very very poorly seeded torrents its a waste of time

    • "the rest of us"

      Have you ever noticed that the people with the least knowledge seem to ALWAYS over talk those subjects they appear to know the least about ?

  4. Versus

    Editors: Why are you listing more pirate sites and enabling more piracy? And why are you allowing such in the comments as well?

    Piracy is doing enough damage to the livelihoods of musicians and other creators. You don’t need to help it along.

      • Chum

        You do realize how few those multi-millionaire musicians are, I hope.

        Regardless, the music industry has ALWAYS existed to enrich the industry itself. Musicians, performers, songwriters, etc. – have always gotten screwed. Now it’s worse.

        But the main point is that those who create the content deserve to be paid something if their music makes money, no? And if they’re popular enough to earn millions – good for them! But I’d rather that the majority of the money went to the creators rather than just being thrown token breadcrumbs and being told to feel lucky to be getting anything at all.

        • smg77

          If you want money to go to creators then get rid of the labels…that’s where most of the money ends up.

        • Poopsy

          So your saying if i buy a cd and share ot with my friends they are stealing? Now movies that just came out, ok. But music? If i buy something it becomes my property. And what i do with it is my buisness. As long as im not profiting from it.

    • S.K

      yaaa….. in spite of piracy…. baahubali 2 crossed over 1000 crore….. shame on you…….. for fucking excuses

    • Anonymous

      Who cares about alienating their core readership? There’s click-bate advertising money to be made!

    • Hate fags like you

      Are you F***** kidding? Maybe If you didnt allow Bull Shit Movies and Music to RIP ppl off, we wouldnt need to screen before buying or going to see a movie. Stupid A**

      AKA Blair Witch…was the first CRAP movie that ripped ppl off. You should go to Prison for FRAUD when you put out shitty crap movies.

    • FreeMusic4Alll

      This is literally the 1st comment I’ve made in my 30+ years.
      Do you really feel bad for the big musicians not able to buy a 4th house & 10th car?
      And the non millionaire struggling artists, it’s a lifestyle that inspires great songs.
      Add that they get more chicks than everyone in this dumb chat, so sorry fer them, lol. Music should be free, and it will, just shut up and get out the way.

  5. CloudLion

    This isn’t a good day.

    This isn’t a good night.

    We share our interests and our desires openly. We work as a community.

    From a personal perspective, I download digital content and then chase after much of the choice content in the corridors of Walmart, Best Buy, and other local retail sources.

    It’s a sad day. It’s a hard moment. It’s a harsh reality. Entertainment shouldn’t be such a catalyst for organisational control. I had a nightmare recently…. I was caught in California and Bruce Willis was organising firing squads.

    Hollywood was executing us. There were no courts. There were no venues for defence. Hollywood icons just shuffled us all to the wall. We were guilty and we were going to pay.

    The price for hijacking entertainment was: Death.

    What a pleasant thought from the corporate perspective.

    • Zelendres

      You my friend, are awesome. That was beautifull. Thanks for the picture. The idea will warm me and my coleagues when we drink a beer and talk of how sad is all. Thanks man, you brigth my day. ^^

  6. John

    I completely disagree with this list and I believe that they left out the BEST torrent website.

  7. cikgutan

    Whattttt…
    so where can i find UTR, MZABI, TeamDDR
    4K Movie all gone

    • Mr Smith

      Exactly the 3 that i loved, their work was amazing.

  8. Mandy

    It was the best site ever…what am I gonna do now!!

  9. agreived

    the reason their is piracy is because people cant pay for the content or the content is not available to them.

    its the digital age people need to make newer methods on cashing in on their art.

    may be its just me but I feel the artists are worth a lot but to stop people that cant afford their art is just mean

    • Former pirate turned privateer

      Excellent points. For me it was content not being available to me otherwise. Digital media should have easier obtaining/buying methods and instead of focusing on blocking and persecuting piracy, they should invest in “availability” around the world.

      Netflix has finally become available in my country. It is the first and only online media streaming company here and although I am not really pleased with the resolution they provide, I am still happy to pay for hundreds of TV shows and movies with unlimited watching opportunity. I am not saying netflix is the best or anything, but imagine the lack of media availability for people like me if I am happy to pay for netflix!

      They have created digital contents but insisted on providing them in the old fashion way where tons of unnecessary mediums take charge only for being a medium. Digital media needs no medium, an unnecessary interruption that raises the cost literally for nothing. This is what caused piracy in the first place imo. If you create a car then you make an asphalt road for it too. You don’t insist on keeping the gravel road!

  10. DeSoLaTe OnE

    Long live torrent sites! F*ck the establishment!

  11. Vinny

    File sharing is like borrowing someone a cd. Go get some real criminals ffs. Will always be sites do download from whatever they do. Who gives a fk if artists lose money, if they are actually any good they sell tickets. Btw, how many times they shut Piarate bay down?
    I still use it. 12 quid on average for a cd with 3 decent tracks from about 18, who are the real criminals. The same USA government which has Trump as their leader, everyones doomed.

  12. BasicLogic

    The new world order: “GREED” just on the go…

  13. original

    The rich are getting richer and the poor are downloading torrents. I can honestly say the well off are not the ones downloading torrents,we the poor folk are, not because we want to or to betray those who made it because we have to because we can’t afford it torrents for life uplifting the poor with free overpriced entertainment peace

  14. BEWARE

    BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!! DANGER!!!!!!!!!!!!
    BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!! DANGER!!!!!!!!!!!!
    BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!! DANGER!!!!!!!!!!!!

    YIFY.AG AND ALL THE .AG TORRENT SITES ARE FAKES OWNED BY THE COPYRIGHT INDUSTRY!!!!!!!!! IF YOU EVER DOWNLOAD FROM YTS.AG YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY GET A LETTER FROM YOUR ISP!!!!

    BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!! DANGER!!!!!!!!!!!!
    BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!! DANGER!!!!!!!!!!!!
    BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!! DANGER!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Boo Who

      Bullsh*t. I download from them all of the time.

    • FreeMusic4Alll

      Your a moron, lmfao, 20 years now, no one cares anymore buddy.
      Do you really feel bad for the big musicians not able to buy a 4th house & 10th car?
      And the non millionaire struggling artists, it’s a lifestyle that inspires great songs.
      Add that they get more chicks than everyone in this dumb chat, so sorry fer them, lol. Music should be free, and it will, just shut up and get out the way.

  15. lOOK ALLT HE NEW ONES ARE FAKE

    ALL THE NEW EXTRA TORRENT SITES ARE FAKE DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANYTHING FROM THEM WE HAVE HAD QUITE A FEW COMPLAINTS ABOUT PEOPLE GETTING A NICE BOTNET WITH THERE FILE AMONG OTHER THINGS .. THERE FAKE AS OF NOW WE ARE WORKING ON MAKING A NEW SITE LIKE KATCR.CO DID UNTIL THEN I WOULD RECOMMEND STAYING AWAY FROM THOSE SITES IF YOU WANT A LIST OF GOOD TORRENT SITES THAT ARE NOT FAKES …. HIT TORRENT FREAK OR GO TO KATCR.CO AND ASK SOMEONE THEY ALL WILL BE HAPPY TO HELP YOU ….. 🙂