ExtraTorrent explained

ExtraTorrent
Url:extratorrent.cc
Commercial:Yes
Type:p2p
Registration:Optional, free
Language:English
Launch Date:2006
Revenue:Advertisements, donations
Current Status:Closed as of

ExtraTorrent (commonly abbreviated ET) was an online index of digital content of entertainment media and software. Until its shut down it was among the top 5 BitTorrent indexes in the world, where visitors could search, download and contribute magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing among users of the BitTorrent protocol.

History

ExtraTorrent was founded in 2006 by the administrator who acted under the alias "SaM".[1]

In November 2016, the website celebrated its 10-year anniversary. The website briefly changed their logo with a celebratory theme and launched a contest for users to guess the most downloaded movies on the site in exchange for prizes.[2]

Shutdown

On 17 May 2017, ExtraTorrent voluntarily ceased operations out of the blue. The entire website was replaced with a message from the administrator, stating that the website was to shut down permanently (as well as all mirror domains), and wipe all data relating to the website and its content.[3] The website was already down for days due to an emergency maintenance situation, just two days before the website shut down permanently.[4]

At the time of its shutdown, ExtraTorrent's primary domain name was the 291st most viewed website globally, according to statistics from Alexa Internet.[5]

Clones

Shortly after the shutdown of the official ExtraTorrent website, multiple clones and imitations appeared online.[6] Initially, the most popular one of these clones was located at extratorrent.cd. While this was at first speculated to be an official rehosting,[7] it was later discovered to be a re-skinned of The Pirate Bay, serving exact information from their database, under an ExtraTorrent interface.[8] [9] Despite this however, the website still quickly gained a large userbase, reaching two million unique visitors in May 2017.[10] To date, there are no new "official" ExtraTorrent mirrors as the database for the original was wiped during its shutdown in 2017.[11] The site was blocked in Spain in 2019, with the blocking of other similar websites such as Lime Torrents and 1337x.[12]

References

  1. Web site: ExtraTorrent website shuts down. 2017-05-19. The Asian Age. 2019-06-01. 2019-06-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20190601095355/https://www.asianage.com/technology/in-other-news/180517/extratorrent-website-shuts-down.html. live.
  2. Web site: Torrent Icon ExtraTorrent Turns Ten Years old Today. 2016-11-15. TorrentFreak. en. 2019-06-01. 2019-06-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20190601095353/https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-icon-extratorrent-turns-ten-years-old-today-161115/. live.
  3. Web site: ExtraTorrent Shuts Down For Good. 2017-05-17. TorrentFreak. en. 2020-10-29. 2020-10-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20201029234353/https://torrentfreak.com/extratorrent-shuts-down-for-good-170517/. live.
  4. Web site: ExtraTorrent Suffers Extended Downtime (Updated). 2017-05-15. TorrentFreak. en. 2019-06-01. 2019-06-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20190601095353/https://torrentfreak.com/extratorrent-suffers-extended-downtime-170515/. live.
  5. Web site: Extratorrent.cc Traffic, Demographics and Competitors - Alexa. https://web.archive.org/web/20170517103228/http://alexa.com/siteinfo/extratorrent.cc. dead. 2017-05-17. 2017-05-17. 2019-06-01.
  6. Web site: ExtraTorrent is BACK, but you might not want to trust the return of this torrent site. Brown. Aaron. 2017-05-31. Express.co.uk. en. 2019-06-01. 2019-06-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20190601095353/https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/810254/ExtraTorrent-CC-Proxy-Mirror-Back. live.
  7. Web site: A Week After Its Death, Extratorrent Is Back Online (Updated). 2017-05-22. Digital Music News. en-US. 2019-06-01. 2020-09-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20200922161343/https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/05/22/pristine-copy-extratorrent-cc-online/. live.
  8. Web site: 'Resurrected' Extratorrent Site Turns Out to Be a Scam.... 2017-05-25. Digital Music News. en-US. 2019-06-01. 2020-09-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20200922161237/https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/05/25/extratorrent-the-pirate-bay-clone/. live.
  9. Web site: Extratorrent Is Still Dead — Don't Fall For Copycats And The Pirate Bay Mirrors Like Extratorrent.cd. Tiwari. Aditya. 2017-05-24. Fossbytes. en-US. 2019-06-01. 2019-06-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20190601095353/https://fossbytes.com/extratorrent-still-dead-copycat-tpb-mirror/. live.
  10. Web site: Extratorrent Clone Extratorrent.cd Is Approaching 10 Million Visitors. 2017-06-06. Digital Music News. en-US. 2019-06-01. 2020-09-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20200922185127/https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/06/06/extratorrent-cd-millions-visitors/. live.
  11. Web site: No, ExtraTorrent Has Not Been Resurrected. 2017-05-24. TorrentFreak. en. 2019-06-01. 2019-06-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20190601095353/https://torrentfreak.com/no-extratorrent-has-not-been-resurected-170524/. live.
  12. Web site: Court Orders 1337x, LimeTorrents, and More Blocked in Spain. 2019-01-31. TorrentFreak. en. 2019-06-01. 2019-06-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20190601095353/https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-1337x-limetorrents-and-more-blocked-in-spain-190131/. live.