I thought this would just be a matter of time, but someone has gotten around to implementing the Popcorn Time streaming torrent system working inside of a browser. Previously, I looked at this interesting phenomenon that was only possible on jailbroken iOS devices. But, now it appears to have expanded to the web (via a browser).

If you aren’t familiar, Popcorn Time is an application that seemed to herald a new era in movie downloading. Using the BitTorrent protocol, video content was capable of streaming directly to your screen instead of the slow and clunky process of downloading (and then watching). As you might expect, that application has been under constant attack and has been taken down (and re-appeared) many times. It has also spawned an iOS version that doesn’t require a jailbreak.

Located at URL popcorntimefree.info, this version appears to stream from a domain named popcorncdn.ga. Videos can be played on the desktop and also on mobile devices like iPhones and iPads. Content loads fast and there doesn’t appear to be any caching delays or loading time. The advances these kinds of sites are making can’t be considered anything but impressive.  The selection of titles is extremely limited and it’s not immediately clear how, or in what way this tool uses Bittorrent.

Like other Popcorn Time based tools, I don’t expect this to stay up and running very long. The game of copyright “whack-a-mole” is fast and this will become another casualty of attention. What, however, will take its place?

Update #1: It appears the CDN is down. That was fast.
Update #2: Not fast, it still seems to be up, on the desktop anyway.