Warez-BB review

Warez-BB is closed. For sixteen years it was one of the biggest warez forums on the internet: a phpBB board where members shared download links for software, games, movies and music – “appz, gamez, moviez, muzik”, as its logo said. It went offline in September 2020 and was declared closed for good in April 2021. Today warez-bb.org is a parked domain, and any “Warez-BB” you find now is not the original.

What was Warez-BB?

Warez-BB opened in March 2005. Like every link forum, it didn’t host files: members posted threads with a description and links to file hosts – RapidShare and Megaupload in the early years, then Rapidgator, Nitroflare and others, often protected through services like SafeLinking. Registration was open and free; guests could only see some sections, which is one reason the member count grew so fast.

The numbers show how big it became:

• about 73,000 members in 2006, 1.2 million in 2009 and almost 3 million in 2012;
• a record of 33,022 users online at the same time in December 2013;
• at the end, 3.75 million accounts and more than 56 million posts;
• in 2009 it ranked among the 500 most visited websites in the world, with its biggest audiences in the US, India, the UK and Turkey.

Why did Warez-BB shut down?

Not because of a raid or a court case. Warez-BB had been under pressure for years – the US government listed it among notorious piracy sites in 2011, and in 2014 the High Court in London ordered UK internet providers to block it – but the end came from inside. In late September 2020 the forum stopped loading. In February 2021 the staff explained that the owner, the only person with the server access and the database, was seriously ill and could not be reached. On 7 April 2021 they announced that the owner had decided not to bring the site back, and a few days later that, without the database and passwords, Warez-BB was closed for good.

Is Warez-BB coming back?

No. The database – 16 years of threads and accounts – was only in the owner’s hands, and the staff confirmed the closure. warez-bb.org now shows a parked page. Sites or forums calling themselves “the new Warez-BB” are unrelated, and some may simply want your old username and password: never reuse your old Warez-BB password on a site that claims to be its return.

One example is Warez-V3 (warez-v3.org), which calls itself “WAREZ-BB-V3” and claims that Warez-BB “has returned”. It is a copy that uses the Warez-BB name and motto: there is no evidence that it has anything to do with the original team or database.

Why Warez-BB mattered

Warez-BB was more than a list of links. Its motto was “Come as guests, stay as family”, and for many users it was the first place to find software, games and releases in one well-organised archive, with uploaders who built a reputation over years. Its decline also shows the weak point of link forums: when Megaupload was seized in 2012 and file hosts tightened their free downloads, millions of old links died, and a forum of links is only as good as the links that still work.

Our Warez-BB status page keeps checking the domain automatically.

Best Warez-BB alternatives

No single site replaced Warez-BB, but these are the closest options we have tested:

• RLSBB – a huge DDL blog for scene releases, with active comments;
• OneDDL and DL4ALL – big DDL indexes updated every day;
• Mobilism – a long-running forum community for apps and ebooks.

See the full list on the Warez-BB alternatives page and in the Download DDL category.

Warez-BB FAQ

Is Warez-BB down?

Yes, permanently. It went offline in September 2020 and was declared closed on 7 April 2021.

What happened to Warez-BB?

The owner, the only person with access to the server and the database, fell seriously ill and decided not to revive the site.

Is Warez-BB coming back?

No. Without the database the staff considered the site closed, and the domain is now parked.

When did Warez-BB start?

In March 2005. It stayed online for about sixteen years.

What is the best alternative to Warez-BB?

RLSBB, OneDDL and DL4ALL for downloads, Mobilism for a forum community. See our full list.

Our verdict on Warez-BB

Warez-BB was one of the great warez forums of its time, with millions of members and a huge archive. It ended in the most fragile way possible – everything depended on a single person – and it is not coming back. Treat any site using its name with suspicion, and use a tested alternative instead.