Thanks to the brand new Torrents-Time browser plug-in The Pirate Bay has just transformed itself into the world's largest streaming video portal. The notorious torrent site now embeds 'Stream It!" links next to all video torrents enabling them to be played in a window without users ever having to leave the site.

Earlier this week a new piece of software debuted alongside promises to revolutionize how people use torrents.

Covered in our earlier article, Torrents-Time is a browser plug-in for Windows and Mac that allows people to view torrents embedded in a webpage and without need for an external torrent client.

The Torrents-Time team promised that their technology could transform any website into a simple to use streaming portal. Indeed, the first public application was Popcorntime-Online.io, a browser-based edition of Popcorn Time that for the first time used peer-to-peer transfers rather than resource hungry HTTP.

But just days later and a new and even more powerful partner has emerged.

Last evening The Pirate Bay became the first general torrent index to utilize Torrents-Time technology. The site has now placed Torrents-Time links next to all of its video torrents, meaning that users with the plug-in can watch videos on The Pirate Bay without using a stand-alone torrent client or even leaving the page.

As illustrated in the image above the Torrents-Time links are labeled ‘Stream It! (BETA)’. Once clicked the user is given the chance (if he hasn’t done so already) to install the software. From there a popup window appears containing a video player. Clicking the ‘play’ button delivers an advert to buy a VPN which warns that IP addresses are exposed.

At this point users have the option to subscribe to a VPN for a period ranging from a day to a year or, if they prefer, they can click the ‘close’ button in the right hand corner of the advert to skip. At this point the software uses trackers, DHT and PEX in order to find other peers with the required content.

Once a number of peers have been found and enough content has been buffered, playback can begin. The player is a basic but functional affair, with the addition of subtitling and casting features for those with Chromecast, Airplay and DNLA devices to hand.

With The Pirate Bay jumping on board, Torrents-Time has received a huge shot in the arm and will probably enjoy some decent revenues too. For its part, TPB has transformed from the world’s second largest torrent site (KAT has that crown for now) into the world’s largest streaming portal.

The question now is when and if other torrent sites will find the Torrents-Time package attractive enough to jump on board.

Update: Torrentproject.se, Videomax.is and Online.porntime.ws will soon feature Torrents-Time functionality. And according to the team, KickassTorrents will also join the club this Sunday or Monday.

“We are certain that in no time we’ll be embedded in all torrent sites who care to move-on with this evolution,” the Torrents-Time team informs TF.

“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.”