How To Download Free Movies: 11 Steps

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

Are you an entertainment fanatic too poor to quench your thirst for interesting movies using conventional means? If so, you are not as unfortunate as you might think. You can try to download movies for free. Here's what you need to do.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Finding Free Movies

Step 1. Use a torrent search engine

A torrent search engine will scour the internet for a keyword entered by the user and will find any torrent files that match or are related to your search.

• Type the title of the movie you are looking for in the search engine. If you don't know a specific title, you can type in a keyword instead. Hit the "Search" button and scroll through the results as you would a standard search engine.
• Once you find a result that looks promising, click on the hyperlink to access the file.

Step 2. Check out various free, legal movie collections

For a safer comprehensive approach to finding free movies available for download, look for a database of free movies with a good reputation. In addition to being safer and more legal, free databases often offer many viewing and download options, so you may be able to download a good movie without using torrents.

• For many of these collections, you will be presented with the option to download the file as a torrent or some other type of file. For example, you could download it as a Flash or Ogg video.
• Note that all of these films have a "Creative Commons license" which means they are essentially in the public domain and can be legally viewed and downloaded by anyone.

• Some online databases worth checking out include:

  • Internet Archive: Full of old movies, documentaries and foreign films.
  • Emol: a site full of comedies and cartoons;
  • PublicDomainTorrents: mainly contains films of secondary importance, but also some old cult;
  • AtomFilms: a database of films created by the user;
  • Once a Week Online Film Festival: this is an online film review with new proposals on a weekly basis;
  • Culture Unplugged Studios: It is full of documentaries in their full length.

  

  Step 3. Also consider free streaming movies

  There are many websites that allow you to watch movies for free while connected to the Internet, although it is not a question of downloading them. Also, as the download often takes a long time, this option may be even faster.

  • A quick link is needed when watching a streaming movie, though. If the connection is slow or drops frequently, you probably won't be able to watch a full movie from start to finish without refreshing the page or waiting for the buffer to load.

  • Some popular and reputable sites with free streaming movies are:

    • Hulu Movies: Many movies are only available with a paid subscription on Hulu Plus, but there are some for free, and you can also sign up for a free trial of the Plus version.
    • YouTube Movies: Some movies require payment, but many on the channel are free.
    • Crackle: All films are "free and integral" and there is quite a wide variety available. You won't be able to find all the news on the site, but you will be able to find hits from a few years ago.
    • Indie Movies Online: A collection of movies created by independent labels, but if you dig hard enough, you might find something familiar.
    • Snag Film: The selection is completely free and includes films ranging from documentary to novelties from the Sundance Film Festivals.
    • Popcorn Flix: Many free movies available through the website, many are also formatted for viewing on portable devices.

    Part 2 of 3: Working with Torrents

    

    Step 1. Try to understand how torrents work

    The torrent communication protocol allows users to share large files with each other by splitting the files into small chunks. These songs are brought together by a special torrent program upon completion of the download.

    • One advantage of torrents is that if the connection is dropped, you can basically pick up where you left off the download process.
    • Torrent monitoring servers also check if you can share your files or just "stick" to other users. The more you share, the more bandwidth you get. The less you share, the less bandwidth you get.

    

    Step 2. Download a torrent program

    A torrent program is a necessary component of the process, because it allows you to download all the little pieces that make up the torrent file of the movie.

    • Torrent files saved from the web only provide information on the real movie file. A torrent program is required to actually locate and download the movie based on those directions.

    • Some popular torrent programs include:

      • BitTorrent
      • uTorrent
      • Vuze
      • ABC (acronym for Another Bittorent Client = another Client for Bittorent)

      

      Step 3. Save the torrent file to your computer

      After finding the torrent file using one of the methods described in the "Finding Free Movies" section, click on the "Save" or "Download" hyperlink to save the initial torrent file to your computer. This file will download quickly, but it's not the full movie.

      • If you are using a community torrent search engine, such as isoHunt, check the reviews and comments before downloading a file. This way you will know if there are any bugs associated with the download.
      • Another way to see if the file is a good choice is to check the number of completed downloads. The higher the number, the more promising the results will be.
      • When you save a torrent file from the web, you are actually saving a text file that points to the movie you want to download and only the torrent software can read these files and download the corresponding movie file.

      

      Step 4. Open the torrent file with the torrent program

      With your torrent program open, navigate to the torrent file and open it. This will start the actual download of the movie.

      • When you open the torrent file, the program will read the instructions contained in the file and locate the one for downloading.
      • The exact method for opening the file will vary based on the program you use, but usually you select "Open" from the "File" menu to retrieve the saved file.
      • You may also notice that you will need to specify the path on your computer where you want the final movie file to be downloaded. Otherwise, it will end up in the default download folder.

      

      Step 5. Let the movie download

      The exact speed varies based on the size of the file and the quality of the Internet connection. You will need to have downloaded the entire torrent before you can view the movie on your computer.

      This could take a couple of hours if you have a good internet connection and have a lot of bandwidth. If your network doesn't have these two requirements, a typical length movie may take a couple of days to download

      Part 3 of 3: Watching Downloaded Movies

      

      Step 1. Watch the movie on your computer

      This is the simplest option. Playing a downloaded movie on your computer only requires you to have a program capable of opening it.

      • Convert the file if necessary. If you have a program that can open and play the movie file as it is on your computer, you don't need to convert it to other formats. But, if not, you may need to convert the file to a different extension so that the software on your computer can recognize it.
      • To convert a video file to another format, you need to download a separate video converter. Many are available in the form of freeware or free trials, but, when looking for one to use, make sure it has good reviews. Check the reviews on a third party site instead of trusting the comments posted on the freeware site itself.
      • Make sure that the freeware you are using can convert the file to a format that can be played on your computer.

      

      Step 2. Connect the computer to the TV

      If you want to watch the movie on your TV, you should get a special cable that can connect your computer to your TV. This will allow you to play the movie on your TV screen as if it were on your computer.

      Usually, the cable you need is an S - Video cable. Verify that your TV and computer have the necessary ports to work with an S - Video cable

      

      Step 3. Watch the movie on another device

      If you want to watch movies without using your computer, you may need to convert them to another file format using your computer and software converter. You will then need to transfer them to any device or tool you wish to use.

      • Watch movies on your mobile phone or other portable device. Once you have installed the right software and successfully convert the file to a readable format for that software, you can make your collection of downloaded movies even more portable for viewing on your smartphone, iPod or PSP.
      • Burn movies to DVD. If you have a burner with related DVD authoring software, you can burn a copy of the movie to that media and then play it on your TV.

      Warnings

      • Illegally downloading licensed movies without permission can have serious consequences, including heavy fines and even jail time. It is highly recommended that you only download legally available movies.
      • When downloading a torrent from an untrustworthy third-party source, check the reviews. If there are no comments or they are negative, the torrent may contain viruses or malware.