How to Find Torrents > Torrent Search Tips

Learn how to find torrents using the best methods, including torrent search sites. 

For most things online, we search for them using a search engine, like Google or Bing. But that's not the best way to find torrents. 

Instead, you should use something called a torrent tracker, which is basically a torrent search site.

In this article, we'll show you how to find torrents, including the best torrent sites to use and how to stay safe when doing so.

The Best Torrent Search Sites to Find Torrents 

The great thing about torrents is that nothing about downloading them depends on the search site you use. The process for downloading torrents is almost always the same.

But finding torrents is a different matter and the search site you use can make a big difference on whether you find the file you are looking for or the quality of file you are looking for. This makes it easy to hop over to a torrent search site that’s better or more active for your needs.

Of course, if you’re not a daily downloader, this can all get pretty tough to keep track of. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of the top torrenting sites right now to help get you situated.

If there’s something you’re looking for to download, chances are one of these sites has it.

The Pirate Bay (TPB)

• https://thepiratebay.org/ 
• check proxy lists for ThePirateBay at piratebayproxy.info and https://piratebayproxylist.net/

The powers that be may be able to take the wind out of The Pirate Bay's sails, but they just can’t seem to sink it. The infamous torrent search site was forced to dock at another web address for a while, but now they’ve even managed to wrestle back their old thepiratebay.org domain name.

And torrenters love to see that TPB flag flying, because this particular site is packed to the brim with treasures, from movies to music to TV shows. The interface is a bit sparse and old-fashioned, but that's better than lots of pop-ups or pop-overs.

1337x Torrent Search

This torrent site has gone through its ups and downs over the years, but it has clearly come out intact, since it’s currently one of the most highly visited torrent search websites on the internet. Part of that bump came when KickassTorrent closed, but 1337x was still quite popular even before that.

They may not have the newest torrents, but they do have a lot of great older stuff to choose from, whether it’s movies or games or… well, pretty much anything.

Nyaa.si

Casual anime fans may be okay with "normal" torrent sites, where you'll still find some of the most popular shows.

But for the best selection, with high quality rips of everything from the latest series to your favorite niche title, you'll need a dedicated anime torrent site. And without question, your best bet is Nyaa. 

Not only is Nyaa.si the most popular anime torrent site on the web, it's also one of the top 10 torrent sites period. 

KickassTorrents (KAT) (Shutdown)

KickassTorrents was the biggest torrent site on the web when they were shut down in July 2016, sending millions scrambling for a new place to download the newest or favorite episodes. Since then, dozens of mirrors and clones have popped up, but they're not connected to the original ownership. 

Top Tip - Be careful of other dodgy websites trying to capitalize on the kickasstorrents name recognition. The scam copycat sites will try tricking you into clicking on ads or downloading malware.

• https://kat.sx/ > OK! Just make sure to sort by Seed or Age column as results are presented in a weird order
• https://kat.am/ , https://kickasstorrent.cr/ & http://katcr.to > avoid as they require you to register for a “free account" 
• http://kickass.to > seized domain
• http://kickass.cr > gone
• http://kat.cr > gone
• https://kat.ph > danger (Google gives warning)

Years later, most of the KickassTorrents mirrors are either scams or lacking the same functionality. It seems KAT may never regain its former glory, especially with the previous owner on the run from the law.  

Fortunately, there are some great KickassTorrents alternatives here to choose from.

RARBG Torrent Search 

(Shutdown)

• https://rarbg.to/ (WARNING: annoying pop-ups)

RARBG was originally founded in 2008 in Bulgaria, but slowly grinded its way up the site ranking charts and into the hearts of the hundreds of thousands of its daily visitors. In the meantime, their servers relocated a few times to avoid the unwarranted attention that comes with being a popular torrent search site.

But it wasn't the authorities that shut RARBG down in 2023. It was the owners themselves, citing a range of issues, from Covid to war. 

YTS / YIFY

• https://yts.mx/ (WARNING: annoying pop-up windows) > start at https://yts.mx/browse-movies

Are you a movie buff? Then you’ll love this next entry on the list, because there are few torrent sites that do movies as well as YTS. They’ve got a huge selection, great interface, and even the ability to choose from many different file qualities, whether it’s 720p, Bluray, or even 3D.

And when we say “great interface”, we mean YTS is way prettier than most of the other sites on this list. It looks more like Netflix than some bland torrenting search site.

Keep in mind that this YTS isn’t run by the same people as the original YTS or YIFY sites back in the day. Using a brand name they didn’t create has earned them the ire of some insiders. But this shouldn’t concern for the average torrent user. Afterall, most of us just want to find, download and watch some good movies, and not worry about torrent politics.

EZTV.AG

• https://eztv.ag/ (WARNING: annoying pop-ups)

As the name suggests, EZTV specializes in TV shows and series. You might not find the sheer number of torrent files as you’d find on some of the other major sites listed here, but you can usually count on the quality and being current almost up to the hour when it comes to television.

Be aware that there is a little controversy surrounding the site: the current owners actually took the site over from the original creators back in 2015… and on less-than-friendly terms. But that kind of drama won’t affect the average torrent user at all.

Demonoid Torrents Search

Demonoid was briefly shut down in the past, but it's currently up and running at a new domain, https://www.demonoid.is/. Check for updates at https://www.reddit.com/r/Demonoid/ 

Avoid the demonoid.to domain, which is a known scam site.

Demonoid is the first and only private torrenting site on our list. While places like The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents are open to the everyone, you’ll need an account to access Demonoid’s torrent search library. And the only way to register for an account is through an invitation received from an existing member or during very limited open registration periods.

That may sound like a pain, but many veteran torrent users will tell you that this hassle is more than worth it. While private torrent search sites like Demonoid don’t have quite the massive selection of torrents you’ll find on some of the public ones we've listed here, they benefit from (perhaps) being more secure, whether from avoiding viruses or snoops. They tend to have less ads too.

But private torrent search sites do enforce seeding ratios, meaning members are required to seed a certain amount of data to earn credit they can use for downloading.

With everything it has got going for it, Demonoid still manages traffic numbers that aren’t far off from the biggest public torrent search sites, even with its restricted number of private users.

Toorgle Torrent Searches

• http://www.toorgle.com/ (WARNING: annoying pop-ups)

While Toorgle may not be as widely known or visited as some of the other torrent search sites on our list, it fills a pretty unique niche in the market. It is a torrent meta search engine that works kind of like Dogpile – but for torrents.

Whatever keyword or phrase you search for is run through 450+ different torrent websites, returning tons of results from across the web.

This can really come in handy when you’re searching for more obscure or hard-to-find files, whether it’s old or foreign movies, random TV shows, or indie games. The only drawback is that some of the results can send you to some rather sketchy torrent sites, so pay close attention to what you’re clicking on or downloading.

RuTracker

• http://rutracker.org

For this next tracker, we'll be heading over to the Russian side of the 'net.

"But I don't speak Russian!"

Fortunately, it's still possible to use the site without knowing a word of Russian. The search function includes plenty of English results, including movies, TV, and music. In fact, there are times where we've found English content on RuTracker that we couldn't find on English trackers. 

And if you insist on navigating the rest of the site, you can use a page translator or translator extension. Google Chrome has one built in, but we're not the biggest fans of Google's security, especially for torrenting. But there's a Firefox add-on that's easy to install and use.

Удачи! (That's Russian, for "good luck"!)

A Warning to Torrent Search Users

Last year was the most hectic year yet for torrent search sites and their users, and there’s no reason to believe the future will be any different. By this time next year, expect to see some torrent sites rise, some fall, and some disappear entirely.

But it’s not just site owners that are being targeted for takedown. Torrent users, like you, are vulnerable too.

That’s why you should always use a VPN when you torrent, no matter which one of these sites you use the most. A good torrenting VPN will keep you safe from all prying eyes, whether your Internet service provider, snoops trying to monitor torrent use or even the powers that be.

Our favorite for these purposes is PIA VPN, which will help you find & download torrents safely... without having to look over your shoulder.

Finding Torrents with Torrent Search Sites

The best torrent indexing site(s) for you to use will depend on the type of content (the torrent "payloads") you are looking for, whether movies, music, apps, video clips, games, books, erotica, images, etc.

Torrent indexing sites, including those above, are usually searchable and browseable. This means that you can search for torrents by keywords (just like any search engine you are used to), but can also explore a structured set of categories which are sometimes further divided into sub-categories. For example, Torrents > Movies > Horror.

In particular, community-based torrent indexing sites offer a number of additional advantages. Members of these communities post comments or verify torrents which can help you to screen out poor quality, copyright, fake or malware-infected torrent content.

Most torrent search sites will also display the number of seeders and leechers for each torrent. Usually, they just use the term "seeds" or "S" for seeders and "peers" or "P" for peers (aka leechers) , even if technically a seed is also a peer.

Remember that a torrent downloads fastest the higher the ratio of seeds to peers. Believe it or not, this means that a torrent with 2 seeds and 1 peer will download faster than a torrent with 10 seeders and 10 peers.

How to Find Other Torrent Search Sites

Different torrent search sites than those summarized above can also be found using a general Internet search engine and typing terms like “most popular torrent indexing sites”, “torrent search engine” or even simply “torrents”.

Sometimes you need to go looking and dig a little for torrent indexes because they get taken down, have their domain names seized or simply change or move.

Top Tip - Although Google is the most popular search engine, try using alternative search engines that better respect your privacy and don’t track you, such as DuckDuckGo and Startpage.

You could also include terms matching the category or type of content you are looking for, whether movies, music, apps, video clips, games, books, erotica, images, etc. For even more specific searches you could also include any subcategory of specific interest. For example,

⇒ torrent search engine documentary movies

Meta Torrent Search

Just like popular meta search engines for travel deals, torrent meta search engines seek and consolidate search results from multiple torrent sites. 

As measured by Alexa rank, Torrentz2 is the most popular meta search engine for torrent files.

Torrentz2

• https://torrentz2.nz/
• Tor users can access its Onion site at http://torrentzwealmisr.onion/ 

Unlike most fallen torrent sites, the very popular Torrentz closed their doors voluntarily. But they’d built up such a fan base before shutting down that another group of torrenters decided to take up the mantle and carry on the Torrentz legacy, only this time under the name Torrentz2 (note the ‘2’ tacked on the end).

But they’re not stopping there. The new owners have intentions of making the new torrent search site even better than the old one. Considering that the original was already one of the best torrent sites on the web, it’ll be good news for torrenters if they succeed. We wish them luck!

Other Torrent Meta Search

• TorrentDownload
• BTDig
• ... and many more! 

Use qBitTorrent’s Built-in Torrent Search

Our favorite torrent client, qBittorrent, comes with an awesome built-in torrent search feature.

It's a great way to search from within your torrent downloader. Searching this way is fast and also means avoiding the pop-ups and ads on most torrent search sites.

Below is an example of results from searching for "linux":

Torrent Copyright & Safety Concerns

Always remember that many, if not most, popular torrent search index sites are not copyright safe (see below). Too often, the most popular torrent indexing sites include torrents associated with pirated materials.

In addition, some of the most popular torrent index sites have very cluttered pages, trying to entice you into clicking on all kinds of ads, downloads and other links, not all of which may be safe or desirable. In fact, your browser may display a warning page when you try visiting a popular torrent index.

If you are blocked from accessing torrent indexes - whether by your government, ISP or your geographic location - try accessing them with Tor, a proxy or a VPN service (virtual private network).

Top Tip - If the risks above sound like a headache, do yourself a favor and download torrents safely and anonymously by getting the top-rated torrent VPN PIA VPN. Its 30-day money-back guarantee means you can try it risk-free.

Copyright-Safe Torrent Search Indexes (aka "Legal Torrents")

If copyright safety is a factor for you in which torrent indexing sites to visit, good starting points for safe torrent indexing sites include:

• Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/bittorrent - movies, music, games and books that are now in the public domain (lots of “classics” from the past).
• Public Domain Torrents https://www.publicdomaintorrents.info/ - ~1000 movies in the public domain, mostly "classic" movies, but all conveniently organized by category.
• etree.org http://bt.etree.org/index.php - live concert recordings of trade friendly artists
• Jamendo Music https://www.jamendo.com/start - free music streaming and downloading of independent artists
• Vuze StudioHD https://www.vuze.com/content/ -  video content by category. 
• Miro Guide https://www.miroguide.com/ - plenty of video and audio podcasts.
• Academic Torrents https://academictorrents.com/ - sharing enormous datasets for researchers, by researchers

Other copyright-friendly torrent indexes can be found using a general Internet search engine and typing terms such as “legal torrent indexing sites” or “best legal torrents”.

Find Torrents Using a Search Engine Directly 

Although they provide less relevant results, you can also search directly for torrents using a general Internet search engine. Searching for torrents directly with general search engines can occasionally unearth a hidden gem of a torrent or lead you to discover a new favorite torrent indexing site. For general Internet search engines, you have two strategies:

1) You can perform a simple search for the content you seek by adding the word “torrent”

⇒ gorilla documentary torrent

 
2) if you know what an operator is (it’s a search parameter), you can employ the filetype: operator on general search engines that support it. General search engines supporting this operator include Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and ixQuick.

⇒ documentary filetype:torrent

Note that there is no space between the colon (:) and the word torrent. Also note that it’s torrent singular, not torrents plural.