Kickass Torrents, the Pirate Bay and a number of other web portals best known for online piracy have adopted or plan to adopt a new plug-in that makes it possible for users to stream movie torrents directly to their Internet browser. It's a major shift that could ultimately mean users no longer need to download separate web applications like uTorrent or Vuze to download torrent files.

Torrents Time is a new browser plug-in that makes it possible for Mac and Windows users to watch torrent files, often copyrighted TV and movies, on their computer without downloading a separate program. Vuze, uTorrent and other services have convinced millions of Internet users to download their software for the sole purpose of illegally downloading media content, then used those users computers to deliver nefarious ads or launch cyberattacks.

“For the first time one can play and stream almost every video format, smoothly and with stunning quality,” a Popcorn Time Online administrator told International Business Times. “This was impossible before ... but the days of frustration and users' discontent are over! Having incorporated Torrents Time, the problems belong in the past and now the choice of available content will be much bigger!”

Popcorn Time Online, a brand new piracy service, was the first to adopt the Torrents Time streaming software when it was unveiled Thursday. The Pirate Bay followed suit Friday, and Kickass Torrents plans to add the plug-in “Sunday or Monday,” TorrentFreak reported. Videomax.is, Torrentproject.se and others have also adopted the new technology.

“We are certain that in no time we'll be embedded in all torrent sites who care to move on with this evolution,” Torrents Time told TorrentFreak. “We will allow everybody to watch any movie they wish from torrent sites who embed us, when they want, without having to store someone's file on their hard disk. It's 'watching together' or 'co-watch' technology, made possible by Torrents Time.”