RARBG, one of the largest, oldest, and most well-known torrent platforms, has suddenly bid farewell to its millions of users and is shutting down for good.
The site’s popularity was not only attributed to its millions of monthly visitors but also to its role as a major release hub. With its vast selection of movies, TV shows, games, software, and various digital content, it had become a digital playground for users seeking out the web’s most recent offerings.
RARBG — which was banned in several countries — also hosted some of the most downloaded high-quality releases ever.
However, users are likely to still find ways to download torrents and media, as there are many popular torrenting sites still operating.
Health Problems, Russia-Ukraine Conflict, and Economic Factors at Play
The legendary torrent portal founded in 2008 — which was considered a solid alternative to the dominant site, The Pirate Bay — has suddenly vanished, leaving users who visit the portal with a farewell message that says they can no longer run RARBG due to COVID-related health issues, the Ukraine-Russia war where RARBG team members are involved, and “the power price increase in data centers in Europe.”
Here is the original message:
“Hello guys,
We would like to inform you that we have decided to shut down our site.
The past 2 years have been very difficult for us – some of the people in our team died due to covid complications, others still suffer the side effects of it – not being able to work at all. Some are also fighting the war in Europe – ON BOTH SIDES. Also, the power price increase in data centers in Europe hit us pretty hard. Inflation makes our daily expenses impossible to bare. Therefore we can no longer run this site without massive expenses that we can no longer cover out of pocket. After an unanimous vote we’ve decided that we can no longer do it. We are sorry 🙁
Bye.”
The closure of RARBG today stands as a major hit to torrenters, marking the most substantial shutdown since the departure of KickassTorrents, Torrentz, and ExtraTorrent between 2015 and 2016.
Other Torrenting Options Still Out There
As streaming platforms continue to dominate, torrenting often becomes a fallback for individuals seeking content not available via conventional avenues.
Though RARBG has been shuttered, there are still options out there for those interested in torrenting. Though some of its founders received one-year prison sentences, The Pirate Bay is still going strong thanks to mirror sites and alternative domains.
Torrenters have also flocked to 1337x and other RARBG and Pirate Bay alternatives. Users that frequented RARBG for its media hosting might also find their way to alternative free streaming sites.
VPNOverview doesn’t condone the downloading of copyrighted material. However, when downloading legal files, we strongly recommend using one of our picks of the best VPNs for torrenting, which will keep you safe and anonymous online.
