Torrent site RARBG shuts down: end of an era

Everyone still knows Pirate Bay, but there are also millions of people who use another Torrent site for their movies and series: RARBG. However, that will soon change, because RARBG will stop. RARBG, which has a strange name that looks like an abbreviation, but actually stands for RAR (a zip file) and BG (Bulgaria), has to stop partly due to the aftermath of corona.

Farewell letter

The team writes: “The last 2 years have been very difficult for us – some people on our team died from complications from the coronavirus, others are still suffering from its side effects and unable to work at all. Some are also fighting the war in Europe – on both sides.

The rise in electricity prices in data centers in Europe has also hit us hard. Inflation makes our daily expenses impossible. Therefore, we can no longer run this site without huge expenses that we can no longer afford out of pocket. After a [sic] unanimous vote we have decided that we can no longer do it. We are sorry :(”

RARBG

It should be clear that the team does not necessarily support the decision: as in, it is not a moral decision or a decision made because users would stay away. It’s purely a financial and manpower based decision, which makes us think it might not even be the end of RARBG altogether: we wouldn’t be surprised if fans might jump to the rescue and come up with an alternative. But still, for now RARBG is closing its doors and peer-to-peer file sharing via the BitTorrent protocol is no longer possible on that site.

RARGB existed for 9 years: it was founded in 2014 and it regularly came up when it came to the most used torrent sites in the world. It was not possible to upload your own torrents, which may have made it a somewhat labor-intensive website. In addition to films and series, you could also go there for software and music. The website has done well for a long time, although there were sometimes the necessary challenges: for example, in 2019 it was classified as a notorious market and the Bulgarian government was also hot on its heels. However, it has never come to major lawsuits with hefty fines or closure, as we have seen with other torrent sites.

No more torrents

We will probably start to see it more often: websites and platforms closing. The cost of data centers in Europe has increased significantly in an economy where prices are going up one after the other. For many people it is a shame that RARGB has come to an end: it was always known for its high quality releases. At the same time, many people who downloaded a lot in the early years of this century switched to cinema subscriptions and streaming services to get their good quality content. Is also a bit fairer: this way the makers of the films and series are at least paid for their work and you do not have the hassle of searching for the right file. Although that was not a huge problem on the website of these Bulgarians (and other Europeans). Be that as it may, RARBG is now over and done with, though the website will certainly be remembered as one of the biggest, most likable torrent sites for a long time to come.

Laura Jenny

When she’s not tapping, she’s traveling around the wonderful world of entertainment or some cool place in the real world. Mario is the man of her life,…