How to download free movies for off-line viewing from Popcorn Time

This guide will show you how to save a movie downloaded by Popcorn Time for further usage, like for example watching it on big TV from USB stick.

First thing to know is that Popcorn Time is basically another BitTorrent client with nice user interface and a huge list of database of torrents/magnets with movies to watch.

There are two ways to get Popcorn Time movies:

Download by Magnet link

For this you will need external BitTorrent client.

  1. To find a Magnet Link of a movie go to the show you want to download (Movie, TV Serie, Anime) and look for magnet icon and circle like shown in the picture below:

    popcorn time file information
    Click to enlarge

    When you hover over the circle you will see details about file availability:

    popcorn time community - health red
    Few or none seeds. Might work or not.
    popcorn time community - health yellow
    Medium number of seeds. It will work but will take more time to download.
    popcorn time community - health green
    High availability. Plenty of seeds. File will play easily.
  2. Click Magnet icon

    Left mouse button click - executes default application assigned to magnet links. If you don't have such application or it cannot be opened, nothing will happen after click

    Right mouse button click - copies magnet link to clipboard

    popcorn time magnet link copied information
  3. If you right clicked icon, go to your Torrent client and paste the magnet link.

    If you used left mouse button default Torrent client will open already having the magnet link.

Save by Cache Directory

  1. Go to Settings

    popcorn time settings icon
  2. Scroll down to Download Directory option.

    This is where the movies are downloaded to. You can change path to more user friendly place like

    c:\movies

    popcorn time community - download directory
    Click to enlarge
  3. In Cache Directory you will see sub folders like: torrent-stream, TorrentCache, d9729feb74992cc3482b350163a1a010da3ea1b6 - zero or more.

    You can ignore first two. Movies are in the long letters-numbers folders. These are torrents hash codes.

    If you choose to show subtitles they will also be in the movie directory. Basically it is a complete set of files to watch.

28 thoughts on “How to download free movies for off-line viewing from Popcorn Time”

  1. Hi Sebastian, I am using the lastest version (2020) and I can’t find any magnet link in the app (Desktop version). Any thoughts please? How do download instead of streaming? Many thanks!

    Reply
  2. Dear Mr. Sebadtian,
    On step no.2 of “Save in Cache Directory”. Highlighting the namr of the movie via left click and “shading” the name occur. However, right clicking to click “copy” command do not work.

    Btw, there is no “magnet”icon i see, the reason why im using the “save in cache” method.

    Would appreciate any extended assistance on this.

    Thank you

    Reply
  3. Movies can be viewed off-line if you select a Download folder as explained by Sebastian. Also, the box for the cache folder needs to be un-checked.

    Another important thing is to have free storage on the computer. The program (if used instead of the community website) will use all of the video file size although not all of the file has been downloaded yet.

    There is also the option that Popcorn Time will store the file in the cache folder which is stored in C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Local and the program folder.

    The video program VLC handles almost all file types like mov, avi, mpg, mkv, 3gp, mp4, flv, wmv and even vob. No need to convert any files!

    Reply
    • Dear,

      “Movies can be viewed off-line if you select a Download folder as explained by Sebastian. Also, the box for the cache folder needs to be un-checked.”

      To find back the directory on your system
      $> echo $TMPDIR

      ### But exist the possibility to play the downloaded movies with ‘popcorn time’??? ###

      Reply
  4. The movies I download are suddenly in FGT MKV format and do not work after download, previously they would download in mp4 which worked fine for saving to a USB, how to I get them to download in mp4?

    Reply
    • Simply put: you can’t. Movies will be downloaded in a format which they were uploaded. What you can do is to install some codec pack on your computer like K-Lite Codec Pack to be able to play them. If your TV doesn’t support this file format there is nothing you can do with Popcorn time application.
      Have you tried to rename the file extension to MP4? MKV and MP4 are only containers.
      Last option is to convert MKV to MP4. For that you could use free VLC Media Player and “Media” > “Convert / Save…” option.
      If you need more information on that please ping me.

      Reply
  5. The movies from Popcorn Time are not appearing in the Popcorn time folder in my Downloads folder anymore although they used to. Where are they going now? I can’t find them anywhere on the computer

    Reply
    • Hey man i have the same issue however the app creates a folder to store the movie while your watching it but you dont have to close the app if you havent found the file yet C:\Users\(Usernamer)\AppData\Local\Temp\8930-eaa7-54ec\

      Reply
  6. I am unable to download the movies on my Mac. I have the latest version of PopcornTime but the cache folder is empty. Any ideas? Thanks

    Reply
  7. Hi All,

    I have a moto X play phone and i have downloaded movies from pop corn but i am unable to get option to save it or find the downloaded movies in phone . I have to watch them where it says ‘watch now’. Can any one guide me as to how to save movies and copy that to my computer ?

    Reply
  8. Hey Sebastian,

    In the newer version, the magnet isn’t there but I have BitTorrent downloaded on my computer. I am hoping to click on a show and download without actually having to stream it. Any help?

    Reply
  9. dear Sir,
    i already downlod this apps.. but afrer finish downlod this application to my phone anroid…i click to install….but have a message like this “there was a problen while parsing the package” now what shout i do…

    Reply
  10. How do I get to advanced settings? My settings window gives only two categories: Inter face (subtitles, language) and Downloads (warn if VPN is not turned on).

    Reply
  11. how about this newer version of popcorn.. u cant see the yellow button for magnet link.. is there any way to download for offline viewing?

    Reply

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