How to torrent anime for AMVs
If you’re in the AMV community you’ve probably been told that torrenting is the best way to go about downloading anime, however the sound of it can be overwhelming to those unexperienced. In this guide I'll be explaining everything step by step for dummies.
Table of Contents
What is torrenting exactly?
To properly explain what torrenting is, I’ll first explain how it differs from downloads you’re already familiar with (Google Drive, Mega, YouTube, etc..)
- Direct Downloads. When you download a file off of Google Drive or any other similar cloud platform, this is considered a “direct download” or DDL for short. The file itself is stored on (in this example, Google’s) servers, and the main downside to this is the fact that Google can take it down any time if it goes against their terms of service, and oftentimes they do. It’s also worth mentioning that services like these have algorithms which pick up on copyrighted content.
- Torrents. Now that you know that direct downloads are, you can think of torrents as the exact opposite as torrents aren’t tied down to such services (and their silly rules). When torrenting, you're more or less downloading the file off of other users computers, also known as “peer to peer" file sharing. You can think of it as a community get together where everyone is sharing with one another. This makes torrents a more reliable source because as long as there’s one person out there on the giving end of things, you'll get whatever it is you're looking for.
How is it better than other options?
Aside from the fact that torrents are more reliable which was explained above, there are many other benefits which I'll go through in depth.
- Unlimited selection. Through torrents you’ll be able to find pretty much any series or movie you’d ever want to download, even the more unknown or obscure shows many might not know about. Sure, some editors might share clips online, but think of it this way, why limit yourself to what others share when you can be free to edit whatever you want, whenever you want?
- 1080p, original fps, no subs. You can think of torrents as “right out of the studio” as the footage is completely unedited or compressed, also known as RAW. Torrents offer the highest quality you can possibly achieve, nor do you have to worry about fps change or any subtitles. The majority of anime is produced in 23.9fps, however, many scene packs online have either had their fps increased or other effects added on which can be troublesome (and often not pretty) for editors that want to be in full control of their work. As far as languages go, the majority of torrents are in JP but you can easily find torrents with dual (multiple) audio tracks if another language is desired, this is represented by acronyms such as ENG, RUS, SPAN, etc..
Stuff you need to get started
- Torrent Client. In order to actually torrent anything, you’ll need a torrent client or else you won’t be able to open the file. There are many different torrent clients out there, however out of all of them Qbittorent is arguably the best choice. It’s open source, ad free, not to mention used by millions. μtorrent on the other hand has problematic history and is not recommended.
- VPN. When torrenting, your IP address will be displayed to others downloading the same torrent. Using a VPN will hide your real IP (in case of logging), as well as prevent your internet service provider from being able to peek in and see whatever it is you’re downloading. If caught, your ISP may send you a warning or something more servere depending on your country's laws.
As far as VPN's go, I personally use Mullvad which cost $5 a month. Unfortunately most "free VPN's" suck for torrenting, in terms of privacy (selling your data), download speeds and data caps, so if you can buy one you should. Aside from Mullvad, you can also look into buying NordVPN. If you're geniunely unable to spend any money you can look into Windscribe but keep in mind that the free version has a download cap of only 10gb a month. Also don't go looking for "VPN cracks", they contain malware majority of the time.
Navigating torrent sites
There are many different torrent sites out there, however in my examples I'll be using https://nyaa.si as they have the biggest anime index out of then all.
- Other Anime Sites
https://www.erai-raws.info
https://beatrice-raws.org/
https://www.shanaproject.com
When visiting Nyaa for the first time, you might feel overwhelmed with information but I promise it's easier than you might think. There's just a few things you need to keep in mind when browsing through the site.
- Always search an animes Japanese name rather than its English name in order to get accurate results. So for example you'd search for "Shingeki No Kyojin" instead of "Attack On Titan".
- Nyaa has a few different catagories but generally you'll want to stick with either the purple or grey icons for editing purposes. Most subtitles aren't actually burnt into the video but instead act as a seperate layer which you can easily turn off.
- Focus on the file names as you'll find all the info you need there. For example, "1080p" is refering to the quality while "mkv" is refering to the video format. You don't really need to worry about anything else if you're only torrenting for editing.
- Make sure the torrent you pick has active seeders, this is represented by the green number next to the upload date. It's best to sort most seeders first by clicking the arrow above the green number. Without getting into unnecessary detail, more seeders means the file will download faster, and if theres 0 seeders, the file won't download at all. I'll explain this in depth later.
- You can either torrent singular episodes, full seasons or complete series which are often called batches. What episode(s) a torrent comes with is included in the title (for example, "S1E24" or "S1 01 ~ 24") but do note that you won't normally find batches untill a series is done airing. If a title ever confuses you, you can always check the posts "file list" for more information.
There's a lot of different uploaders on Nyaa (Example: Erai-Raws & SubsPlease), and eventually you'll figure out who your favorite ones are, but for the time being just stick to whatever has a lot of seeds. If a torrent has a lot of seeds, then the quality should be just fine.
How to use Qbittorent
Once you have your file downloaded and your VPN turned on, just double click it and it should automatically open up in Qbittorent. In this tab you can customize which files you'd like to download (for example, if you only want a few episodes out of a batch) and choose where you want it to download. Afterwards, just click OK and wait for it to finish. You can monitor the progress in Qbittorent and once it's done, you can congratulate yourself and close out.
Unsupported formats
At this point you're completely done with torrenting, however most anime torrents are in .mkv format which After Effects and other editing softwares do not support, meaning you won't be able to import it. There's a few different ways you can go about converting your episodes to .mp4, however the easiest method is argubly with AMVtool. Also while were on this topic, you should consider installing VLC Media Player which will allow you to play .mkv videos, assuming you want to watch them before converting.
- How to use AMVtool. AMVtool is a software for editors, by editors. The application itself is very simple, all you need to do is import your .mkv video in, hit start and let it do it's magic. AMVtool does lack "advanced" settings, but because of that it's very ideal for beginners in the sence you can't possibly mess anything up. AMVtool has little quality loss in comparison to Handbrake.
Tutorial:
There are other conversion tools out there which you can use instead, however given this guide is for beginners I'm not going to be going over all methods but rather focus on the most convenient option.
⭐️ Use After Effects? Try out Influx instead! ⭐
Influx is an importer plugin which will allow you to import .mkv and other formats which are otherwise unsupported. Influx works in the background and requires no extra work, simply drag your footage in and After Effects should accept it without error! Re-encoding a movie can take a long time and with Influx you can skip that process all together.
You can legally purchase Influx here for $89 USD, however if you'd like a free version you can join this Discord Server which some friends and I own.
Anyway, you're done now, congrats!! :D
There are a few details about torrenting which I left out in the earlier sections, so I'll be covering those below for those who are interested in learning more.
Seeders, leachers, etc..
- Seeding. While torrenting is the act of downloading the file off anothers computer, you aren't downloading from just anyone, but rather, from those who've left it to seed. You can think of seeding as “giving back to the community”. Seeders are the only reason you’re able to download a torrent in the first place, and once you have the file, you can help other users get it too by seeding as well. The more active seeds there are, the faster a file will download, however if there are 0 active seeds, a file won’t be able to download at all because there’s no where to grab the data from. The amount of seeds will frequently fluxuate throughout the day.
- Leachers. Leachers are what you call users that download a file and do not leave it to seed afterwards. They take, and do not give back, hence the name leach. Many people tend to do this, which results in some torrents having little to no seeders, also known as a dead (undownloadable) torrent. That said, the same way you should have a VPN on while downloading, you should also have a VPN if seeding. So unless you have plans to use a VPN full time, you’ll likely become a leach yourself.
If you don’t want to seed a file, simply delete it off of qbittorent. You can also click the pause button if you only want to seed occasionally rather than full time. That said, If you have the ability to help others then you should, especially if there was barely any seeders to begin with. No one likes a dead torrent.
Ensuring your VPN is connected
If you're a scaredy cat like me, you may worry about your VPN not properly connecting. That said, there are a few safety measures you can take.
- Check if your VPN has a "kill switch", and if it does, turn it on. This ensures that if your VPN randomly drops, you will be temporarily disconnected from the internet, including from any active torrents.
- You can use https://ipleak.net to ensure that your VPN is working in Qbittorent. Simply click "add this magnet link" which will open up in Qbittorent. After a few seconds, head back to the website and It'll show you what IP it pulled.
- You can bind your VPN to Qbittorent, making it so torrents won't start at all unless you're connected to your VPN. Simply go to "tools", "advanced" and "network interface". Through the dropdown menu you can select your VPN.
Legal concerns
The idea that torrenting is illegal is a misconception. Torrenting in itself is NOT illegal, as its just a method of sharing files. That said, due to it's nature it is often used to share copyrighted content. Regardless of that, it is also used in many legitimate ways.
Millions of users torrent anime and other films for pure enjoyment, and while I cannot say doing so is legal as it varies by country, it's pretty unlikely you'll get "in serious trouble" for doing so. Typically, your isp will just send you a warning if they received a notice, which again, can be prevented by using good VPN.
Conclusion
After torrenting once the next time should be a piece of cake! If you'd like a torrent other media in the future, such as software and games you can check R/freemediaheckyeah for a list of reputable sites. Always be careful when torrenting cracked software.
Anyways, I hope this guide helped :D <3