Impossible To Download Torrent With Expressvpn

We’ve all been tempted to download a torrent file at some point in our lives. Today, however, the laws and enforcement surrounding torrents are significantly stricter than in the past and may lead to a legal penalty of $150,000 and even jail for the convicted infringer.

As a result, users are quite concerned with finding a way to stay below the radar of authorities keeping an eye out for anyone who might be guilty of downloading torrents.

The prime example is downloading torrents that contain copyrighted materials, such as music, movies, and TV shows is illegal in most of the world, and if the government tracks the downloads back to your IP address you can be fined. With ExpressVPN you don’t have to give up your privacy just to watch HD movies, you’ll be able to watch live TV, stream 720p, 1080p, or 4K movies, and download torrents with blazing fast speeds every time.

These concerns are the reason behind why more and more people are considering torrenting with VPN.

Although there is no question about a VPN’s ability to enable users to keep their identity hidden and thus stay safe from legal notices, not all VPNs are secure or suitable for the purpose of torrenting.

We have reviewed over 123 VPNs over the years, but only a few fall into the criteria to be considered as the best VPN for torrenting.

These criteria, in order of importance, are:

  • Torrenting policy – Whether torrenting is allowed by a VPN provider on their servers
  • Jurisdiction – Torrent friendly VPN jurisdiction is an absolute must. The importance of a VPN with jurisdiction outside the 5, 9, or 14 Eyes is paramount for safe torrenting.
  • Logging Policy – What types of data are logged by the VPN?
  • IP leaks – Does it leak a user’s real IP address?
  • Speed – Is it the fastest VPN torrenting?

In this article, I will go into the depth of 5 torrent VPN providers that meet all the criteria outlined above.

But first, let’s see exactly what makes VPNs for torrenting so essential in the modern day and age. If you’re new and don’t know how to torrent with VPN, or how to use a VPN torrenting, you might find our torrent guide useful.

Why torrenting without VPN is NOT safe

If you’re wondering is torrenting safe, it is but only if you’re properly safeguarding yourself.

In literally every part of the world, there are laws protecting copyrights of the individual who owns a product or intellectual property (IP).

But on the Internet, it gets really tricky to protect copyrights because of how easy it is to download, share, and exchange files without obtaining the permission of the file’s owner.

To protect the right to ownership of content creators, the US enacted the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) in 1998.

Under this law, if you’re the owner of an IP that is being distributed on the web through torrents or any other filesharing method, then you can send a DMCA notice to the concerned parties and ask for a cessation of the activity and removal of the content.

The increasing pressure from IP owners from various industries (primarily music, film, and gaming) has led to an increase in such infringement notices.

Here’s a user who got a notice from their ISP for torrenting the movie Justice League:

This user’s tenant got a similar notice for downloading certain files via torrents:

In almost all such cases, there is one thing in common: the user downloaded and seeded the torrent without turning on a VPN.

Do you really need a VPN for Torrenting?

Although most you do know what is torrenting and all the risks associated with it, however, I’m still going to briefly discuss the need for a torrent VPN.

A torrent VPN routes all your traffic to a remote VPN server owned by the provider who is ideally under the jurisdiction of a country with laws that protect the online privacy of users.

Some of these countries even have more relaxed legislation for online piracy compared to countries like the US and UK.

For instance, in order to provide users access to torrenting, VPN providers use virtual servers in countries with few or no restrictions on torrenting.

Since a VPN transmits your data packets to a VPN server before it reaches your ISP, your online activities are effectively cloaked from the view of the ISP.

This action also leads to your IP address is changed to that of the server you are connected to (which may be from anywhere in the world).

So if third-party tries to hack or track your activities, they won’t be able to pinpoint your exact location or your real identity.

But getting caught downloading torrents red-handed can have repercussions far worse than simply receiving legal notices.

In fact, many individuals have been penalized with hefty fines in the USA as well as other countries for downloading torrents without the use of a torrent VPN.

Note: We strictly discourage any activity involving copyright infringement and urge readers to ONLY download legal torrents.

Copyright Infringement Penalties for Downloading Torrents around the World

The legal penalties for copyright infringement via torrents or any other digital means vary for each country. Countries like Switzerland is considered one of the best VPN location for torrenting.

Let’s see some recent legal cases relating to torrenting and the laws that apply to some of the countries that are the worst places to be download torrents in without a torrent VPN.

United States

Is torrenting illegal in US?

Well in the United States, copyright infringement is penalized by law. Anyone found guilty of downloading copyrighted material without the permission of the authors can be jailed for up to five years and/or fined a maximum sum of $150,000 per file [Source].

Last year, more than 1,000 lawsuits were filed against people in the United States against users suspected of downloading copyrighted material via torrents.

Copyright enforcement in the US is considered the strictest in the world for this reason. Hence knowing how to torrent anonymously is absolutely crucial.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom enacted the Digital Economy Act which increased the maximum prison sentence for copyright infringement from two years to 10 years.

Although it is unlikely that you, the average user, downloading movies or songs through torrents will face such a harsh penalty, even a day in prison isn’t a risk worth taking.

All popular torrent websites are blocked in the UK, so you can’t even access these without a VPN.

But a VPN that grants you access to torrent sites isn’t necessarily secure enough to hide your identity and prevent receiving dreaded legal notices.

Canada

The Copyright Modernization Act (aka “Bill C-11”) passed in 2012 requires ISPs and even VPN providers in the Canadian jurisdiction to forward legal notices to their subscribers downloading torrents.

The providers will face a fine of up to $10,000 for failure to comply with this requirement.

What’s worse, the law demands VPNs to retain logs of subscribers for a minimum of six months, which is another reason why it is a bad idea to use a VPN service that is within the jurisdiction of Canada.

For copyright infringement for non-commercial purposes (which is the case for most people downloading torrents), a copyright owner can press for charges between $100 to $5,000s.

Australia

Online pirates in Australia can face fines up to AUD 117,000 as well as five years imprisonment. The government is now passing even stricter anti-piracy law to protect copyright holders.

The maker of the Hollywood film Dallas Buyers Club reported identifying 4,726 IP addresses who illegally downloaded the film, many of whom were Australians.

The case was dropped by the filmmakers, but if they had pursued, a lot of Australians would have been in trouble for it and would have had to pay some fine.

Since the Australian government is on the verge of completely banning torrenting, it makes all the sense in the world to use a VPN. If you’re like me and hate restrictions, you might find our best VPN for torrenting Australia useful.

Germany

Online piracy is prohibited in Germany, with first-time offenders legally required to pay $200 in fines, with the maximum penalty being $1,300 for an individual, non-commercially motivated pirates.

However, the country is much harsher for operators of online piracy and torrenting sites, as when it sentenced the owner of torrent.to to 3 years and 10 months in prison.

All these instances show that piracy is taken very seriously in most leading nations of the world and the repercussions of getting caught can be severe.

This is the ultimate case for why it is important to use a VPN service for torrenting.

5 Best VPN Services for Torrenting

So, what is the best VPN for torrenting?

Well, the 5 VPNs described below are evaluated on the level of privacy, security, and speed that they offer.

In addition to that, the VPNs discussed below offer powerful VPN obfuscation to bypass even the most robust firewalls.

One thing which is not covered here is VPN transparency, but you can learn more about that in our transparency guide.

Anyways, now its time to see which VPNs have the capabilities necessary (on the basis of the criteria outlined at the start) to ensure a safe torrenting experience.

Note: These VPNs are tested much more rigorously on a wider range of parameters in our dedicated guide on the best VPNs of 2019.

1. ExpressVPN for Torrenting

Expressvpn free download

ExpressVPN has satisfied millions of users with its smooth service around the world. It covers all the bases that you should expect from a top-rated premium VPN in the line of protecting your torrenting activities. To sum it up, ExpressVPN is perhaps the best VPN for downloading torrents in the market right now.

Torrenting policy: The provider supports torrenting on all its servers and is compatible with all popular P2P (peer-to-peer) clients.

Jurisdiction: ExpressVPN lies in the offshore jurisdiction of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), which is a state favored by privacy advocates for their lack of mandatory data retention laws.

These states didn’t even shy away from putting John Lennon under surveillance, to speak nothing of what they could do to the average user (read the blog of FVEY and its impact on privacy for more information on this).

But that is only one factor of importance when it comes to maintaining strong torrent privacy, which brings us to the next important point…

Logging Policy: ExpressVPN has an excellent logging policy since it doesn’t keep any information about you that could trace back to your real identity or physical location.

Even if law enforcement authorities wanted to investigate you, they won’t be able to find anything if the VPN provider truly keeps no logs.

This is in fact what happened in 2017 when Turkish authorities scoured ExpressVPN’s servers for information about a suspect but ended up with nothing.

To be exact, the provider keeps no records whatsoever of the highlighted data below:

Not sure what these terms mean? Go through this extensive guide on VPN logging to educate yourself on these terms.

Coming back to ExpressVPN, the logging policy is extremely reassuring. You’d have to be extremely unlucky if you get any legal notices while torrenting with a VPN as committed to your privacy as ExpressVPN is.

IP Leak Test: A leaking IP can jeopardize all your effort to stay hidden and protected on the web while torrenting. ExpressVPN is equipped with the security features that ensure your IP doesn’t leak through the VPN tunnel, allowing you to securely torrent files.

This provider easily proved its ability to secure the IP of users from leaking, as our in-depth VPN leak test guide demonstrates.

In addition, the Network Lock (which is basically ExpressVPN’s built-in kill switch) disconnects you from the web immediately in case your VPN connection suffers a hiccup or is momentarily unavailable.

This event can easily expose your real IP address. With Network Lock, this VPN guard against such eventualities, reducing the legal risks associated with P2P filesharing.

Speed: ExpressVPN has a robust server network that delivers fast speeds with a high degree of consistency. On a 30 Mbps connection, it delivers speeds upwards of 25 Mbps.

Summary: ExpressVPN has everything it takes to be a sophisticated online privacy tool. The excellent combination of a privacy-friendly jurisdiction, great logging policy, IP leak protection, and fast speeds establishes this VPN as the best there is for the purpose of torrenting.

Read our ExpressVPN review to inform yourself further about the capabilities of this VPN.

Pros

  • Outstanding server speeds
  • Network Lock (kill switch) and IP leak protection
  • Based in the British Virgin Islands (no data retention laws)
  • Does not keep connection or usage logs
  • 30-day money-back guarantee

Cons

  • Expensive packages (but it is up for 49% discount on the 15-month deal)

2. Surfshark for Torrenting

Surfshark made its entry into the competitive industry of VPNs last year but has rapidly climbed to the top. Let’s see what makes it a good choice for secure and private torrenting:

Torrenting policy: Most Surfshark VPN servers support P2P sharing/torrenting.

Although the provider doesn’t prohibit the use of its servers for torrenting, does it actually have the mechanisms to cement your security and rule out the possibility of your identity leaking into the hands of law enforcement?

The next points will clarify this.

Jurisdiction: Like its counterpart ExpressVPN, Surfshark is headquartered in the BVI and is thus the recipient of the same jurisdictional benefits, allowing it to be free from any requirements for keeping user data logs.

This, of course, means that the provider can actually deliver on its promise of staying away from any sort of logging activities, enabling you to download torrents

Logging policy: The logging information that Surfshark keeps a record of is limited to your email address and registration-related information. The VPN does not collect logs of any data that can be used to compromise you on the web.

For any privacy-oriented user that wants to download torrents (let’s say, to try out a new video game to see whether you like it enough to then purchase it the legal way), Surfshark’s no-logging stance ensures that your safety is in good hands.

IP leak test: The strengths of Surfshark do not end with its jurisdiction and logging policy, it is also quite capable of consolidating your privacy further by preventing IP leaks.

The Windows, Mac, and iOS apps of Surfshark have a kill switch that you can enable to keep your web security from falling through the digital cracks, elevating your overall security considerably.

As such, if someone asks you what is the best VPN service for torrenting, then Surfshark has you covered on every front. Find out more in our detailed analysis of the VPN in Surfshark review.

Download Expressvpn App For Windows

Speed: The servers of Surfshark lack the consistent speeds that you might expect from say, ExpressVPN, but they’re still good enough to allow torrent downloading at decent speeds.

Summary: Surfshark is an excellent all-around VPN service that has all the important security, privacy, and speed factors that a VPN should possess to enable users to get around all P2P obstacles safely.

Additionally, it has a great range of extra features such as the ad-blocker (CleanWeb), split-tunneling (WhiteLister), and VPN chaining (MultiHop).

What’s more, it is currently available at the cheapest industry rate of $1.99/month. Believe it or not, Surfshark is by far the best cheap VPN for torrenting out there.

Pros

  • P2P optimized servers
  • Unlimited simultaneous connections
  • Supports multi-hop for added security
  • 30-day money-back guarantee

Cons

  • Slightly inconsistent speeds

3. NordVPN for torrenting

If you’re like me and wondering how good is NordVPN P2P feature? Let me tell you it is beyond good.

NordVPN is one of the best VPN that allows torrenting on its servers. I’ll now show you why exactly it is held in such high esteem and whether it can serve the needs of the common NordVPN P2P users.

Torrenting policy: NordVPN has dedicated servers reserved for P2P networking. The provider offers a server recommendation page which you can use to find out the best server for torrenting in the location of your choice.

It is important that you only perform P2P on these recommended servers, as any other server won’t have the security and speed optimization that torrent-specific servers guarantee.

Jurisdiction: This VPN provider enjoys the great advantage of being under the jurisdiction of Panama, which is a that actually respect the online privacy of users.

With no obligation to retain user data, the company can truly follow a zero-logging policy without any pressure from government authorities.

Logging policy: There are no personally identifiable logs that NordVPN keeps that can be used to compromise your real identity. With no traffic, browsing, timestamp, or IP logs, there’s no way that anyone can investigate your activities on the web.

The combination of a safe jurisdiction and the commitment of NordVPN to protecting user privacy with no logs is what makes this VPN an ideal choice for safe torrenting.

IP leak test: It is harder for a VPN to ensure no IP leaks when the server network is as vast as NordVPN’s. However, it is a testament to the quality of this VPN since it keeps your IP from leaking effectively as evidenced below:

NordVPN’s kill switch technology for Windows and Mac has to be configured by the user by specifying which applications should automatically be shut down in case the VPN connection is interrupted.

Currently, it doesn’t have the capability to terminate Internet connection on a system level on Windows and Mac, which is a more efficient and convenient technique than individually terminating applications.

This feature, however, is much smoother on iOS and Android versions of NordVPN apps, which disable the Internet on a system level in the event of an interruption in the VPN connection.

Learn more about this VPN’s strengths and weaknesses in our NordVPN review.

Speed: Using a VPN torrenting often negatively impact speeds. However, this is not the case with NordVPN. In fact, the reputation of NordVPN as a high-speed VPN service is not without basis in reality. Most servers deliver fast speeds with a good degree of consistency.

Summary: NordVPN offers a lot of valuable features in addition to its outstanding core capabilities. Some of these extra features include Double VPN, which is basically the name given to the technique of VPN chaining – the process of moving user traffic through 2 distinct VPN servers – for added privacy and encryption.

Other than that, it has a built-in ad blocker (CyberSec) and Onion over VPN to layer your traffic through a maze of nodes and networks for greatly enhanced web anonymity and privacy.

It also has some servers primed for obfuscation that enable access to heavily restricted websites or services.

When you sum all these benefits together along with the fact that the 3-year plan is selling for $2.99/month, it is hard to find a better deal for users seeking a strong privacy solution for their torrenting needs.

Pros

  • Dedicated servers for torrent filesharing
  • No data or connection logs
  • Jurisdiction in Panama
  • Refund window of 30 days

Cons

  • Technical errors with apps

4. PureVPN for Torrenting

VPN and torrenting go hand in hand. As long as I can remember, I’ve been using VPNs for torrenting anonymously.

PureVPN has an interesting history as a VPN provider, from being embroiled in and then revamping the privacy policy to avoid future mishaps of this sort.

The service has made enough improvements over the years to make into this list of best torrenting VPN. I’ve personally used PureVPN to download torrents anonymously and have never encountered any issues.

Torrenting policy: PureVPN supports P2P filesharing on a wide range of servers as highlighted by the provider.

As long as you are connected to these servers, you’ll face no obstacles when downloading torrents and also boost your privacy.

Jurisdiction: Hong Kong is a country with minimal censorship and pro-privacy digital laws. The headquarters of PureVPN is in Hong Kong, which exempts it from any obligations to retain user information of any kind.

Logging policy: No records of data that pose a threat to your online privacy are stored by PureVPN. The privacy policy statement of the provider starts right off by highlighting data they do not keep.

However, the provider does contradict its statement, later on, mentioning that they log bandwidth and IP address (for their Gravity feature only). Find out more about this VPN’s privacy policy in our detailed

IP leak test: As with other top-rated VPN services, PureVPN does not suffer from the problem of leaking IP address, making it fit as a torrent VPN.

The Windows app of PureVPN contains an Internet Kill Switch to automatically kill your VPN connection if it encounters temporary disconnection, keeping your real IP address from leaking to the regular web.

Unfortunately, this feature isn’t available on Mac, smartphones, and other platforms.

Speed: The high server speeds supported by PureVPN is one of the primary reasons that this service is so well-suited for the purposes of downloading torrents.

Summary: PureVPN doesn’t leave much to complain about, especially for Windows platforms where all its features are enabled including a kill switch and built-in ad-blocking.

You can avail this VPN to protect yourself while torrenting at only $2.95/month for a whole year. That is way cheaper than most alternatives.

More well-rounded coverage of this VPN is available on our PureVPN review.

Pros

  • Hundreds of P2P-enabled servers
  • Cheap pricing
  • 31-day money return guarantee
  • Reasonably good logging policy

Cons

  • Occasional connectivity issues

5. CyberGhost for Torrenting

CyberGhost has been around for almost a decade and is a reputed service, especially among people who frequently perform P2P activities. In fact, calling it the best VPN for torrents wouldn’t be an overstatement. If you’re wondering how to torrent safely, go and grab yourself a subscription plan of CyberGhost.

Torrenting policy: CyberGhost has special servers dedicated to P2P. In the Windows and Mac versions of the app, these dedicated servers can be searched

Jurisdiction: CyberGhost is under Romanian jurisdiction which is another country that is free from the clutches of any data retention law.

Moreover, Romania is one of the countries in the Special 301 Watch List due to lax online piracy laws and poor enforcement against online copyright infringement through P2P.

This is one of the main reasons why CyberGhost enjoys high popularity among online pirates.

Logging policy: The provider has a clear logging policy which mentions all the data that they do or do not keep logs of as shown below:

With no obligation to store logs under Romanian law, it is easy for CyberGhost to truly avoid any type of logging that could harm the online privacy of users.

IP Leak test: CyberGhost has strong IPv4, IPv6, and DNS leak protection built into its apps. This enables the VPN to keep the real IP address of the user hidden, so users can stop worrying about getting exposed while they go about downloading torrents.

In addition, CyberGhost has an automatic killswitch that is enabled by default (with no apparent way of disabling it) for all major platforms including Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.

This feature further consolidates the ability of this VPN to keep you secure and protected while torrenting.

Speed: The speeds usually delivered by CyberGhost are noticeably slower than its competitors, but they’re not TOO slow. In fact, the speeds are sufficient for performing tasks like streaming and torrenting.

Summary: CyberGhost is a capable VPN service that has earned a slot in the top 5 VPNs for torrenting courtesy of its ideal jurisdiction for this purpose, no logs policy, and protective features that guard against IP leaks.

Go in the depth of this VPN in our CyberGhost review.

Pros

  • P2P supported servers
  • Up to 7 simultaneous connections
  • Always enabled killswitch
  • Blanket LeakProtection for IPv6 and DNS

Cons

  • Average speeds (but reasonable enough considering the $2.75/month price tag)

VPNs that Support Torrenting

There are a lot of VPN services that support torrenting. But care should be taken by the user when choosing a VPN that they must have jurisdiction outside the 5 Eyes, keep no IP or traffic logs, and contain a kill switch and other mechanisms for IP leak protection.

Use the chart below to decide for yourself if the VPN you’re using deserves to be labeled as the best torrent VPN.

Note: You may also like to see our detailed VPN comparison table for 2019.

The Best Free VPN for Torrenting?

Free VPN services are always a dangerous business. Even though using a VPN is the best way to download torrents, opting free VPN is not recommended.

It is inconceivable that any company could bear the cost of servers, customer support, and the bandwidth to serve a large number of customers without charging any money.

So, what many VPNs with a “free torrent VPN” tag do is that they sell your private information which they gather through the VPN app along with advertisements.

This could be especially dangerous if your primary purpose for getting a VPN is to indulge in a legally ambiguous activity like torrenting.

Nonetheless, there are some reputable free torrenting VPN that work transparently on the “freemium” business model which is legitimate and inspires trust.

We have covered such best VPNs for torrenting in our free VPN for torrenting guide.

What affects the speeds of any best VPN service for torrenting?

Slow downloading speeds when torrenting can occur because of many different factors, however, before delving down into the reasons it is important that you first check your promised bandwidth to make sure you are getting what you paid for.

Online tools like speedtest.net should help you conduct a thorough evaluation.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, it is time to discuss the reasons.

Limitations of a Wi-Fi connection

Plugin LAN connections are always going to be faster than Wi-Fi connections even though they might be using the same network connection. This is because direct connections do not require any sort of routing, which can substantially enhance the performance of your internet connection.

Another reason why your internet speeds suffer over the Wi-Fi connection is due to many physical obstructions for example distance from the router will also cause speeds to fluctuate drastically. Besides that, physical hindrances like walls and other furniture can also impose a negative impact not to mention interference from radio waves emitted by so many electronic devices in your vicinity.

Poor seed ratio

Torrent speeds heavily rely on the number of seeds, the higher the number of seeds a torrent file has the faster it is going to download. Since seeding refers to the number of people sharing the file for other torrenters. If a torrent file has a low ratio of seeders then your downloading speed is definitely going to suffer regardless of how fast your internet connection is.

Bandwidth throttling

Have you ever encountered bandwidth fluctuations of more than half of your allocated speeds? Surprise surprise welcomes to the world of bandwidth throttling. ISPs around the world have ridden their hands in this nasty business all in the name of providing good service.

Bandwidth throttling occurs when ISPs detect you of consuming too much of your allocated bandwidth. Torrenting, streaming or downloading large files can set off red flags for ISPs.

Download Torrent For Pc

Whether you like it or not bandwidth, throttling is a reality and unfortunately, torrenting has to suffer because of it.

Fortunately, however, a simple anonymity tool like a VPN can result in a major lifesaver as it encrypts your entire network connection making it impossible for ISPs to throttle your bandwidth.

Unadjusted upload speed

Downloading torrents involve peers since it is different from traditional file downloading. Whenever you are downloading a torrent file through the BitTorrent protocol you are also uploading (seeding) the same amount for other peers.

When you leave your upload speed unadjusted, you are essentially negatively affecting your downloading speeds. This issue can be easily negated by first identifying your allocated upload speed and then adjusting the upload speed of your torrenting client. Generally, you should limit your upload speed to about 80% of your actual bandwidth.

Finally, it also helps to understand how a VPN basically works because the very action of VPN tunneling and encryption leads to an unavoidable loss in speed.

But a good VPN will usually be fast enough to work comfortably for your torrenting needs.

Reddit VPN for torrenting

Even though the VPN I’ve listed above are perfect for torrenting, I still wanted to see what the folks over at Reddit had to suggest.

Unsurprisingly, the majority of the Reddit users suggested either using NordVPN or ExpressVPN.

Comment from discussion cornpeeker’s comment from discussion 'What’s the best VPN for torrenting?'.
Comment from discussion ccduke’s comment from discussion 'What’s the best VPN for torrenting?'.

FAQs Section

Here are some frequently asked questions about P2Ptorrenting:

If it’s not obvious by now, using a VPN can easily help perform anonymous torrenting. By having your IP masked, no one can trace your torrenting activities back to you.

No there a number of approaches you can take for ultimate torrent anonymity. For instance, using a VPN before torrenting, enabling Kill switch and using a reliable Anti virus program is just some of the ways you can remain anonymous on the web.

This is a tricky question and depends on which county and website you download torrent from. Some countries have strict laws against torrenting which can get you in a lot of trouble. Similarly downloading torrents from an untrustworthy website can not only damage your computer, but also enable hackers to steal your confidential data.

Finishing Up

The penalties and enforcement against online piracy have gradually gotten stricter over the past two decades.

Although every copyrights owner has the right to sue an individual who accesses their material for free without their permission, the aggressiveness of certain countries towards anyone who downloads torrents can often spill over to those cases where the downloaded file may actually NOT be illegal.

With the best VPN for torrenting, you enable yourself to keep such eventualities at bay and download legal torrents with the assurance that you are beyond the vigilant eyes of authorities.

I hope the above mentioned VPNs help you decide what is the best VPN service for torrenting. Please do let me know if I should add more VPNs to my list.

Even though some of the most popular torrent clients like uTorrent or BitTorrent don’t have native Chromebook applications, torrenting isn’t impossible on Chrome OS. This lightweight operating system has its own set of powerful tools that you can use to become part of the BitTorrent protocol. Without any further ado, let’s see how to download torrents on Chromebook computers.

Before getting started, we strictly recommend you to be safe while Torrenting. Therefore, we want you to read the and a safety notice found below.

Stream Torrent Safely and Protect Yourself Online

Many of you will be surprised to know that your Internet browsing is fully visible by ISPs (Internet Service Providers). These companies have the power to collect your personal data and hand it over to third parties. Therefore, it’s imperative to keep your data protected and inaccessible to anyone who tries to collect it. This is especially important if you plan on downloading and sharing torrent files.TechNadu strongly recommends you to connect to a VPN to encrypt your Internet connection, change your IP, and make your device impenetrable to malware. This particular VPN software scored the highest in our tests, which can be seen in our ExpressVPN review. Use the provided link to read all you need to know about this easy to use and highly powerful application. Make sure to sign-up for ExpressVPN and enjoy the Internet as it should be – open and without any privacy concerns.

Exclusive offer:Save 49% & try ExpressVPN 100% risk-free!

How to Download Torrents on Chromebook?

In this article, we will talk about four of the most popular torrenting options for Chromebooks. Some of these are paid subscription services that offer cloud storage as well. In other words, you can download and then stream those files from your personal cloud. Then, we’ll go over two Chrome extensions. These come free of charge and can be used if you have plenty of storage to store big files.

1. Bitport.io

The first option to download torrents to your Chromebook is Bitport.io. This is a paid service but does come with a free trial. However, the trial is quite limited and doesn’t come with some of the best features this service offers. You’ll get 1GB of storage, one download slot, and you can download one torrent per day. Still, you should definitely try the free trial before committing.

Paid plans start at $5 and come with 30GB of online storage, unlimited torrents, unrestricted bandwidth, and five download slots. In addition, Bitport.io encrypts your HTTP traffic and even scans the files before you open them. It’s great to see that there’s an antivirus included, especially when it comes to torrent downloading. Even though the $5 plan should be enough for average torrent users, there are also more advanced plans. For $10, you get 100GB of storage and 10 downloads slots, while $15 will get you 250GB and 20 slots.

Upon downloading a torrent, you can open it in your Web browser and stream it. However, this can’t be done while the download is in progress. In case you’re dealing with a non-standard video format, the service will convert it for you. However, this can take some time.

How to Use Bitport to Download Torrents on Chromebook?

Here’s a short overview of how to download torrents on Chromebook using Bitport. As you are about to see, the process is very simple.

  • First, you need to register for a new account. Open Bitport.io in your Web browser and click on the ‘Create an account’ button in the top-right corner;
  • Once you get to your dashboard, you’ll need to copy and paste the torrent download link and then click on ‘Add new torrent’. You can copy and paste the torrent download link from any of the popular torrent websites. In other words, once you find a torrent to download, right-click on it and pick ‘Copy link address’ using Chrome. Then paste that link to Bitport;
  • In case you find the previously explained step too complicated, you can also click on the ‘Upload torrent from PC’ and upload a torrent file that you’ve previously downloaded using Chrome;
  • Now, go to ‘Torrents for download’ section, make sure that all details are correct and then click on ‘Download to my cloud’;
  • At this moment, you will be redirected to your download queue and torrent will begin to download. Be patient and wait;
  • Once the torrent downloads, you can watch a video by clicking on the thumbnail. Alternatively, you can also download the video to your Chromebook by clicking on the download button (it appears when you hover the mouse over the thumbnail);
  • In case you decide to stream it, the chances are that Bitport will need to convert it. Click on the ‘Convert’ button and wait until the service gets the job done. Enjoy!

2. Put.io

Next, on our list, we have Put.io. This is yet another paid solution that lets you download torrent files to your personal cloud storage. In comparison to Bitport, it brings numerous advanced features that owners of media streaming services will especially like. However, there isn’t a free trial. To test-drive this service for 5 days, you’ll need to pay $3.99.

The most affordable plan starts at $9.99 and brings 100GB of storage. The top-tier plan brings 2TB of cloud storage. The good news is that all that storage isn’t reserved for torrents alone. You can use it to back up files and sync them between different computers as well. In addition to that, there’s a vibrant community of developers who are creating integrations with devices using Put.io. For example, this includes Apple TV, Amazon Fire devices, Plex, and even Kodi. If you’re using any of these apps or devices, you can use them to play downloaded torrents.

Last but not the least, Put.io is known for its fast download speeds. The company has servers all around the world, so you can count on using the nearest one. This is a very useful thing, especially for downloading large torrent files.

How to Use Put.io to Download Torrents on Chromebook?

Here’s a quick overview of how to use Put.io to download torrent files on your Chromebook. As you are about to see, the process is very straightforward;

  • As you can imagine, you need to register for a new account on Put.io. Then, access your account and you’ll see a dashboard;
  • On your dashboard, you will see a button that says ‘New Transfer’ in the top-right corner. Click on it;
  • You’ll be asked to paste the torrent or magnet link in a large text field. This means that you need to find a torrent file on the Web, and copy/paste that torrents link. Alternatively, you can download the torrent file to your Chromebook, and upload it to Put.io (on this same page);
  • Once you’ve pasted the URL or uploaded the file, click on ‘Start Transfers’;
  • All there’s left is to wait until the download ends. Then, click on the ‘Go to file’ button;
  • Finally, you will arrive at the website’s media player. You can stream it right there, or you can download it to your computer (in many different file types).

3. JSTorrent

In contrast to previous suggestions, JSTorrent isn’t a cloud service. Instead, this is a full-featured Chrome extension that acts as an app for your Chromebook. What this means is that you can download torrents locally – they’ll be saved on your Chromebook’s hard drive. For some, this will be a good thing since they don’t have to deal with cloud storage. However, those with very low disk storage might be better off with a cloud involved.

To begin with, we recommend using JSTorrent Lite that acts as a trial version with a maximum of 20 downloads. This is a good way to test-drive the extension and see how well you can handle it. It’s also worth noting that the Lite version isn’t restricted, and you’ll get to download and stream torrents at the same time.

If you decide to use JSTorrent, you can buy it for $2.99. This is a one-time purchase and you can download it from the Chrome Web Store. Alternatively, you can install the full application from GitHub, if you know a thing or two about unpacked Chrome extensions.

How to Use JSTorrent on Chromebook?

Here’s how to download torrents on Chromebook using JSTorrent. We will provide full step-by-step instructions, so keep on reading.

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  • First, you need to install JSTorrent on your Chromebook. Go ahead, install the Lite version of the paid version. In addition, you need to install the JSTorrent Helper extension from the Chrome Web store.
  • Now, you need to find a torrent file that you’d like to download. Once you do that, you need right-click on the torrent download link and select ‘Add to JSTorrent’ from the drop-down menu;
  • JSTorrent will appear. First-time users will need to select a file download location first. In addition, this is a good moment to go over all of the options. Once you’re done, exit the settings menu;
  • Return to JSTorrent’s window. For some reason, you might see an error once you download a torrent. However, you can click on ‘Start’ (top-left corner) and the torrent will begin to download in an instant;
  • Once the download is complete, JSTorrent will copy the torrent data to the previously specified download folder. Go to that folder, and you’ll see all of the files;
  • As said earlier, you can also stream torrents (as they download). To do that, click on the ‘Files’ tab in the bottom half. On the right side of the video files, you will see a ‘Stream’ button. In case your Chrome OS recognizes the format, it will begin to play the movie file.

4. Bitford

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Bitford is the last option on our list, and there’s a reason for that. Even though there are many users who are perfectly happy using this torrent downloader, there are lots of those who aren’t. In fact, Bitford’s Chrome store rating isn’t stellar (3 start out of 5). However, we want you to explore all of the popular options for downloading torrents on Chromebook. Therefore, we think that Bitford deserves a place on this list.

What you need to know about this Chrome extension is that it comes free of charge. As you can see by now, free of charge options are scarce. You will be able to download torrents, even individual files within torrents, and more. What you can’t do is download magnet files, which is worrisome because websites like The Pirate Bay are starting to rely heavily on magnet files. Finally, you should also expect some download speed limitations. As users are reporting, Bitford can be very slow at times which means that you’ll need to be more patient than with other options.

How to Use Bitford to Download Torrents on Chromebook?

Bitford is a very simple Chrome extension. Even though not everyone is going to be thrilled about it, we feel that many of you will be happy to have this option.

  • Make sure to add Bitford to Chrome;
  • Next, you need to open this extension. You can go to ‘chrome://apps’ and click on the extension’s icon. This will open Bitford in a new tab;
  • Now you need to download a torrent file to your Chromebook. So, visit your favorite torrent tracks and save the file locally;
  • Return to Bitford and click on ‘Load Torrent’, at the bottom of the screen;
  • You will need to find your recently downloaded torrent file. Then, add it to the extension and it will begin to download in an instant;
  • Wait for the torrent to be downloaded, or you can stream it along the way. That’s it!

Additional Info on Downloading Torrents on Chromebook

We’ll do our best to make this article as helpful as possible. This is why we’ll make sure to answer some commonly asked questions about downloading torrents. So, keep on reading to learn more.

What Are The Best Torrent Sites Right Now?

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To get started, check our article on the best torrent sites of 2018. This is where you’ll find 10 options that bring different kinds of file libraries. Even better than using torrent websites, you can rely on search engines. To learn more, here’s our comprehensive guide to the best torrent search engines.

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Will Downloading Torrents on Your Chromebook Get You in Trouble?

Downloading torrent (P2P) files is not illegal – and it will never be. However, the truth is that P2P files are often associated with copyright infringement, which is why many ISP block this kind of Internet activity.

As you can see in our complete guide to torrenting, there are certain things to keep in mind to stay legal while torrenting. In the center of this are websites that act as torrent repositories. With this mind, try to stick to legal torrent websites.

What Are VPNs & Why You Should Use Them?

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When talking about how to download torrents on Chromebook, we also must talk about staying safe online. To help you with this, we have a few useful resources. First of all, make sure to learn how VPNs work. Then, you can check the best VPNs for torrenting and cross-reference that list with the best VPNs for Chromebook.

Final Thoughts

Dear readers, that would be all. We hope that you found this article to be useful and that you now know how to download torrents on Chromebook. If you have any questions or doubts, feel free to post a comment below.

Finally, feel free to share this article with other Chromebook users, if you think they’re interested in torrenting. Also, make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks!