Why is The Pirate Bay blocked and how do you still get access?The blocking of the world’s most famous torrent site follows legal proceedings in various countries. Despite the blockade, it remains easy to gain access to The Pirate Bay. This is often done by means of VPNs.
- VPN: using a VPN you can virtually change your location to a country where The Pirate Bay is permitted (e.g. Switzerland). This way you can visit The Pirate Bay using your regular browser.
It is recommended to use a VPN if you want to use The Pirate Bay. Not only is a VPN used to gain access to the real Pirate Bay, it also ensures that you can download more securely and anonymously. A good VPN with special torrent servers is CyberGhost.
Below you can read more about how people bypass the blockade on The Pirate Bay and read some more background about The Pirate Bay and The Pirate Bay blockades.
For about 15 years, The Pirate Bay has been the best known downloading website around. On the website people look for torrents to download. Because not all of the content available on The Pirate Bay is legal, the website has been the focus of many lawsuits. Staying online has become a matter of principle for the Pirate Bay community. Sometimes accessing the website can be difficult. You can read all about bypassing the Pirate Bay restrictions in this article. We also address some other options and alternatives to using The Pirate Bay.
Please note: even though we are in favor of a free internet and anonymous browsing, and therefore do not always agree with internet service providers (ISP) blocking websites, we do not condone the downloading of copyrighted content.
Using a VPN to access The Pirate Bay
One of the best and most popular ways to continue using The Pirate Bay is by using a VPN. Using a VPN has two advantages; first, you can access the official Pirate Bay website, even if your ISP blocks it. The second advantage is that you can download safely and anonymously with a VPN. This is important if you’re using the original Pirate Bay website, but also if you use a Pirate Bay proxy (a kind of copy of The Pirate Bay).
Two reliable VPN providers that are suitable to access The Pirate Bay are for example CyberGhost and ExpressVPN.
CyberGhost
What makes CyberGhost good for The Pirate Bay is the number of servers worldwide and the option to use a special torrent server. Because of the amount of servers you always have access to a server in a country where The Pirate Bay is not blocked. The special torrent servers are useful if you are going to use a torrent client such as BitTorrent to ensure a fast and anonymous connection. Our experience with CyberGhost is positive and we therefore recommend this VPN provider for downloading via The Pirate Bay. Should you have any doubts, you are welcome to try it out, as you have a 45-day money-back-guarantee on all CyberGhost packages.
- Very user-friendly
- High quality for a low price
- Torrents and Netflix possible
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is also very suitable for downloading torrents. This provider is known for its solid security options, good customer service and stable connections. After getting a VPN-subscription with ExpressVPN you can download the software directly and use the VPN in a matter of minutes. ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back-guarantee on all packages. A very suitable option for people who want to download carefree via The Pirate Bay. You can also look at our full ExpressVPN review. The only downside of ExpressVPN is the price; they are a bit more expensive than many other providers, but they’re still very good.
- Very easy to use VPN
- Perfect for anonymous browsing, downloading, and streaming (i.e. Netflix)
- 3000+ servers in 94 countries
How exactly does that work, Pirate Bay with VPN?
By using a VPN, you create a secure and anonymous tunnel on the internet for all your data traffic. Once you have a subscription with a VPN provider, you can connect to the various servers of this VPN provider by means of an easy application. You will be assigned a new IP address. An IP address can be used to find out which country you are in. With an IP address from another country you can still access sites that are otherwise not accessible in your own country. All data traffic between your computer and the VPN server is encrypted and anonymized. This is more or less how visiting The Pirate Bay works, without using a VPN, from a country where TPB is blocked:
- If you visit The Pirate Bay from your own country, your internet service provider can see that you are visiting The Pirate Bay.
- Because the internet service provider has been instructed not to make TPB accessible to you, you will receive a message that the site cannot be reached.
Things are different with a VPN:
- If you have a VPN subscription you can download the VPN software.
- After downloading and installing the software you can turn on the VPN. Choose a server from a country where The Pirate Bay is allowed (e.g. Switzerland).
- Now you can visit the official site of The Pirate Bay and you will see that you won’t be denied access.
Normally your internet service provider will see all your data traffic passing by and can see exactly what you are doing online. However, due to the encryption of the VPN connection, the ISP now only sees meaningless, encrypted data passing by. This means, for example, that it is no longer possible to check which sites you visit, or what you download. Also, your own internet service provider can no longer block access to The Pirate Bay in this way. Because of the encryption of the VPN, Internet providers cannot even see that you are visiting The Pirate Bay or other torrent websites.
A VPN will also offer you security online. The VPN makes sure all your internet traffic is encrypted and travels through the secure VPN tunnels. Third parties will not be able to tell what you do online. Even if they hack into your data stream, they will only see gibberish. Nobody will be able to tell that you visited The Pirate Bay, or what you did or downloaded whilst there.
Which countries block the Pirate Bay?
If you find yourself reading this website, you probably don’t have access to The Pirate Bay. However, most of the world’s countries allow access to The Pirate Bay. The countries with one or more internet service providers that block The Pirate Bay are as follows:
| Country |
|---|
| Argentina |
| Australia |
| Austria |
| Belgium |
| China |
| Denmark |
| Finland |
| France |
| Germany |
| Greece |
| India |
| Indonesia |
| Ireland |
| Iran |
| Italy |
| Malaysia |
| Netherlands |
| Norway |
| Portugal |
| Qatar |
| Romania |
| Russia |
| Saudi Arabia |
| Singapore |
| Spain |
| Sweden |
| Turkey |
| United Arab Emirates |
| United Kingdom |
Alternatives to a VPN: proxy servers, the Tor-browser or Pirate Bay Mirrors.
These days it is not a good idea to visit a torrent site without a VPN. You are not protected or anonymous if you visit a torrent site without a VPN. Nevertheless, we would like to keep you informed about other ways to access The Pirate Bay without necessarily having to use a VPN such as Proxy Servers, Pirate Bay Proxies and the Tor-browser
Access to The Pirate Bay with a Proxy Server
A popular way to gain access to The Pirate Bay is by using a proxy server instead of a VPN. With a proxy server all your internet traffic is rerouted so you can bypass restrictions on websites like The Pirate Bay. Although this is a perfect method for accessing restricted websites, it is neither secure nor anonymous. If you are merely looking to reroute your internet traffic a proxy server is perfect for you. However, if you also want to protect your data and your anonymity we would recommend the use of a VPN.
Using Pirate Proxy of Mirrors
The use of a Pirate Mirror is also very popular. Besides alternative torrent sites, there are a lot of people who use such mirrors (also called pirate proxies). A pirate proxy is a copy of The Pirate Bay that uses the same database as the original site itself. Because of this, pirate proxies have the same torrents as The Pirate Bay. Some pirate proxies are actually web proxies that lead directly to the real pirate bay.
Because these sites are the same as The Pirate Bay and therefore have the same content up for grabs, we are not in favor of these mirrors. If The Pirate Bay is not allowed, then exact copies are not allowed either. If you want to use a mirror anyway, make sure you only download files that are not copyrighted.
Note: if you download a torrent via a pirate proxy without using a VPN, they can still see what you are downloading!
Access to The Pirate Bay with the Tor Browser
Some people will use the Tor browser to download torrents. It is in fact possible to access The Pirate Bay website with the Tor browser. However, as soon as you start to download, using the peer-to-peer protocol of torrent clients, your anonymity is in danger. Moreover, the Tor network gets overloaded when a lot of people are downloading torrents, which can cause the connection to slow down severely. All in all, it does not offer the same, all-round service that a VPN does.
However, if you choose to visit The Pirate Bay using the Tor browser, you should visit the dark web version of the site right away. The onion URL is: http://uj3wazyk5uhnvt.onion
Alternatives to The Pirate Bay: Usenet and other torrent sites
Besides The Pirate Bay there are other ways to download torrents. For example through Usenet or other torrent sites like YTS.
Usenet: An Alternative for Torrents and The Pirate Bay
You can view Usenet as a solid alternative to The Pirate Bay. For a small monthly fee you can get access to so-called “newsgroups”. Within every newsgroup you have access to a large offer of movies and series that you can download without a problem. If you are used to The Pirate Bay it might seem a bit different in the beginning but it is easy to get used to.
Alternative Torrents Sites to replace The Pirate Bay
As you may know, The Pirate Bay is not the only websites that offers torrents to download. The Pirate Bay is one of the biggest websites with the largest offer of seeds. However, in theory you only need one good seed to download a file. Alternative torrent sites are RarBG, YTS, Torrentz, Solidtorrents, EZTV, Demonoid, 1337x and iDope.
The use of a VPN would still be recommended because you might not want anyone to know you use these websites to download.
Just as with The Pirate Bay, there is quite a bit of illegal material circulating on these torrent sites, i.e. films, music and series that are subject to copyright. And just like with The Pirate Bay, you have to be aware of this. All these torrent sites advise their users on the homepage to use a VPN to download anonymously, like ExpressVPN. Of course, the focus should be on downloading legal files.
How Does Downloading from The Pirate Bay Work With a VPN?
As mentioned before, downloading from The Pirate Bay works through a peer-to-peer network. This means that users share their downloaded files with other users. Together they create a large library of files. We must note that some files might be illegal because they are copyrighted and cannot be spread by just anyone for free. Because a large amount of the files on websites like The Pirate Bay are illegal, copyright organizations want to do away with them. However, not all downloading is illegal. There is a lot of good legal material you can download. It is best to try and find out if a file is copyrighted before you download it.
If you’re going to download something from the Pirate Bay while using a VPN, you have to be aware that downloading a torrent file and downloading the files contained in that torrent-file, using a torrent client like BitTorrent, are two different things. If you download something from the Pirate Bay, you can usually just use any VPN-server that grants you access to TPB. If you want to download the actual files within that torrent, using a torrent client, you need to be able to have certain ports open. Thankfully, providers such as CyberGhost have both servers that give you access to the Pirate Bay website as well as special torrent-servers you can use for the torrenting itself.
Are you looking for some quick answers to questions about The Pirate Bay? Below we answer some of the most frequently asked questions.
In some countries The Pirate Bay is blocked by internet providers. They do this because some of the material on the website is in violation of local copyright laws. This way they want to prevent people from downloading illegal material.
If The Pirate Bay is blocked in your country, there is a way around this. You can use a VPN to connect to a server in a country that doesn’t block The Pirate Bay. This way your own IP address will not be visible but you will take on the IP address of the VPN server. Now it will seem like you are in a different country and you can access The Pirate Bay without a problem.
With a VPN you can hide your own IP address and make it seem like you are accessing the internet from a different country. This way you can visit websites that are blocked in your own country, like The Pirate Bay. Most good VPNs make sure it’s super easy to get complete internet freedom. Moreover, VPNs protect your privacy and secure your data. To visit The Pirate Bay, we recommend VPNs like ExpressVPN and CyberGhost.
The Pirate Bay may be the best known torrentsite but it certainly isn’t the only one. If The Pirate Bay is blocked in your country you can also try websites like RarBG, YTS, Torrentz, Solidtorrents, EZTV, Demonoid, 1337x and iDope.
Usenet is another option if you are looking for torrents.
In some countries The Pirate Bay is blocked by internet service providers. With a VPN you can unblock The Pirate Bay in these countries. A VPN also makes sure you can enjoy the web with more anonymity and security.
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