Extratorrent is a peer to peer file sharing website. It is the second most popular peer to peer file sharing website after The Pirate Bay. The website hosts link to many popular movies, videos, TV shows, books, music, applications, etc. and it is very popular among those who want to download files from the internet.


Soon after the internet became popular, new technologies emerged in all kinds of fields including in the field of file sharing. In the beginning, websites tried to host files themselves. However, that is too costly for these websites as bandwidth was not available for cheap.

However, something happened soon that changed the face of file sharing on the internet. The cost of bandwidth reduced drastically and many new websites emerged that offered streaming services to their users. Websites like Youtube emerged at this time. There were also websites like Netflix that would soon change the world.

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However, Youtube didn’t allow files to be uploaded illegally and Netflix was still far away and you had to pay for it. This created a demand in the market for a new technology for the masses. A new change was required and this caused the advent of Peer to Peer file sharing.

ExtraTorrent: What is Peer to Peer File Sharing?

Peer to Peer file sharing is a networking technology that allows the distribution and sharing of digital files between peers. There are a few seeders who are uploading the file to the server and at the same time, there are many leechers who download the file. When there are enough users uploading the file to the torrent link, people can download the files. If there are no seeders, the download cannot work.

In order to download the file or upload the file, the user needs to download a P2P software like utorrent. The software can then either search for the required file on the servers or the user can type in the torrent file link. With this, the user can connect to the various nodes which are sharing the file. These nodes are the end users who are seeding/uploading the file. There can also be a server uploading the file, but it is optional.

The most common use of peer to peer technology today is file sharing through torrents and update distribution by Microsoft. Microsoft uses the same P2P technology to send updates to all the computers using licensed Microsoft software. As the amount of data is very large if a single server is uploading the file to each and every Microsoft computer, the cost of bandwidth incurred by Microsoft would be tremendously large. Thus, P2P sharing helps reduce costs of even large companies like Microsoft.

ExtraTorrent is one of the main P2P websites that allow users to share files with each other. ExtraTorrent image 6

Why is ExtraTorrent so Popular?

The licensing fees for most of the software today is huge, even when they have been reduced a lot. They were even more substantial in the past few years. Not everyone could afford to pay for the license to use these software. They had to download the files illegally or pay a small amount to others who would reuse the license on many computers. As the internet became common among the masses and internet speeds improved, the use of torrent became easier than having to pay money to others who had downloaded the files themselves.

As for media like movies, TV shows, and other videos, most of the world cannot watch Hollywood TV shows or movies without waiting for many years for them to come on their local network. But, many shows like Friends, How I met your mother, Seinfeld, etc. became very popular outside the USA too. As the number of people who wanted to watch these shows grew, so did the demand for torrents that would let the user download these files immediately.

Even music files were not easy to find before the internet. You would have to buy music cassettes, music CDs or music DVDs before websites like iTunes, Sony, etc. came up which would sell individual music files. The other option was to go to illegal websites that hosted the content themselves and let users download the files.

Thepiratebay and Extratorrent would serve this demand to the masses and hence, they became very popular very quickly. As there were millions of people who wanted access to TV shows, movies, software, music files, books, etc. without the capacity or access to pay for them, there was a huge demand for torrents and torrent websites.

Background of ExtraTorrent

Around 2006, when Torrents started gaining popularity, there were websites like Mininova and TorrentSpy that were very popular. They would mainly host software and applications that expert users would download. At this time, the torrent websites were popular but the masses had not yet accepted them as they would still rely on CDs and DVDs for their entertainment needs.

The Rise of Entertainment Torrent Websites

It was at this time that ExtraTorrent entered the scene and started providing entertainment category to the users. Suddenly, people who wanted to download music files, movies, TV shows, etc. had a place to download them from. It gave sudden rise to websites like ExtraTorrent and it became the second most used torrent website after The Pirate Bay.

Users who were not really interested in software applications and books were suddenly interested in peer to peer technology as they could find their entertainment without having to pay any money to their creators.

This was also why ExtraTorrent was under huge legal pressure to close. The creators of these music files, movies, and TV shows, etc would try to shut down these websites. ExtraTorrent image 7

In 2017, the official ExtraTorrent website was shut down under regulatory pressure. They put the following message on their website when they shut down:

ExtraTorrent has shut down permanently
Thx to all ET supporters and torrent community.
ET was a place to be…
May 17, 2017

After this, many clones popped up and tried to take the place of ExtraTorrent. All of them claimed to be the official clones of the old website but it is doubtful if any of them actually are the official clones.

Today, there are many clones of ExtraTorrent still up and running. Many of these are popular today, but none of them come anywhere close to the popularity of the original website. One of these clones is hosted at https://extratorrent.si/

How ExtraTorrent Works?

ExtraTorrent is one of the many torrent websites and the model for most of these websites is similar. Let us have a look at how the website works from the user’s perspective and for the website owners.

From the User’s Perspective

A user either reaches the torrent website while searching for the same or goes directly to their preferred torrent website and then searches for the file they want to download.

In order to download a file from ExtraTorrent, the user needs to first search for a clone of ExtraTorrent or go to https://extratorrent.si/.

There, the user will find this screen.

ExtraTorrent image 1

There, at the top, you can click on the search box and then type the name of the file you want to download.

Click on Search and a list of files should open up. Ideally, you should try and download files that have the most number of seeders as these will download very fast. If there are fewer seeders, the file will download very slowly even when your internet connection speed is very fast.


The homepage of ExtraTorrent also shows you the most popular torrents on the front page itself. There is a section for movies at the top and then, another for TV torrents. There are other sections for music files, anime files, games, books, software, pictures, mobile, adult movies, other files, etc.

These give a link to 10 torrents each. The top torrents are decided on the basis of the number of seeders who are uploading the movie, TV shows, music files, etc. at that time.

Downloading the File

Once you have selected the file you want to download, you have to click on the link of the file. It will take you to a separate page for the file. This is where you can check all the details of the file. For example, let us click on the file for Blade Runner.

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As you can see, the page first lists the title of the torrent. It then gives you the magnet link. A magnet link works by directly opening the link in the P2P software that you use to download the file.

The page lists the category of the file that you are trying to download. In this case, the file is a video and is hence, in the Video category.

The next information displayed is the health of the file. As there are over 1000 seeders for the file (as can be seen in the image), the health of the file is very good. Total size for the file you are about to download is shown next. This file, for example, is 1.76 GB in size.

The page then shows that the total number of files in the torrent along with the original uploader of the torrent file.

P2P software

Once you are satisfied that this is actually the file you want to download and that you are willing to download a file of that size, you can proceed by clicking on the magnet shape which will directly open your P2P software. You will need a P2P software like utorrent to download the file.

Depending on the health of the torrent file and the internet bandwidth of all the users in the group, the file will start downloading either instantly or in some time. The file will then take some time to download depending on your local internet speed. If your internet speed is good and there are plenty of seeders, your file won’t take much time to download. However, if there are few seeders and your internet speed is not good enough, it may take many hours for a file to download.

Uploading the File

Once you have downloaded the file, you can then decide to keep uploading the file by becoming a node in the network. You will be added to the list of seeders and others like you will find it easier to download the file. It is optional, however, and you are not required to become a seeder.

You don’t have to do anything at all to become a seeder. Once you have downloaded the file, your P2P software will automatically start seeding the file to other users.

In case you do not want to seed the files to others, you can stop the file and the upload stops. However, unless you are worried that you may be caught for uploading the file illegally, you will only strengthen the network by being a seeder.

How ExtraTorrent Works from the Website Owner’s Perspective

When the original ExtraTorrent website was shut down, there was a flurry of people who started trying to take the place. Many new domains started that claimed to be the real ExtraTorrent. Why are so many people willing to take the risk of being held accountable legally for sharing files illegally?

It is because of the huge demand for such websites that anyone running such servers will earn huge amounts just by placing ads on their website. Even a small share of the original ExtraTorrent pie will bring huge amounts to anyone who runs these websites today.

When any user goes to the website to download a torrent, he has to spend some time searching for the torrent. In general, every user goes through 3-5 pages before they are finally able to download a file. On every page, the user generally sees 2-3 pop-ups and has to manually close them before he can actually work with the page. Each pop-up ad generates revenue for the website owner.

By placing so many pop-up ads on their website, the user earns thousands of dollars every day because of the huge traffic websites like this bring.

Alternatives for ExtraTorrent

When ExtraTorrent suddenly shut down in 2017, there was a sudden increase in the demand for ThePirateBay. There also was a sudden demand for alternatives for ExtraTorrent. People who were used to finding their files on ExtraTorrent were suddenly looking for websites with a similar layout where they could find the files they were looking for.

Here are few alternatives to ExtraTorrent that you will find useful:

  1. The Pirate Bay

    piratebay alternative of ExtraTorrent

Without a doubt, the biggest torrent website in the world today is The Pirate Bay. It is also undoubtedly the biggest alternative to ExtraTorrent and to any other torrent website. The Pirate Bay has also suffered from regulatory hurdles and they have had to shut down dozens of their websites because of this. Their offices have been raided and they have received hundreds of legal threats from many content creators.

However, The Pirate Bay or its clones are still running very successfully. Not only will you find nearly any file on The Pirate Bay, you will also find many more seeders for each file there. There is also a very convenient Google-like search button at the home page of the website where you can simply search for the file you are looking for.

The website also puts a Top 100 file list. This list has the most popular torrents that are sought after by the public at the moment. This is not based on any category and hence, you will find all kinds of popular torrents there.

Just like ExtraTorrent, The Pirate Bay also has many different categories you can browse to find your file if you are not able to find it through the search button. This browse option is also very helpful when you don’t know what to watch and are simply browsing until you find something that looks interesting.

2. IsoHunt

isoHunt is among the most popular torrent websites that people use for peer to peer file sharing. It was very popular in the past. Not as popular as The Pirate Bay, it is still used by millions of people every day. It has once suffered the stick of the law, though. isoHunt fought a case and lost and had to pay a 110 million dollar settlement to the content creators for illegally hosting files.

It had to be shut down because of this legal problem.

However, it was soon back with a different domain name and has been active since.


RARBG is one of the oldest torrent websites that are still running. It differentiates itself from the other torrent websites by providing genuine reviews for each torrent file. It also has much more information about each torrent than the other torrent servers.

Info like Metacritic score for movies and IMDB scores for movies and TV shows are also available on the website.

Just like other torrent websites, RARBG is also full of popup ads that annoy user experience. However, this is the only kind of ad revenue that these websites can truly earn from each user. And for the amount of risk that these websites are taking by providing links to different media for free to all users, they need to earn heavily from these websites.

4. LimeTorrents

Unlike other torrent websites in the list, LimeTorrent acts more as a search engine than being a links host. It doesn’t host links itself but acts more like Google where the user can search for a torrent.

Although LimeTorrent is not running itself today, there are many clones in the market that have taken the place of LimeTorrents. You can find a list of many such websites simply by searching LimeTorrents proxy on Google.

In order to find any torrent, you have to search on the homepage of any LimeTorrents clone and it will show you a list of the torrent file along with other data such as the age of the torrent file, the media type and so on.

5. EzTV.ag

As ExtraTorrent was primarily famous among its userbase for hosting media content like movies, TV Shows, music, etc., a worthy contender for being the alternative to ExtraTorrent TV show links is the website EZTV.ag.

It hosts links to all kinds of TV shows. You can find files related to most TV shows here. It also lets you download the files according to the date of the airing of the TV Show.

On the home page itself, you will find Added on: along with the most recent date. For example, ‘Added on 13 September’ can be found on the 13th of September itself.

Scroll down a bit and you will find articles from previous days also available on the website. It doesn’t take long before files for TV shows become available on the website after airing on real TV.

These are some of the best alternatives to ExtraTorrent. There are many more alternatives available, along with hundreds of clones that are running on the internet. However, these should be enough for any kind of need that you may have. While ThePirateBay will cover most of your needs itself, you can also look at the other alternatives in case you are not able to reach to The Pirate Bay or if it is not available in your country.


During the sudden explosion of file sharing on the internet, due to the increase in internet bandwidth usage, websites like ExtraTorrent and ThePirateBay suddenly gained huge popularity among the masses. They helped those who were looking to download media files quickly without having to pay for these files. ExtraTorrent served these users for a long time before being shut down due to regulatory issues. Today, many clones and alternatives still serve the purpose that the original websites tried to serve. You can download the files that you are looking for, for free, from these websites.

How did you like this article? Did you find the information about ExtraTorrent to be useful? Should we have added more alternatives? Which alternative to ExtraTorrent do you like the most? Share your thoughts in the comments section below:


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