: The group was founded in 2010 by Yiftach Swery, a 23-year-old computer science student from Auckland, New Zealand, using the pseudonym "YIFY".
: Unlike "The Scene" groups, YIFY prioritized user-friendly interfaces, consistent metadata, and high-quality cover art. The 2015 Shutdown It YIFY
YIFY, later rebranded as YTS, was one of the most prominent peer-to-peer release groups in the history of digital piracy, specializing in high-definition movie distributions with exceptionally small file sizes. : The group was founded in 2010 by
: The goal was to re-encode and compress high-quality movies so they could be easily downloaded by users with slow internet connections or limited hard drive space. : The goal was to re-encode and compress
: For safe and legal movie access, users are encouraged to use official services like Tubi , Pluto TV , or the Internet Archive for public domain content.
: YIFY became famous for fitting 1080p movies into file sizes under 2GB, often using the x264 encoding software and .mkv or .mp4 containers.
: On October 30, 2015, the official YIFY/YTS website was permanently shut down following a multi-million-dollar lawsuit filed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).