How to Watch Torrent Video Files As They Download

This guide will take you each step of the way through setting up your PC (or Mac) to stream bittorrent videos as they download. It’s remarkably easy and completely free!

Using an absolutely fantastic App that works in Windows (Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista) OS X and macOS, and linux – you can watch bittorrent based videos as the actual files download – so you don’t need to wait for the file to finish before you start.

Before we jump in – remember that streaming torrent videos can land you in a world of legal hassles if the video in question is covered by a copyright law in your country. When in doubt, be safe and use a VPN! If you need help setting one up, we have instructions on how to do that if you’re using Windows 10, macOS or Ubuntu Linux.

1. Head over to the WebTorrent Desktop download page and download the version for your Operation System. The installation process is quick and straightfoward – once it’s done, launch the app. It doesn’t matter if you’re using Windows, macOS or Linux – it looks the same in all OS’s.



2. To watch a torrent while it downloads, just drag that torrent onto the Webtorrent Desktop App (see screenshot below). Or you can click File -> Open Torrent File… and select the torrent from your drive.



3. It will immediately begin to download.



4. At any point in time, hover your cursor over the torrent you want to watch and a ‘play button’ will appear next to that video (see screenshot below). Click it.



5. The Webtorrent Desktop app switches to “video” mode…



6. … and the video will begin to play.



7. You’ll notice a small ‘red bar’ across the bottom of the video. That bar indicates how much of the video has been downloaded so far.



8. In the bottom right corner of the video player there’s a small ‘cast’ icon. If you want to watch the video, as it downloads, on your TV – click the ‘cast’ button.



9. It’ll launch AirPlay etc.



10. If you want to return to the ‘torrent’ part of Webtorrent Desktop, click the “less-than sign” ( < ) in the upper-left corner of the video player.



11. From here you can see basic stats on your torrent – how much has been downloaded, the current transfer speeds, etc.



12. When the video file has finished downloading, you’ll be notified.



13. The torrent section will also indicate that the file is now ‘seeding’ instead of ‘downloading’.



14. If WebTorrent encounters a video file it can’t play, you’ll get a notification message and it’ll offer to open the file in VLC. Just click the PLAY IN VLC button and VLC will launch and start playing the video.