Frustratingly, many Internet providers and countries around the world block torrent sites, using a whole slew of tactics.
If you are feeling frustrated that you can’t access the torrenting websites you are looking to access, you have options.
There are pretty simple ways in which you can unblock torrent sites and be downloading torrents despite these blocks.
Our go-to method of unblocking torrent sites is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). VPNs not only help you unblock torrenting sites that may be blocked by your network, Internet provider, or in your region, but they also help keep you safe and anonymous online.
Keep reading to find out more ways to avoid torrent-blocking tactics from any blocked network.
In a Hurry? Here’s How to Unblock Torrent Websites
Unblocking Torrenting Sites: 7 Best Methods
Here are the 7 best (below) methods of gaining access to the most popular torrent sites, despite blocks:
1. Change the DNS Server in the Network Settings to Unblock Torrent Sites
Sometimes, your ISP may block access only based on your Domain Name System (DNS).
The DNS translates IP address numbers into website addresses/names. If you are not connected to a VPN, your DNS server is controlled by your Internet Service Provider. By switching to public DNS, this will solve the DNS block.
The following DNS server addresses correspond to these commonly used public DNS servers (free):
OpenDNS: 208.67.220.220 or 208.67.222.222
Google DNS: 8.8.8.8 Or 8.8.4.4
ComodoDNS: 8.26.56.26 or 8.20.247.20
To change your DNS server to public DNS on your Windows PC:
- Go to your Network Settings and Change Adapter Settings.
- Choose the connection you want and right-click to configure it.
- Choose Properties.
- In Networking, choose IPv4 Properties.
- Switch DNS servers and press OK.
On your macOS:
- Go to System Preferences.
- Choose Network > Advanced, then choose DNS.
- Add your new DNS servers and click on OK.
2. Use a Free or Premium VPN Provider to Unblock Torrent Sites
A VPN lets you unblock websites by letting you access the web from a region that allows access to your torrent website. The way that a VPN does this is by hiding your Internet protocol address. With your IP address hidden, you can then connect to a server in a new region or network outside your network that blocks torrent downloads, and your IP address will then reflect this VPN server location instead of your actual location.
The top VPN for helping you access your blocked torrent website is ExpressVPN. As this is the top premium VPN, though, its subscription fee is a bit more pricey than the other VPNs.
If you want a quality VPN for accessing your torrent site that is more affordable, NordVPN and Surfshark are also great options.
While there are free VPNs on the market, we would not advise using any of them as they more often than not lack important privacy and security features that keep you protected on blocked websites.
3. Use a Different Network to Unblock Torrent Sites
If you are trying to access torrent websites from your work, school, or another restrictive network, you may find that your favorite torrent websites are blocked to keep users on the network from downloading pirated content.
If you connect to another wifi network, this will often be able to do the trick to give you access to your torrent sites.
If you are on a blocked college network, for example, you can access your torrent client if you tether your smartphone’s Internet and then connect back later to the college site to continue any downloads.
4. Use a Proxy Server or Mirror Sites to Unblock Torrenting Websites
Like using a VPN, proxy servers can conceal your IP address to help you connect to a website that is otherwise blocked. Using a proxy, your online traffic is tunneled through an intermediary server that then sends you to your blocked site. There are some blips with this method, though.
First, if advanced blocking methods are used, like Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), using a proxy may not be sufficient. Next, your traffic won’t be encrypted sufficiently (if at all) for keeping your activity private and anonymous.
Proxy servers are only a good idea if you want to access a blocked torrent site, but they do not hide the torrent files that you are downloading, leaving you exposed to punishment if you download a copyrighted torrent file.
Proxy websites (or mirror sites) are a copy (mirror) of an original torrent site that exists to help reduce traffic on the torrenting server. The reduction in traffic helps improve the torrent download speed and loading time.
These mirror or proxy sites usually slip under the radar of your ISP, so you will be able to gain access even when the parent site is blocked.
Torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay, as well as popular social media sites like Facebook, also use proxy sites and magnet links to help reduce traffic to the parent sites and improve speeds.
5. Use Seedboxes
Seedboxes are not boxes you will find in your garden. They are actually a name for private networks to which you can download torrents and later download these files to your private computer from your seedbox.
Using a seedbox is a good option if you download a large number of torrents, want to have faster speeds when you download torrents, or use any private trackers needing a high share ratio.
The main task of a seedbox is to download and seed torrents. Similar to a VPN, a seedbox can hide your IP addresses and traffic, and help you unblock torrent sites.
6. Use Tor Browser
A TOR browser conceals your IP by sending your online traffic through its network of servers worldwide, making it harder to track your activities online.
This is a great way to download torrents quickly and to access blocked torrent sites, but it is different from a VPN in that it won’t keep your traffic concealed when you download torrent files. During the download process itself, you should use a VPN. It is also important to keep in mind that the TOR browser will slow Internet speeds quite a lot.
In order to unblock torrent sites with TOR Browser, you will have to use the onion domain name instead of the URL.
Here is the onion domain for The Pirate Bay (which is one of the most popular sites with classic movies and great content):
HTTP://piratebayztemzmv.onion/
7. Unblock Torrents by Using Port 80
Some Internet Service Providers (ISP) will block your ports that are used by many torrents apps in order to restrict access to a banned site.
Port 80, the default HTTP data-transferring port, is not ever blocked by network admins, so if you can use port 80, you are set.
To set up a torrent app to use only port 80, go to your app’s network preferences, click to deselect Random Ports, and then choose Port 80 as your chosen port. Deselect the box for NAT-PMP and UPnP and you are set!
How Torrents Sites Get Blocked
There are a handful of ways in which torrents sites may be blocked. Here are some of them:
IP Blocking and Domain Blocks:
Internet Service Providers blacklist blocked sites to keep you from gaining access to them by IP address or DNS server addresses. To get around these restrictions, a VPN is the best tool.
DNS Blocks:
Your Internet Service Provider may hijack DNS requests to their server, but you can get around this DNS blocking if you force your DNS servers on your devices.
Blocking of BitTorrent Protocol:
BitTorrent Protocol blocks will reduce your speeds to almost nothing, and can also significantly lower peer availability. Your ISP may use firewall software or data filtering to do this, and it can only be avoided if you use a VPN with great encryption.
Why You Should Use a VPN if Nothing Else Works
It is possible that you may find all peer-to-peer downloads and uploads entirely blocked instead of just having torrent sites blocked.
If you are having trouble torrenting or finding peers, the best solution is to use a virtual private network. Using a VPN will conceal your torrent traffic and encrypt your browsing and downloads so your ISP won’t even detect that you are torrenting, even if you are accessing pirated content.
FAQs
The best way to unblock uTorrent is to use a VPN. VPN services help you by letting you unblock your torrent sites while keeping you 100% private online.
In terms of your online protection, ExpressPVN offers military-grade encryption, a Kill Switch, and a strict, verified no-logging policy, so your activity won’t come back to bite you later.
Download Torrents: Conclusion
The best method of unblocking any torrent sites and downloading torrents safely is to start using a VPN.
A reputable VPN service will allow you to download torrents from any blocked network while ensuring that your online traffic is secure and anonymous.
While there are free methods of getting past torrenting blocks, we would advise you to steer clear of these methods.
Although ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and Surfshark all work well at getting past torrenting blocks, they do require you to sign up to subscribe for a fee. But, because each one offers you a 30-day money-back guarantee, you are essentially getting access to a free account for an entire month.
*VPNBrains does not condone any illegal activity online.
