27 Websites to Watch Free Movies Online Without Downloading 2021

Today, I am providing a complete list of the best free movie sites for 2020 that will allow you to watch free movies online without downloading.

In fact, I listed 30 websites with a detailed description so that you can choose easily best website for you.

Even these movie streaming sites don’t require registration also.

Let’s dive in.

Disclaimer – Proceed only after reading and agreeing 100% to our

Disclaimer.

30 Websites to Watch Free Movies Online Without Downloading

We all watch movies, but not all of us like paying for it (no crime, me included). Hence we combined a list of some of the best websites on the internet which let you watch and stream free movies online, without having to pay a dime.

There may be ads and a messy interface with some, but they all get the job done.

1.

Amazon Prime

Website:

https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Instant-Video/

If you are a true movie buff and quality and quantity of the movies available is a non-compromising aspect for you, then

Amazon Prime

is the best place to get started.

You get a bunch of

high quality movie collection

available for streaming anytime post the trial period at a very nominal price. That’s not all, you’ll also get some additional perks and benefits from Amazon’s shopping and Kindle services depending on your location.

You get a free 30 day trial of the service before you actually pay anything. The quality and quantity of available movies here is unbeatable and thereby it is on top of our list. It is definitely the number one website to watch free movies online without downloading.

2. Netflix

Website:

https://www.netflix.com

Netflix doesn’t really need an introduction, does it? It’s the most popular streaming platform out there although some may prefer other options.

The interface is what sets the bar high in the first place, the content is displayed in various categories and the platform is smart enough to suggest movies and series based on your watching history.

Hovering over each content brings up its synopsis and other such details about it also there absolutely are no ads displayed.

The watching quality depends on the plan you have purchased, the lowest plan costs INR 500/month and only allows the lowest quality, then there’s the Standard plan for INR 650/month which allows for 720P streams while the Premium plan costs INR 800Rs/month and allows 1080p videos.

The one aspect you’d absolutely love about Netflix is, most content on the platform is Subtitled. Hence even if English isn’t your fist language or if there’s some accent difference you won’t lose any entertainment trying to grasp what’s being said.

Netflix is officially also available on Smart TVs so you can stream movies without having to download them even when you don’t have a computer with you. It allows users to stream on a maximum of 4 devices simultaneously although it’s only for the most expensive plans, the cheaper plans have limits of 1 and 3 screens.

3. Soap2Day

Website:

https://soap2day.com/

I must say, it’s one of the most professional sites to watch movies without downloading on this list, just like Amazon Prime or Netflix it too doesn’t display any ads, none at all which is a rarity for a site such as this.

The site however is a registrations-only platform, meaning you can stream movies only after you’ve registered which however is entirely free and non-privacy intruding.

The top-bar has some simple options such as “

Movies”, “TV Series”, “Upcoming Episodes

” etc. What each of these links do is probably clear and needs no further explanation, does it?

There’s a right-sidebar with two categories, “

Popular Movies

” and “

Recommended Movies

“, followed by another section for TV Series categorized into “

New Releases

” and “Popular”.

The site is updated almost everyday, and each day’s updates are shown on the homepage simply click on the weekday’s name and it’ll slide down to reveal all the new content updated on that day.

The movie thumbnails aren’t very informative but they do display the image, the movie name as well as the release-year of the movie, clicking on these thumbnails takes users to the streaming page which is where you get the Synopsis, Director’s name, Genre and other such details about it.

The movie starts playing automatically without any ads being displayed. the player is armed with “

10-second skip

” options, volume-control as well as a button to “favorite” the movies. Best part? You can resume watching the movie/show from the same point where you left even at a later time.

4. Vumoo

Website:

http://vumoo.to/

Most of movie sites offer a lot of advertisement, pop-up, and many other type ads. But Vumoo is safe because this site doesn’t offer lot of advertisement.

Here you can watch free movies online without downloading and Signup, without ads and without any fee.

Vumoo has good amount of movies database, which is well categorized and searches friendly, and you can watch here latest TV series and

TV shows

without

Netflix

and Hulu premium subscription.

If you have any movies or TV shows name which you want to watch today, then you can put that name into Vumoo search box and get your required result front of you.

Vumoo movie database updates every day by latest movies or shows. For watch movies online then you need to visit here and enjoy latest shows and new release

movies into HD Format

.

5. FMovies

Website:

http://www3.fmovies.ag/

FMovies is another one of the best website which I like for watch online movies. This is my favorite movie site because this is the only one website which has movies hailing from different countries on the planet. The menu too is well-categorized.

With the help of these menu options, you can directly filter any movie according to a movie’s category, its release year, Country, TV Series, Most watched etc. The choice is yours, how you wish to filter the movies you need.

The website isn’t very ad-supportive either. You can simply select any movie, press the “play” button which is shown between the

video player

. Holla! Your selected movie will be played on your computer screen without any registration and advertisement.

Below the player, you can get the information about the selected movies or

TV shows

. And you can play movies by specific video server links as well. I’ve seen available server links such as Server F1, OpenLoad, Server F2, etc.

These server links may change according to the movies you’ve selected. According to me, FMovies websites is the best website for watch free movies online without downloading.

6. LookMovie

Website

:

https://lookmovie.ag/

There aren’t a lot of “Professional” sites to watch free movies online without downloading. Most either are scams, ad-hubs, or just provide lower quality content. LookMovie seems to stand against all that.

Lookmovie features an appealing and easily understood interface. A top-bar which offers options like

“Movies”, “TV Shows”, “Latest”, “Categories”, “Genres” etc.

Then a slider occupies a large area on the site, it displays a list of available movies to stream. And I must say, the freshness of the movies is what’s stunning. Movies as new as less than 2 months old were available. And not just “available”, but available in the highest possible quality i.e. 1080p. Although the video player also offered a quality-control feature for those on limited bandwidth.

The filters and the search-functionality were impressive (again)! A user can select the Genre, release-year, and even the Rating while searching for movies. All movie-thumbnails display their rating out of 10, along with the maximum quality the movie can be streamed at.

The quantity isn’t disappointing, the site has a total of 427 pages, with nearly 8-10 movies/page that’s a lot of high quality movies for free. Movies from all languages and regions were available, including H

ollywood, Bollywood, Japanese, Korean

and everything else.

No registration/Signup required or app download required.

7. TubiTv

Website:

https://tubitv.com

TubiTV is one of the most professional, least-B.S sites to stream free movies, and one with arguably the simplest interface ever as well.

Why all the praise-songs? For starters, it’s an absolutely zero-ad site; meaning there are no hidden on-click ads, no play-button ads, just no ads in general. That I’d say is extremely rare for free movie streaming sites in the industry.

As for the interface, again unlike most other contemporaries, it doesn’t need you to click on tens of links and buttons before finally playing you the video, rather it’s a one-click process, simply choose the movie you’re like to play and click “Play” as simple as that.

Also features a neatly designed search bar on top, which doesn’t take up a lot of space yet is distinctly visible and well-placed, this is where you can manually enter keywords for the movies you’re searching for.

The entire screen-space is devoted to categories such as Most Popular, Comedy, Action, Family movies, Horror, Documentary etc. which come in handy when you’re not hunting for anything specific but just something in general which suits your tastes.

Does have Registration options, although that’s not mandatory and completely optional. Also no payment (or payment information such as Credit Cards) are requested either.

8. Watch-free.me

Website:

https://1watchfree.me/

Watch-free.me is a

popular movie streaming website

that lets you stream your favorite movies online for free. Not only the movies, but you can find TV series as well.

The search bar on the top lets you search for your favorite movies on the site. The movies from numerous genres are available along with the TV series. You can stream each and every movie online in HD, that too free of cost.

The details about each and every movie are provided to you along with IMDB ratings. This website doesn’t actually stores the movies on its servers but fetches them for you through Public API of sites like TheMovieDB or IMDB. You can definitely find the best collection of movies here.

9. Movie4K.to

Website:

http://movie4k.to/

The website is a good source to watch movies online, that provide huge collections of movies that are available to stream online through various servers and uploaders.

They also provide the download links and information about the quality of the movie that you are looking for. There are no subscription charges involved and you can easily go and watch free movies online without downloading simply by visiting this free movie site.

You can enjoy free

streaming of high quality movies online here

for free. The servers’ streaming speeds and quality vary according to the quality and your Internet services. You can find large collection of movies from all genres here and watch free movies online without downloading. The movie streaming site also provides

online streaming of TV shows

.

10. Los Movies

Website:

http://losmovies.pro/

It is one of best movie streaming websites for those who are looking out for all kinds of movies. This movie site provides a wide range of options apart from the mainstream movies. They also offer movies from small production houses and documentaries.

You can enjoy

3D movies

as well. The free online movie site also provides the subtitles. You can watch free movies online without downloading or signing up here.

The quality of the movies available here can be chosen depending upon the streaming server you opt for while watching the movies.

The library is up to date and you can find all the latest movies soon after their releases. Los Movies is a great choice for you if you love to watch free movies online without downloading anything.

11. Movies 25

Website:

http://5movies.fm/

The site offers a one stop lookout for all genres and kinds of movies. The site has very simple and easy search option to look it also offers movies in various other languages. There is a very big collection of documentaries and art movies.

The site provides links to various streaming servers and thereby you can look for the fastest and high-quality server for watching movies. Apart from watching free movies online without downloading you can also watch the famous TV Series with stream options for all the popular shows available here.

The video quality for the newer movies is not very impressive sometimes but overall the quality is very nice.

12. Movie Night

Website:

http://movienight.ws/

The site is a winner when it comes to allowing access to watch free movies online without downloading. They do have HD quality movies that have been just newly released.

The site allows you to watch movies online for free without downloading them in exceptionally high quality. The streaming server of this website is also very efficient and you can enjoy movies without buffering wait.

The only drawback is that the site is a fresh one and thereby classic titles are hard to find. The site has a very user-friendly navigation allowing them to choose what they want to watch. The site is totally free and involves no signup hassles as well. It is great for

watching high-quality movies

on your television as well.

13. Film Club

Website:

https://filmclub.tv/

The Film Club is another popular site for watching free movies online without downloading. The overall design of this site is very user-friendly and makes it easier for you to choose movies.

FilmClub offers a large collection of movies and is very neatly presented. The movies have complete descriptions along with the ratings and popularity indications. The site is very neatly designed to provide ease of access to its users.

FilmClub also has documentaries and foreign language films as well. You can choose the kind of genres you want to watch as well. The latest and popular movies are available very easily and so you no more have to miss the latest movies. You can go on to this site and watch free movies online without downloading.

14. Tube Plus

Website:

https://www.tubeplus.co/

The selection of movies on this site is not impressive but the quality is very nice and it only provides high quality movies. Those who are fans of the classic titles would love this site, as there is a high collection of old classic movies.

The movies can be downloaded in parts and can also be enjoyed for free online. The navigation and search feature on this site are very nice and provide you with high quality movies. Apart from the movies you can also find the latest TV shows here and watch them online for free as well.

The site is totally free of cost and there is no signing up hassle. The site also provides you the charts based on votes where you can look for the most popular movies. It is definitely a must try for those who like to watch free movies online without downloading.

15. Video 2K

Website:

http://www.video2k.is/

The site is very nicely built as there are no annoying pop ups and ads that don’t let you enjoy the free online movie stream. The site is very regular in uploads of the new and latest movies.

The quality of old and classic movies is available in HD quality as well. The site provides links to multiple stream servers making it easy for you to choose the best quality print. The site offers large number movies that are in other languages as well. You can watch several documentaries and animated series as well if you are interested in such movies.

If you are a fan of television series as well, then you can watch the free television shows here as well for free. The episodes of these television series are also available in a very well sorted manner. Do try out this site if you wish to watch free movies online without downloading.

16. Top Documentary Films

Website:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com

Here is a site for those who are not fan of just Hollywood commercial flicks but also appreciate documentaries. This site offers a huge selection of documentary movies based on a vast number of subjects and topics and genres. The site has been very well designed and provides a well-sorted list of the documentaries.

The movies provided here have a very well descriptive text in their description and the audio and video quality of these movies is brilliant. You can browse through the various documentaries featured here and also search for the titles you are looking for.

The site is completely free and so you can watch free movies online without downloading here.

17. Viewster

Website:

https://www.viewster.com/

Viewster is a site that doesn’t compromises with the quality of movies they stream. They provide high quality movies only with minimalistic user-friendly interface.

The site is short when it comes to the titles available. Unlike other sites Viewster has focused on quality and not quantity thereby you may not find all the titles easily here. Although those you will find will be of absolutely high quality and can be enjoyed on high-resolution screens and TV’s as well. You need to have an account on this site to start watching the movies and television series.

The site also provides a large number of

animated and cartoon series

for kids to enjoy. The site consists of separate pages for foreign language movies and documentaries as well. Don’t forget to catch this site to watch free movies online without downloading. The collection here is humongous.

18. HULU

Website:

http://www.hulu.com

The site is currently available in very few countries that include USA, UK, Canada and India. The site offers a free signup but you’ll have limited access to some high quality content without subscription to watch movies online.

You can get access to hundreds of high quality movies online at a very nominal fee if you want to enjoy your movies faster and without annoying ads and pop ups.

The site has a very fine selection of old classics and a regularly updated list of new movies and TV series. The content of this site is very well maintained and the friendly user interface makes it easier for you to look for your favorite movies and shows.

19. PopCornFlix

Website:

http://www.popcornflix.com

PopcornFlix is gaining popularity because of its

full-length HD quality movies

and TV shows streaming. The site not only let’s you watch free movies online without downloading but also watch all the popular television series in streams as well that too for free.

All movies and TV Show videos are available in high quality.

If you have a fast Internet connection then this is a perfect site for you to replace your television. The high quality of video content on this site is absolutely mind blowing.

The site also offers their application across various platforms and portable devices, so that you can enjoy free movies online without downloading no matter where you are and what kind of device you are using.

20. Snag Films

Website:

http://www.snagfilms.com

It is another interesting free movie site that makes it very clear with its name that you can watch free full length movies online without downloading.

The movie site has been very well designed, providing user a very easy access to popular content. The quality of the movies available here is very decent and it is regularly updated as well.

You can find the latest movies here soon after they release. The site also has a huge collection of classic movie titles. The site has been divided into four major sections for easy access to the user taking access to the content.

The popular television series and currently running shows are also available here for you to watch online for free without downloading the heavy video files. So now you don’t need to wait anymore for getting the DVD of your favorite movie as you can watch free movies online without downloading or signing up here.

21. Classic Cinema Online

Website:

http://www.classiccinemaonline.com

Classic Cinema Online is a real gem when it comes to the old classic movie titles. And by old we mean the great black and white movies from legends such as Alfred Hitchcock etc.

This movie site offers a vast collection of the golden era of cinema, when watching movies was actually a luxury. The movies listed here are very well stacked according to the timeline and thereby making it very easy for you to find your favorite classic titles.

The quality of the movies available here is brilliant. All the content available on this movie streaming site has been modified for easy online watching. The quality of content available makes it one of best free movie streaming sites for those who would like to watch old free movies online without downloading and relive the glory moments of Hollywood.

22. MyDownloadTube

Website:

http://www.mydownloadtube.com/

When it comes to watching and downloading movies online, Mydownloadtube deserves a quick mention for several reasons. The first and foremost reason is the quality of the movies offered on this websites. Mydownloadtube offers movies to be watched and downloaded in HD quality that too for free.

The movies on Mydownloadtube are well categorized and divided into different genres i.e drama,

romantic

, Action, thriller and countless other categories are there to choose from. You can go to

Genres

tab located on the top and search for your favorite movies with ease. Moreover, Mydownloadtube also offers trailers of the movies.

If you are not sure if the movie is worth watching, you can watch its trailer and then decide if you should go for that movie.

Besides that, another feature of Mydownloadtube which makes it one of the best movies website to watch and download movies online is the user ratings and the short description provided about the movies.

Whenever you opt for any movies to watch online, you can always check for the details about movies like its star cast, genre, user ratings and other details which help you decide if the movie is worth giving a watch or not. Overall, it’s a great movie website for movie lovers which offers high-quality latest released movies just for free!

It is a very quick and convenient way to watch latest releases movies online without downloading or signing up and we hope that you will enjoy the movies from these

free movie streaming sites

. So, watch free movies online without downloading new releases now.

23. 123 Movies

Website:

https://is123movies.site/

It however isn’t completely ad-free, and does feature hidden on-click ads (

which auto-launch when you click anywhere on the screen and may frustrate you at times

), popup ads, as well as image/banner ads on the platform.

The homepage has a slider showcasing some of the latest additions to the platform, followed by a section for latest movies and Latest TV series.

There’s a top-bar which helps users find what they’re looking for by offering options such as

Movies, TV Series, Featured, Genres

, or Top IMDB.

It also has a “request” option which can be employed when you need to request a specific movie or series to be uploaded to the platform database. Or you can simply use the search bar provided on the extreme right of the top bar to directly key-in your keywords.

Hovering over movie/series brings up their quality (

not everything is HD but most of the content is

), synopsis, and other information such as the name of the director, the cast, genre, run-time etc. Does provide for multiple servers on specific content.

24. Rainier Land

Website:

https://rainierland.is/

The platform has a basic, no-fuss layout and interface. It has a simple search-bar to begin with in case you’d want to search for content using keywords.

Or you can use one of the links provided on the top-bar, which include “

Movies”, “TV Shows”, or “TV Episodes

“. Hovering over each of these shows more options for the same, such as “

Movies

” would get you “

New releases

“, “

Best Rated

“, “

Most viewed

” etc; the same holds true for TV shows and Episodes as well.

The site isn’t ad-free, it displays banners and textual ads, and the hidden-ads. It also requires you to hop over 3 pages to reach the streaming page.

First you find the movie you wish to watch, then it’d take you to an information page about the movie, then there’s a Captcha page (only for non-VIP members) and only then users get to the actual stream!

All the qualities, from

1080P HD to WEBRip and DVDRip are available

. The content database is fresh as well and comprises of the most recent releases. The number of alternate servers available for streaming too is impressive. No registration required.

25. PutLocker

Website:

https://putlockerhd.cc/

The site emulates the original Putlocker’s interface, with a top-bar which offers options such as

Home, Genre, Movies, TV-Series, Top IMDb, News

.

The “Genre” link shows a number of different Genres you can select for your content, or you can click on TV Series, Top IMDb and other options to reach content related to them.

It also has a slider on which one single movie is displayed, how or why that specific movie is selected for the feature is unknown.

Anyway you can either use the Alphabetic scale on top of the page to find movies which have initials as the alphabet, or click on “

Most viewed

“, “

Most favorite

“, “

Top rated

” etc. links to find content.

I did notice that the movie database isn’t extremely fresh, yet is acceptable. There are ads, a lot of them. A number of mirrors are available for streaming. No registration required. Although there does appear an optional banner for registration which is supposed to grant us some special privilege.

26.

Moviesjoy

Website

:

https://www.moviesjoy.net/

Moviesjoy is one of the best sites to stream movies online without download and login. The large collection of movies and TV shows of any genre available on the site is truly impressive.

Site layout is well designed, keeping the suggested movies along with most popular and the latest additions on homepage. The menu tab is hidden on top leaving enough space to show Movies and TV series titles in homepage so that visitors can directly watch the latest contents without expanding each category.

For manual search use the menu tab, it contains different options such as “

Search by Genre

“, country that the movies are produced from or by IMDb ratings which is great. Along with these there are other options like most popular, liked, latest and TV series search which are also available in the home menu.

The video player has all essential features including video quality controller, frame-rate/video speed controller, rewind options and screen resize options which resemble the features that YouTube showcases.

The only downside is that no subtitles are available yet. It also allows the viewer to comment, share the link on social media. Each movie and TV show also contains information about the story plot, duration, cast etc. which is enough information to make a decision.

26. Solar Movies

Website:

https://www1.solarmovie.one/

The movies are well organized according to the year of release and you can also search for the title you are interested in.

You can watch free movies online without downloading here after you have registered for a free account. To watch movies online without downloading in high resolution you need to spend a few bucks and upgrade your account.

27. FilmLinks4U

Website:

http://www.filmlinks4u.to/

This is one of famous online free movie websites which brings to you variety of movies in different languages like

Hindi

,

English

, Punjabi, Gujarati,

Telugu

etc. The home page of this movie streaming site displays collection of latest

Hindi

,

Hollywood

,

Telugu movies

.

This movie site also has a section of upcoming movies, wherein you can visit and get a list of movies that are about to release. Here, you can watch movie trailers, watch free movies online without downloading or even download them to watch it later.

28. Cool Movie Zone

Website:

https://coolmoviezone.co/

If you are not bothered about the print and are interested to watch new releases fresh then this is the site for you. You can find the latest titles here as fast as it can get. The site allows you to choose from a large number of movies. You can watch all your favorite movies online free without downloading here.

The site provides not only Hollywood titles but also provides Bollywood movies online for free. There are movies in other languages as well and that is why it is a great site for those who are not much concerned about the

video

quality.

You can also download the movies in any format you like so as to

enjoy the movies on tablets or mobile phone

. The site is very popular as you don’t have to go through watching all the servers and select the best quality stream.

It will automatically start playing the most popular stream when you open the description page for any of the films listed on the website.

29. MX Player

Website:

https://www.mxplayer.in/

MX Player is another perfectly legal website to watch movies online for free.

All its content is licensed.

Hence, only the best of qualities are made available, no manual copies or hall-recorded pixels.

It’s free, of course.

Despite most of the content being Indian and in Hindi, it does offer content from Hollywood and other movie industries as well.

The foreign content is almost always dubbed in Hindi.

Details about the movie such as director, year, genre. language and also a synopsis is detailed on the movie-page. Helps know exactly what you’re watching.

The video-player offers absolute control over the video quality.

You can watch movies online for free at a low 360P, or 1080P. All the common resolutions in-between are available as well.

As far as content-age goes, it doesn’t host very recent content, however, I did find movies from last year.

No signups, registrations or payments required.

Just in case you’re interested, it can also be used to watch Web series, sports, live TV news and other content.

Additionally, also lets us

watch movies in Telugu

, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi and many other regional language.

30. Free Movies Cinema

Website:

https://www.freemoviescinema.com/

Despite being so low on this list, you’ll love this site.

Zero-ads. In two clicks from here, you can be

streaming a free movie online

.

Requires absolutely no downloads or regisrations.

Isn’t very rich as far as “numbers” go. The movie database is pretty limited.

The quality too isn’t very impressive.

However, you click on a movie, and it instantly starts playing. No extra redirects.

The top-bar offers the choice of a number of movie genres, they may be “Action”, “Adventure”, “Drama”, “Horror”, “Musical” etc.

Also features” short movies”, “series”, “and even has short films curated into a playlist.

Additionally, has a “search-bar” and a list of “popular movies” you can select from.

The video-player is pretty basic.

For some reason displays the “Youtube” watermark on the player but isn’t actually the

Youtube player

.

No quality-control offered.

The speed of the videos can be controlled.

31. AZ Movies

Website:

https://azm.to/

If you need the most recent, freshest free movies online, AZ Movies is where you find them.

The homepage displays all the available movies, or, you can pick one using the “Genre” filter on top.

Every imaginable genre is available, be it Mystery,

War

, Biographies,

Sci-Fic

and a dozen more.

You can also find movies based on their release-year.

Furthermore, a search-bar exists as well which can be used to find movies if you know exactly what you’re looking for.

Ads do exist and may be frustrating at times.

But hey, it’s getting us free movies without any registration so let’s just accept the ads?

It’s not limited to movies or content from traditional production houses.

Rather, a number of series from digital products such as

Amazon Prime Video

and Netflix are available as well.

Almost all the content is ultra-HD.

The video-player is pretty basic, no quality-control offered. A Subtitle feature is available, but doesn’t work.

In a nutshell? It does let you

watch HD movies and shows for free online

, period.

32. Gomovies

Website:

https://gomovies-online.me/

It totally lets you watch free movies online without asking you to signup or register.

My only problem? It’s overloaded with ads. If you can bear closing a new tab every few seconds, this is for you.

Finding the right movies takes seconds on Gomovies. There are filters on the top such as genres, release year, last added, TV series etc.

Or, you can just use the search-bar to search for a movie using keywords directly. It’s pretty-advanced and unique. While typing, it auto-suggests movies matching the keywords and also shows their thumbnails.

The video page will display basic information including the quality of the video, date, a short synopsis, cast etc.

As far as the quality goes, it’s all HD on the platform. However, that’s only available to the premium/paid members. The free users have to settle for a lower quality.

Users can comment and leave ratings which makes it easier to decide which movies/series are binge-worthy. The available content is pretty fresh, as in, movies and series released less than a couple weeks back are mostly available.

Is streaming movies illegal?

No, it’s not.

Especially, if you use one of the paid services such as

Amazon Prime

or Netflix. In these cases, streaming movies is 100% legal.

Copyright primarily attaches itself to “public performances”.

When you’re streaming a movie, it’s generally in private. Maybe a group of friends huddle together. But, that’s still not public performance.

But, isn’t it piracy?

Well, not exactly.

It’s illegal to download these movies and videos for permanent use.

It’s also illegal to host/allow streaming without proper licensing.

Meaning, if and when a legal case does take shape, the websites and hosts which allow/distribute unlicensed content will be in trouble.

But, as far as private/personal streamers are concerned, it’s legal.

Furthermore, you as a streamer need not necessarily have knowledge of the website’s legality. Maybe they do have the license, maybe they don’t?

It’s not your responsibility to ascertain the legality of these websites which allow watching free movies online.

If you have the patience, you can go through the

U.S copyright act of 1976

for further details.

The laws do vary slightly depending on your country. But, largely, simply streaming movies online, irrespective of its license is legal.

Secure yourself against govt. agencies/ online trollers and blackmailers

It may be a surprise to some of you, but, blackmails over illegal use of the internet is a real thing. And, you don’t have to do much. Streaming a video online often records your IP address. Govt. agencies and backmailers groups may gain access to these IP addresses.

These IPs lead directly to you. Most often no legal agency will hassle you, however, online trollers and blackmailers make a living out of this.

The best way to protect yourself is to use a service which you know to be 100% legal.

Amazon Prime

is one such platform. It costs less than Rs. 130/month.

However, when you wish to us shady/unsure platforms for streaming movies, the least you can do is

get yourself a VPN

. This will mask your IP address and keep you safe.

More importantly, some of the websites above are only accessible from certain locations. The VPN will let you unblock any website on the planet, including

Netflix libraries

.