Timeline of file sharing

File sharing is a way for people to send and receive digital files over the internet. It has changed how we enjoy music, movies, games, and many other types of files. In the early days, sharing files was slow and hard, but as technology improved, it became faster and easier.

The idea of file sharing became very popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s with services like Napster. These services let people share music quickly, but they also raised questions about copyright and fair use of creative works.

Over time, new ways to share files appeared, including legal services like iTunes and Spotify. These platforms allow people to enjoy music, movies, and more while respecting the rights of creators.

Today, file sharing is a normal part of everyday life. People use it to back up important files, share photos with friends and family, and download software and other digital content. Understanding the history of file sharing helps us see how our world has become more connected and how we can use technology responsibly.

1970s

In 1976, a way to send files between computers called XMODEM was created by Ward Christensen. In February 1978, Ward Christensen started CBBS, the first system where people could leave messages and share files over phone lines. This was called a Bulletin board system. In 1979, two students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis, created Usenet. Usenet was a place for people to talk about different topics in groups called Usenet newsgroups, and it could also share files. Some Usenet groups are still used for sharing files today.

1980s

In the 1980s, people shared files using modems connected to phone lines. These modems were very slow, sending data at speeds from 300 to 9600 bits per second. Computers at that time had very little memory and power, and could only use short filenames.

Key developments included:

• 1981 – Kermit (protocol), a way to send binary data over telnet or other BBS systems.
• January 1984 – In Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., the Supreme Court of the United States decided that making copies of TV shows to watch later was allowed under fair use.
• 1984 – Fidonet, a system for connecting BBS networks, was started by Tom Jennings.
• October 1985 – The File Transfer Protocol was standardized, making it easier to upload and download files from servers.
• 1985 – Ymodem, an improvement to Xmodem, was introduced.
• 1986 – Zmodem, a better protocol for sending files over long distances, was developed.
• August 1988 – Internet Relay Chat was created by Jarkko Oikarinen.

1990s

FTP, IRC, and Usenet were the main ways people shared files in the 1990s. New ways to compress audio and video, like MP3, started to become popular by the end of the decade. During this time, many new tools and services appeared that made it easier to share music and other files online.

• In 1990, Michael Sandrof added a feature to an IRC tool called ircII that let users share files directly with each other.
• In November 1990, the World Wide Web was proposed by Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau.
• In December 1991, a group chose a special way to compress music, called MP3, which made it possible to turn songs from CDs into small files that could be sent over the internet.
• In June 1992, rules were made to let people send audio and pictures as email attachments.
• In 1992, a group started a campaign called "Don't Copy That Floppy" to stop people from making illegal copies of software.
• In July 1994, a tool called l3enc was released, which was one of the first programs to help create MP3 files.
• In September 1995, a new tool called WinPlay3 was released, which was the first MP3 player for Windows computers.
• In June 1996, a group called Rabid Neurosis started sharing music before it was officially released, and a chat tool called ICQ was created for Windows users.
• In 1997, a company called Scour Inc. was started by students, and they made tools to search and download files.
• In April 1997, a music player called Winamp was released, which helped people organize and play MP3 files.
• In May 1997, AOL launched a chat tool called AOL Instant Messenger that let users send files to each other.
• In August 1997, a tool called Hotline was announced, which let Mac users chat, join forums, and share files.
• In September 1997, Windows Media Player started to support playing MP3 files.
• In November 1997, MP3.com was started. It began as a place to search for music files and later grew to host music from artists who weren't famous yet.
• In January 1998, a tool called Musicmatch Jukebox was released, making it easier to create MP3 files from CDs on Windows computers.
• In March 1998, the first portable MP3 player, called MPMan F10, was launched.
• In July 1998, a program called SoundJam MP was released for Mac computers, which could play MP3 files and copy music from CDs. Later, Apple used parts of this program to help create iTunes.
• In September 1998, another MP3 player called Rio PMP300 was shipped. Some companies tried to stop people from using it, but it became very popular.
• In October 1998, a law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was passed in the United States to protect internet service providers from being sued for what their users do.
• In November 1998, a service called Audiogalaxy was created, which started as a way to search for music files and later became a tool for sharing them directly between computers.
• In December 1998, MP3 Newswire, the first news website about digital media, was launched.
• In February 1999, a Chinese company called Tencent launched QQ, a chat tool that let users send files to each other.
• In June 1999, Napster was created. It let people search for music files that other users had shared, making it easy to find and download songs.
• In November 1999, a new way to share files called Direct Connect was created.
• In November 1999, a service called iMesh was launched.
• In December 1999, the first lawsuits were started against Napster.

2000s

The 2000s started modern file sharing. Many new ways to share files online appeared, and people tried different methods. By the end of the decade, BitTorrent became very popular but had some security issues, which made many services change how they worked.

2000

• January – My.MP3.com was launched by MP3.com.
• March – Scour Exchange started as a way to share files online, competing with Napster. It allowed sharing of music, videos, and software.
• March – Gnutella became the first network where people could share many files at once and search for what they wanted, just like Napster.
• March – Phex, a Gnutella tool, was released.
• May – A legal case caused My.MP3.com to close. MSN Messenger added the ability to send files.
• June – Slyck.com went live.
• July – Freenet was created to protect free speech. Files were shared secretly among users.
• September – eDonkey2000 was released, adding a new way to secure files.
• October – Scour Exchange shut down after facing legal trouble over copyright.
• October – Napster helped make Radiohead’s Kid A album very popular.
• December – WinMX, another way to share files like Napster, was released.
• December – Bearshare started as a tool to share files using Gnutella.

2001

• February – A big legal case happened against Napster.
• February – Napster had 26.4 million users at its peak.
• March – Kazaa and the FastTrack system were released. It came with some unwanted software.
• April – Morpheus was released, becoming very popular until it faced legal issues.
• April – gtk-gnutella was released.
• July – Napster shut down due to legal reasons. Many users moved to other services.
• July – Audiogalaxy reached 1 million downloads.
• July 2 – BitTorrent was created, making it easier and faster to share popular files.
• August – ShareReactor, a website for sharing files, was started.
• September – Sony admitted to adding secret software to a Michael Jackson song.
• October – Mutella was released. Apple launched the first iPod.
• October – Windows Media Player added the ability to copy CDs to MP3 format.
• October 2 – The MPAA and RIAA sued the makers of Kazaa, Morpheus, and Grokster.
• November – GNUnet was announced.
• November – DC++ was created for the Direct Connect network.

2002

• January – A court case caused File rogue to shut down.
• February – The Kazaa system changed, affecting Morpheus.
• May – eMule was released, becoming very popular on the eDonkey2000 network.
• May – Audiogalaxy started blocking illegal files.
• May 27 – RapidShare was founded.
• June – Audiogalaxy settled a lawsuit and limited its file sharing.
• June – Shareaza was first released.
• June – Applejuice was released.
• July – Overnet was introduced.
• July – Soribada was closed by a court.
• August – P2Pnet was founded. Apple added file sharing to iChat.
• September – Audiogalaxy stopped its P2P services.
• September – Tor was released.
• October – Soulseek was released.
• October – Suprnova.org, a website for sharing files, went online.
• November – The Gnutella2 system was announced.

2003

• January – isoHunt was founded.
• March – The Open Music Model was published.
• April – Demonoid was founded.
• May – Poisoned was released for Mac users.
• May – The iTunes Music Store opened, selling music without letting people share it easily.
• May 15 – A US committee discussed problems with people sharing files by mistake.
• June 17 – Another US committee talked about safety issues with file sharing.
• July – Torrentse and Sharelive shut down due to legal action.
• September – TorrentSpy was registered.
• September 8 – The RIAA started suing people for sharing files.
• November – Winny’s code was taken by police.
• November 21 – The Pirate Bay was started in Sweden.
• 2003 – eMule added the Kad network. Invisible Internet Project (i2p) began.

2004

• January 17 – The Advanced Direct Connect system was introduced.
• March 10 – ShareReactor was shut down by police.
• May 10 – Winny’s maker was arrested.
• June 1 – Shareaza became open source.
• October 28 – The RIAA sued more people for sharing files.
• December 14 – Suprnova and other sites closed after being told to stop.
• December 14 – LokiTorrent refused to stop and got many users.
• December 15 – The US government held a workshop about file sharing.

2005

• January – Mininova went online.
• January – eXeem went online but didn’t become popular.
• February – LokiTorrent was shut down and taken over. YouTube started.
• March – WinMX was the most popular service. Avalanche, a BitTorrent option, was suggested.
• March 21 – Megaupload was launched.
• May – A TV show tracker site launched.
• June – A new version of Morpheus was released.
• June – A music download site closed.
• June – Grokster’s makers were found guilty of helping people break copyright laws.
• June 30 – EzPeer won a case in Taiwan.
• August – Yahoo! Messenger added file sharing.
• September 5 – A case against Sharman was decided.
• September 13 – WinMX servers were shut down but new ones appeared.
• September 9 – Kuro lost a case in Taiwan and later shut down its services.
• September 28 – MetaMachine stopped working on eDonkey2000 and Overnet.
• October – A blogger showed that Sony added secret software to CDs.
• November – BitTorrent’s creator made a deal to remove links to illegal content.
• November 12 – TorrentFreak was launched.

2006

• February 21 – Razorback2 was raided and shut down.
• May 31 – The Pirate Bay’s servers were raided, taking it offline for three days.
• June, July – Some big internet companies stopped offering certain services.
• August 21 – "Weird Al" Yankovic released a song mocking file sharing history.
• October – YouTube said it would remove videos that broke copyright rules. MediaFire was launched.
• 2006 – Retroshare, a private way to share files, was first released.

2007

• EMI stopped using special software on CDs.
• August 9 – Microsoft launched Windows Live SkyDrive in the UK and India.
• August 21 – Suprnova.org was started again by The Pirate Bay.
• September – Amazon began selling MP3s without special software.
• October 12 – The RIAA sued Usenet.com.
• October 23 – OiNK’s Pink Palace was shut down by police.
• October 24 – A court case against a file sharer ended with a big fine.
• November 9 – Demonoid shut down until April 2008.
• December 20 – Shareaza’s website was taken over.

2008

• Sony BMG let people buy their music without special software.
• January 10 – A trademark for Shareaza was claimed.
• March 24 – TorrentSpy shut down.
• April 11 – Demonoid came back online.
• May 7 – TorrentSpy was ordered to pay damages.
• May 8 – A new version of Freenet was released.
• August 8 – Italy blocked access to The Pirate Bay.
• September – Dropbox launched.
• October 10 – Italy’s ban on The Pirate Bay was lifted.
• October 29 – Morpheus’s website was taken down.
• November 27 – A Danish court said internet companies must block The Pirate Bay.
• December 16 – ShareReactor was started again by The Pirate Bay.
• December 19 – The RIAA said it would stop suing people one by one in the US.

2009

• January – Apple’s iTunes Store sold music without special software.
• February 16 – The Pirate Bay trial began.
• February 23 – OneSwarm was released.
• April 17 – The Pirate Bay was found guilty and faced big fines.
• April 24 – SeeqPod closed after legal costs.
• June 15 – A retrial of a file sharing case resulted in a large fine.
• June 30 – A company said it wanted to buy The Pirate Bay but couldn’t.
• September 9 – Six members of a file sharing group were charged.
• September 14 – Demonoid had problems with power and went offline for three months.
• September 30 – The purchase of The Pirate Bay fell through.
• November 26 – Mininova stopped sharing certain files.
• December – Many sites in China were closed.
• December 13 – Demonoid came back online.

2010s

The 2010s brought changes in how people shared files online. The BitTorrent system became more reliable and worked better with new types of internet connections. More programs started supporting newer internet standards.

In 2010, a court ordered LimeWire to stop letting people share files, and the program stopped working. The Pirate Bay, a famous website for sharing files, had its punishment reduced by a higher court. In 2011, Malaysia blocked several websites used for sharing files, and a popular service called Foxy stopped working. In 2012, many big file-sharing websites like Megaupload and Filesonic stopped allowing people to share files. Google also launched a new service called Google Drive for storing files online.

In later years, more changes happened. In 2013, a new file-sharing website called Mega launched. In 2015, RapidShare and Grooveshark, two popular websites for sharing files, closed down. In 2016, KickassTorrents, a large website for sharing movie and TV files, also closed. In 2017, The Pirate Bay tried a new way to make money, but this stopped in 2018. In 2019, new rules in Europe made it harder to share files online without permission, and some big websites like RapidVideo also closed down.

2020s

2020

Global lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic caused many people to use apps to share and watch videos online. Activity jumped by over 30% in many places as people stayed at home.

In May 2020, Popcorn Time returned with a new version during the pandemic. This app, which lets people watch videos like Netflix, received many downloads before it was stopped.

2021

In February 2021, Z-Library became one of the largest online places to read books and articles for free. It grew fast after another similar site had problems.

In March 2021, Google stopped allowing some popular apps that helped people watch internet videos on Android devices.

2022

In March 2022, Russia changed its rules to allow using content from certain countries without permission after facing sanctions.

In May 2022, a site called YTS started working again with new people running it.

2023

In May 2023, RARBG, a very popular site for sharing videos, stopped working.

In June 2023, Russia blocked many foreign sites where people share videos and other content.

2024

In May 2024, BitTorrent, a way for people to share files, celebrated its 20th birthday.

In August 2024, Russia made new rules so all internet services in the country must use its own system to block certain foreign sites.

2025

In April 2025, big movie companies began using smart computer programs to find videos and music shared without permission.

In June 2025, BitTorrent received an update to make it more secure.