piracy for the absolute beginner

by lucas m. :)

The official definition of piracy (according to INTERPOL) is "the illegal copying or distribution of copyrighted material via the Internet." If you couldn't tell already, it rules.
Piracy allows you to access an entire world of media completely free- which is great. Not only does it allow broke people like me to get their hands on stuff, it also ensures that you can watch/listen to/play basically anything at any given time. Getting into piracy will ensure that you'll never have to worry about Netflix or whatever dropping the show you want. The entire world is basically at your disposal!

I've been pirating online for years and have amassed a pretty good amount of knowledge on the topic. This guide is a collection of all the tips and tricks I have on the subject, as well as helpful resources. If you've never pirated before this is the article for you!

(If you have piracy experience, this will probably contain lots of information that you already know. It might still be worth a look through just for resources, though.)

PREREQUISITES

BROWSER: I recommend WaterFox on PC and Android, a fork of FireFox that adheres more to privacy standards than FireFox itself. I use this and it's great.
On iOS basically every browser is just a reskin of Safari, so do whatever you want. I would recommend staying away from anything chromium based (on any device).

ADBLOCKER: You're gonna need one- and like everyone else in the piracy sphere, I'm going to recommend UBlock Origin. It's fast, functional, and works great. You can also add custom filters and personalize your experiences on websites that way.

If you're using an iPhone, the only real option (as far as I can find) for system-wide adblock on iOS is AdGuard DNS. If you use Safari on your iPhone you have a lot more options, but if you're using Firefox like me this is the easiest way. Here's a guide on how to set it up.

TORRENT CLIENT: qBittorrent is the one I use. It's open-source, free, and has zero ads. It works great and I've never had any issues with it personally.

VPN: This is ESPECIALLY important if you live in a country that has strict piracy laws. I'm sure you've heard the spiel from literally every YouTuber but just in case you don't know, VPNs (virtual private networks) encrypt your data and hide your IP address from your internet service provider or anyone else who might be looking. They're very useful in piracy/torrenting because they ensure that your ISP won't start going through your activity/shutting down your service if they see something dubiously legal (though this probably won't happen anyway).

I'm not going to recommend a free VPN because there's always a chance they'll end up selling your data, but it's not hard to do your own research on this. Most paid VPNs (Surfshark, Nord, Express, etc.) will get the job done.

At the end of the day, if you're going to spend money on anything on your piracy journey, it should be a trustworthy VPN.

ISP CLIENT/DNS: If your country has nationwide ISP bans, or if you often use a network that blocks specific domains, then you can use a DNS client to get around them. The one I use is DNSCrypt. This tumblr post is a short guide on how to set it up after installation. (Note that this is NOT the same thing as a VPN- all it does is allow you to access domains, not hide your traffic from your ISP or anyone else with access to your network. For ideal privacy you should use both.)

FILE UNPACKER: If you're planning on downloading video games or executable files you're gonna need one of these- basically, they open up file archives so you can actually run them. WinRAR is a classic, it's free and easy to use. On Mac you can try Keka, which I've never tried but have heard good things about.

STORAGE: An external hard drive is a pretty good idea if you plan on hoarding files. They can get pricey, but they will allow you to keep TONS of stuff. A good terabyte goes a long way. In terms of online file hosts, I absolutely love Catbox.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Torrenting is a way of sharing large files on the internet. My favorite explanation of how it works is by Reddit user @Dekkars, in this thread. Here's how they put it:

You'd like to buy a book. One option is to go to the bookstore and spend money on it (direct download) but you don't want to do that. So you talk to your friend Alberto. Alberto knows everyone, and has a long list of all the people who own this book and are willing to photocopy a page (seeders). You send a letter to each person, asking for a specific page number (leeching). They send a letter back with that specific page. Sometimes you are missing a page, or it's unreadable. That's okay, you have that list and you can just ask someone else! Now you have all the pages of the book. Because everyone helped you, you now tell Alberto that you're willing to help. You give him your address, and you start getting letters asking for pages (becoming a seeder). You can enjoy your book and help others get pages too.

This is basically it. You can read through the linked thread for more info if you want, but this explanation perfectly encapsulates how torrenting/seeding/leeching works. You don't need to know all of the really technical aspects if you just want to torrent for yourself, so this cursory knowledge should be sufficient (unless you want to learn more, in which case go for it!)

HOW TO GET STARTED (MOVIES/TV/MUSIC)

If you don't know much about technology, you might be feeling overwhelmed, but I am happy to tell you that torrenting is really fucking easy. Here's a super simple rundown on my process:

  1. Turn on your VPN and bind it to qBittorrent or whatever torrent client you're using.
  2. Go to a torrent site. The one I'm using in this example is abctorrents, but there's a bunch of others. (Look in the references at the end for more!)
  3. Search for the thing you want.

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  1. Pick a torrent. If your site has reviews, look at them. Going for one with plenty of seeders and leechers is also a good bet.

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  1. Copy the magnet link of your chosen torrent and paste it into qBittorrent.

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  1. Download
  2. Profit.

NOTE: This process will vary depending on what you're torrenting- specifically, this works great for movies/tv/music, but video games are a whole other ballpark and will be covered in another section.

EXTRA STUFF:

  • If you are attempting to torrent something that's just supposed to be audio/video, and what you download contains a .exe, DO NOT RUN IT IT IS PROBABLY MALWARE.
  • If you are working with a chromebook, or are for some reason unable to install a torrent client, you'll be happy to know that web-based torrent clients exist! My personal favorite is webtor, and the process here is basically the same as listed above- just paste the magnet link into the bar and download.
  • Always seed your torrents- it makes the experience better for everyone!
  • You can also download software off of torrent sites, but be careful- it's a lot easier to sneak viruses into executable files. Be sure to be smart about torrenting software. Read reviews if possible, pick one with plenty of leechers, download from users you know to be reputable, and just use your brain.

STREAMING
If you just want to watch stuff without downloading it, piracy streaming sites are the easiest option. There are tons of these, and which one you use is mostly going to be personal preference. For TV/movies, I like Heartive and RidoMovies, and for anime, I like Miruro (which you can sync with anilist to keep track of everything you watch). Remember to ALWAYS use adblock on sites like these. For a long list of tons of sites, check out the FMHY streaming sites page.

MUSIC STREAMING
If you listen to a lot of music and don't want to download every single album you listen to, you still have piracy options. My favorite browser music player is DAB Music Player, since the quality of the music is very good and it's easy to use. There are also many different Spotify clients/music players you can install to your computer, like Moosync. You can also listen to plenty of indie music on Bandcamp (which is my favorite way to find new artists).

If you're like me and want your last.fm stats to be as accurate as possible, then you should install Web Scrobbler. It's a browser extension that allows you to scrobble to your last.fm from tons of websites that don't have native last.fm support, like the ones listed above. Open Scrobbler is another tool that lets you scrobble songs manually.

As always, check the FMHY page on music for more options.

VIDEO GAMES

There are two main ways to pirate video games: direct downloads and repacks (not including ROMs/emulation, which will be covered later). Which one you choose will depend on your specific needs. Direct downloads are easier in that they don't require torrenting, but they take forever to download. Repacks trade a faster download time for longer install time. Repacking is good if you have limited bandwidth.

REPACKING
There are a couple different sites you can get repacks from. My absolute favorite is FitGirl Repacks, so that's what I'll be using in these examples. I'll add more sites down below in case you want to try some others.

  • First, go to your site and search for the game you want (just like earlier).
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  • There's a couple ways you can download the game from this site, but I think the magnet link is easiest. Copy and paste it into your torrent client just like before.

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  • Then just let it download. After the download is completed, a setup menu will run that will guide you through the rest of the installation. Depending on the strength of your computer and size of your game, installation could take a WHILE, so be prepared to wait for a bit.
  • And that's it! Your game is installed and you didn't have to pay a dime.

DIRECT DOWNLOADING
There are a TON of sites that offer direct video game downloading. Unsurprisingly, many of them are unsafe to use. Here is a big list of websites you should avoid.

Some websites that are safe include SteamRip and GOG Games. Be sure to be careful when installing anything online from a non-official source, and always use your adblocker when downloading stuff to ensure you don't click on a fake download button instead of the real one.

Direct download sites typically just involve searching for the game you want, clicking download, and waiting an hour and a half for it to finish. (I'm not including images here because I feel like it's self explanatory). Be sure to read any .txt files included with these installs because they might include extra instructions or software necessary for the game to run. That's basically it for this section!

ROMS/EMULATION
How you emulate games on your PC will depend a lot on what platform you want to emulate from. For Wii/GameCube games, the best choice is Dolphin Emulator. For Switch games, Eden and Citron should both be fine. Note that Switch games often need a decently powerful PC to run properly emulated, and if you care about things like frame rates you might be a bit disappointed. (Also, Nintendo is very vigilant when it comes to cracking down on Switch emulation, so don't be surprised if emulators randomly shut down or have to stop updating.) For a larger list of many more emulators, including ones for more obscure consoles, check the Emulation Wiki. I use Delta on iOS, it supports quite a few old Nintendo consoles. Most emulators will work on Android, but a phone may not be powerful enough to run all games.

In terms of finding ROMs of games, two sources I've used in the past are Vimm's Lair and Myrient. Both of these are safe and recommended by most ROM/emulation communities. For more info, check the ROM Megathread. You can also check The Internet Archive for ROMs, but you'll probably have better luck with the first two sites. Files on both of these services are direct downloads that don't require torrenting.

From there, you basically just have to install the emulator and run your files. Information on how to do this should be visible from within the program itself. If you're having issues or can't figure out how to get a game working, This wiki has lots of guides on how to set up and run emulators properly. You can also always check the ROM subreddit and the emulation subreddit.

I'm not that experienced with emulation personally, so this section of the guide is a bit scarce, but hopefully this is enough information to get you started!

Edit

Pub: 30 Jun 2025 21:11 UTC

Edit: 20 Sep 2025 16:29 UTC

Views: 79