Check out the 🌐 VPNs section if you'll be torrenting
Torrenting exposes your ip address to others using the torrent, since its a p2p protocol. Intellectual property holders often scan for users send take down requests to their ISPs to deter piracy. This is also technically a risk with other p2p services. a vpn will prevent this. This isn’t really a problem with direct-downloads, though.
🕹️Video Game Piracy is on a different page
🌟🌐 FreeMediaHeckYeah (FMHY)
Huge curated mega list of piracy resources. This should be your first line of fire. Literally everything is in FMHY. Using pages like FMHY is also for the best, for when piracy sites for a particular subject die, so you aren’t left directionless. For the Ctrl+F friends: Movies, TV, anime, cartoons, manga, comics, reading, music, audio books, gaming, streaming, direct download, torrenting, tools, resources (and more and more and more). - backups
Everything else on this page is just showcasing stuff that's not on FMHY or which i feel FMHY doesn't emphasize enough.
🌐 Awesome Piracy
Maintained version of another huge list many used, which was recommended by the author of the original. - Awesome lists in general are very useful to be honest.
🌐 r/Piracy Megathread
Another huge list of piracy etc resources. I prefer FMHY but i’d be remiss not to mention the megathread as an alternative. - Rentry 1, 2
🌟 Internet Archive
Maybe the world’s largest database of archived media. Also home of the Wayback Machine. So much is on here, it’s ridiculous. If you’re in a collection, be sure to view all files on the right panel if you’re looking for a specific file. Some may require you to sign in. A favorite of mine for roms, books, in-browser emulation, and flash games. Has tons of entries on this list.
🌟 YayPonies
Piracy site for basically all official digital media for the My Little Pony franchise (and more). Shows, movies, comic books, bonus features, etc. They also host other shows, including Bluey, Star Vs The Forces of Evil and Wander Over Yonder (as well as Ducktales and Steven Universe, albeit deprecated and incomplete).
🌟🌐 Open SLUM
The “Shadow Library Uptime Monitor” (or SLUM). Links to huge library archive databases. Shadow libraries are essentially book piracy sites. Given SLUM links to each of the sites they check (including mirrors), it acts as sort of a hub for them too, which is useful because some like Anna’s archive likes to rotate their domains often. Speaking of, Anna’s Archive contains all the content inside of Library Genesis, Sci-Hub, and more. If not Internet Archive, Anna’s Archive is the modern digital Library of Alexandria.
🌟 Soulseek
Peer-to-Peer network for (mostly) music piracy. A lot like how Limewire worked (I think? idk I was too young for it). If you’re on Linux I recommend using Nicotine+ to access Soulseek.
Pirate Bay Mirrors
Updated Aug 2023. List of mirror sites pulling from The Pirate Bay’s database. Visiting the pirate bay directly is sketchy in my opinion, but it’s database can still be valuable. Do note however that in more recent times, their collection has become more and more unmoderated. Tread lightly. I do not recommend the suggested VPNs.