The point behind most movie download sites is to offer free movies to users. That, however, is illegal, because you are essentially stealing something that should be paid for. Not all sites are like this, but most of them are, and the theory behind them is exactly that: free content.

Some sites have streaming movies. These are movies that you don't download onto your computer, but they are buffered and played directly on the site. This method doesn't take up as much space, and some of these sites are completely legal because they are paid for by advertising. The only problem with it is that it's based entirely off of how powerful your computer is and its connection to the internet. If either are lacking, then the quality of the movie is compromised.

When I say they are paid for by advertisements, I don't mean that you get the occasional pop up or there's a banner on the home page. These sites are littered with ads that cover the majority of the page. Going back to the fact that you have to have a strong enough computer to get the full quality of the video, these advertisements suck up some of that power. So you need that much more power just to compensate for that.

The other form of movie downloading is through torrents. A torrent is a file is an information file that enables your computer to connect to others around the world. While downloading, you are taking file information from all of these computers at once, resulting in a digital copy of the movie you have the torrent of. The process is slow, but the overall quality of the movie is significantly better because you'll be watching a movie file on your computer, rather than downloading it while you watch.

To download these torrents, your computer will have to have a torrent "downloader". The torrents themselves are found on websites, but the "downloader" is a program that interprets these files and downloads their contents. The programs require a lot of your computer's processing power and are likely to load your computer with spyware, resulting in hindered overall computer performance.

Since these methods are illegal, it's a very bad idea to use them, as the repercussions are dire.There are, however, some sites that are completely legal, because you have to pay for the content. These sites will require prior membership and offer a vast archive of content. More importantly, the content is likely to be very good quality, because they can afford to get the best of the best for movies.

These sites work much the same as the illegal ones. You have the option to either stream movies directly on the site or download your own movie file right onto your computer. If you do end up paying for a membership for these sites, the dues are either monthly or yearly and are actually not all that expensive for what you get.

It's hard to pass up the movie download sites that are illegal because they offer a vast amount of content and all for free. Tempting as they are, however, they are illegal, meaning that if you got caught using them, you'll be paying fines like you wouldn't believe, and possibly seeing jail time. That said, the minuscule amount of money you pay for the legal sites doesn't seem so bad.