The Pirate Bay has confirmed that all torrent files being shared by more than 10 people will be deleted on February 29. The decision is causing a small panic among the site's users, but in reality little will change as all files will remain available through magnet links. The Pirate Bay crew told TorrentFreak that this is merely a "step forward in technology" and confirmed that the site is here to stay.

For half a decade The Pirate Bay has been the leading BitTorrent site, but soon its users will no longer be able to download .torrent files.

The first step in this direction will be taken on February 29, the Pirate Bay announced today.

Instead of deleting all torrent files at once, the Pirate Bay crew will start with all files that have more than 10 peers. This is to guarantee that people will still be able to download less popular files, which tend to start slower through magnets.

While there are fears that this is the end of The Pirate Bay, nothing could be further from the truth. For users of the site the upcoming switch is expected to go smoothly.

People will be able to download all files as usual, but instead of using a .torrent file downloads will be initiated through a magnet link. The actual content of the .torrent file will then be downloaded from other people instead of the Pirate Bay’s servers.

Although it might take a little longer for less popular downloads to get started, all files will remain available. Also, users will still be able to upload .torrent files, which will be converted into magnet links by The Pirate Bay.

The Pirate Bay team told TorrentFreak that the transition to a magnet site is “a step forward in technology,” and one that will make the site more resistant to being shut down.

Without torrents it takes less bandwidth to host a Pirate Bay proxy site which are used to circumvent ISP blockades in countries like Italy, Ireland, The Netherlands and Belgium. In addition, the Pirate Bay will become much more portable and thus easier to move around.

How easy it is to carry a copy of a torrent-less Pirate Bay became apparent last week, when a user reduced the entire site to 90 megabytes – small enough to fit on a tiny thumb drive. The Pirate Bay team likes the idea of a “portable” backup of the site and told TorrentFreak that they are considering releasing an official version in the future.

It’s quite remarkable to see how The Pirate Bay has transformed in recent years. The site is no longer hosting a tracker, and soon .torrent files will be entirely replaced by magnet links. Despite these changes the iconic file-sharing site is picking up new users every week.

The Pirate Bay crew told TorrentFreak that users can be assured that they have no intention of going anywhere in the near future. With or without torrents, the site is here to stay.