Now that streaming services like Netflix and Hulu are so popular, it’s hard to find movies available for download. Although some services let you save movies for offline viewing, you can’t actually store their files on your USB drive. This wikiHow teaches you how to download movies (legally) from the internet and save them to your removable flash drive.

Steps

1Find a movie to download. Unless you find a movie that’s freely available in the public domain, it’s illegal to download commercial movies from the internet.X This means that downloading that free Avengers movie you found on a torrent site could actually result in a fine of $750 to $30,000.X That’s one expensive movie! Instead, try any of these resources to download movies that won’t get you in trouble with the law:Internet Archive’s Feature FilmsVuze StudioHD Network (requires a Bittorrent client)Public Domain Torrents (requires a Bittorrent client).You can also check out How to Download YouTube Videos to learn how to download videos from YouTube—just make sure you have permission first.There are tons of movie torrent websites out there. Just remember that downloading copyrighted movies is illegal and people definitely do get caught (especially when they aren’t using safe VPNs).

2Download the video file to your computer. The steps to do this depend on the type of site you’re using. If you’re using the Internet Archive or another non-torrent site, just click the name of the movie and select the Download link. It may look like an upside-down arrow or might contain the video’s size and/or resolution. If you’re using a torrent site like Vuze or Public Domain Torrents, follow these steps:Install a Bittorrent client if you haven’t already. Some popular options are uTorrent and the original BitTorrent.Click the video’s title and select the Download link, which may look like a downward-pointing arrow or even a link with the video’s size and/or resolution. This will download a file that ends with “.torrent” to your computer.Double-click the downloaded .torrent file in your default downloads folder. This should open your BitTorrent client.If you haven’t set up your BitTorrent client yet, you’ll usually be asked to select a download location. Your download should begin immediately.

3Plug your flash drive into the computer. It should fit into a USB port in your computer’s housing.

Tip: If your computer doesn’t have standard USB-A ports, you’ll need either a Thunderbolt 3-to-USB adapter or a USB-C flash drive.



4Copy your movie file. Click the downloaded movie file, then press Ctrl+C (PC) or ⌘ Command+C to copy it. If you’re using a , you can also copy the file by clicking the Edit menu and selecting Copy (movie name).

5Open This PC (PC) or Finder (Mac)
. If you’re using a PC, click the search bar, type this pc, and press the Enter key. If you’re on a Mac, click the two-toned smiley face icon on the Dock, which is usually at the bottom of the screen.

6Open your flash drive. If you’re using Windows, double-click its icon in the center panel. If you’re using a Mac, click it in the left panel.If you’re using Windows and don’t see anything below the “Devices and drives” heading, double-click the heading.

7Right-click a blank area of the flash drive and select Paste. This copies the movie to your flash drive. This could take several minutes if the movie is a large file.If you’re using a Mac, you could also click the Edit menu and select Paste.

8Eject your flash drive
. Once the movie file has successfully transferred onto your flash drive, you can safely eject the flash drive. If you’re using a Mac, click the upward-facing arrow to the right of the flash drive’s name in the left panel. If you’re using Windows, click the flash drive-shaped icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen and select Eject.

9Remove your flash drive. When prompted, you can pull your flash drive out of your computer’s port.