123Movies is an online place to whom every Movie fanatic is aware of. The has a very long record of being one of the best places for online movie streamers. But now the original website is not available anywhere and is now being operated in the world by the mirror links and websites, managed by different peoples. Now you might be thinking why is it not available, why is the website made down for the users, etc. Well, sit back tightly because we are going on a long tour of 123Movies, covering each and every aspect, its history, origin, development, Cause of Shut down, it’s currently working websites (mirrors and Proxies) and URLs, its free alternatives, etc. Hence, it is going to be a complete detailed review of 123Movies. Now let’s get started.

Introduction To 123Movies

123Movies might not need to be introduced as it is already very famous. But for those who don’t know, it is a website that provides its users to watch Films, Movies, TVShows, Anime, etc. online for free. It has also been recognized by some other popular names like GoMovies, GoStream, MeMovies, and 123movieshub. If you are one of those people who prefer to watch online movies/TV Shows then there are heavy chances that you have used 123Movies either by its original name or by any of these other popular names.

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123Movies Development & Origin

123Movies has no exact date of its origin but it is estimated that the original website was launched somewhere in 2015 with its very first URL being the “123movies.to“. Ever since its origin, the website has gone through so many names changes whose reason will be explained later in this article. Some of the most popular names were the gomovies (gomovies.to and gomovies.is), GoStream (gostream.is), MeMovies (memovies.to), and 123MoviesHub (123movieshub.to and 123movieshub.is).

However, all the original websites with these names have officially been closed and no one can access them but so many clones and fake websites are still being operated all over the world. The last known name by which 123Movies was seen live before closing was 123MoviesHub. No new name after that has emerged. However, some tweaked versions of these popular names are being used by clone websites in order to gain some legitimacy in the user’s eyes.

In the Office of the United Staes Trade Representative (USTR), Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) listed 123Movies in its Online Notorious Markets. MPAA stated that: “The site has a global Alexa rank of 559 and a local rank of 386 in the U.S. 123movies.to had 9.26 million worldwide unique visitors in August 2016 according to SimilarWeb data“. In October 2016, Business Insider also reported that 123movies.to was the “most-used pirate website”.

A dedicated anime watching website was also seen in December 2017 after the shutdown of 123Movies, whose name was AnimeHub.to.

Whats is the Content Provided by 123Movies?

123Movies has a huge database for movie lovers. It included HD Movies, HD-RIP Movies, Blue-ray Movies, and camera quality Movies, films, and TV Shows. It is a completely online streaming website with no download options for the movies. In order to provide an online streaming facility, 123Movies used Openload, Streamango, and MyCloud the most. As per what 123Movies claims, it doesn’t host any of the content, it just provides links to the already available content on the internet.

Why Is 123Movies Shutdown?

On March 19, 2018, 123Movies itself announced the shutdown. They displayed a message in which they thanked all the users for being with 123Movies ever since its launch. They also gave a message to always for every movie/show in order to pay respect to all the people behind that movie/show. The shutdown notice was announced only on the classic homepage of the website and was visible after MPAA’s branding of 123Movies as “the most popular illegal site in the world“.

“We’ve been providing links to movies and shows for years. Now it’s time to say goodbye. Thank you for being our friends and thanks for staying with us that long.
Please pay for the movies/shows, that’s what we should do to show our respect to people behind the movies/shows.” 123Movies Shutdown notice states.

Ever since 123Movies came into existence it has been a matter of debate. Due to its huge popularity around the globe, it also gathered the attention of the authorities.“Right now, the most popular illegal site in the world, 123movies.to (at this point), is operated from Vietnam, and has 98 million visitors a month,” MPAA’s Executive Vice President & Chief of Global Content Protection, Jan van Voorn said.

It was providing links to various movies, films, TV Shows, etc. and a huge portion of the world’s population was consuming that content which was making a direct heavy loss to the real owners of that movie/film/TV show. This was a serious issue and hence, in March 2017, US Ambassador called on the local government of Vietnam to criminally prosecute the 123Movie site’s owner. After that, MPAA sent its own people to Vietnam to give a boost to the issue of the criminal investigation. And that resulted in 123Movies site’s shutdown on the 19th of March 2018.

As far as the reason for the shutdown is concerned, 123Movies didn’t elaborate on the cause. However, March 2018’s latest list of “Notorious Markets” sent by MPAA to the US links to a criminal investigation. In order to have a deeper knowledge about the 123Movies shutdown, you can refer to Torrent Freak. They have covered each and every news related to 123Movies.

Is 123Movies Illegal?

There is no specific answer to this question as the main cause of its shutdown has not been made public. However, the whole shutdown case was connected to the criminal investigation. And for a criminal investigation which has resulted in the shutdown of a worldwide popular website definitely points toward something illegal.

Technically, 123Movies was not doing anything wrong as it was just gathering and providing streaming of the already available content to the users and was not hosting or providing any kind of content from itself. But still, it was making some serious loss to the owners of the content which 123Movies was providing.

Is It Legal To Stream Movies From 123Movies?

Well, the answer to this question can be different for different regions. Since 123Movies website is all about online streaming and in order to get your answer you have to check out whether your country has online streaming as a legal thing or not because, in countries like the USA, and Germany, online streaming is not legal. So, if you are living in one such country then Streaming from 123Movies is not legal by any means.

Also Read: Best IPTV player for Windows PC (2020)

123Movies Unblocked Current Mirror Links & Proxy Sites

Although the original 123Movies website has been officially shut down in March 2018, so many clone websites are still providing the same content in the form of mirror websites. Streaming of movies can also be done through those websites. Here is the list of all the working mirror websites and proxy links.

Best 123Movies Alternatives in 2020

YIFY Movies

YIFY Torrents (also known as YTS) is a popular peer to peer release group which is well-known for its distribution of a large number of movies for free. It was founded by Yiftach Swery in 2010, while he was studying computer science at the University of Waikato. Yiftach is an app developer, web developer and archery champion from Auckland, New Zealand.

Talking about the YIFY’s look and user interface, then this website is very simple and easy to use. It has no confusing homepage and one can easily navigate through the whole website in order to reach its desired movie.

Unlike 123Movies, YIFY doesn’t allow the user to stream the content. Instead, YIFY provides download links to all the contents. YIFY’s provided contents are usually characterized through their high-quality HD content in a small file size, which is something will help you to have great quality content in file size as small as possible.

YesMovies

If you were not so interested in downloading method to have movies and want to have something that provides live streaming in high quality then you can give a try to YesMovies. It has a huge amount of movie data that can be used to stream your favourite movie. There are negligible chances that you wouldn’t find your favourite movie here. It has a modern but minimalistic look, and you wouldn’t find any trouble in searching for your favourite content.

One cool thing about the YesMovies website is that it provides the facility to switch to dark mode. The website mostly provides the latest movies and TV Shows for online streaming. For easy and quick navigation it has a dedicated search bar along with a numeric and alphabetic search facility. The website has movies in various genres ranging from Action, Adventure, Animation, Documentary to Mistry, Thriller, War, etc.

The way in which YesMovies provides the Online streaming of the content is very simple and you can reach the streaming page very easily. But after reaching the streaming page the website shows 5-10 popup ads, on click anywhere on the screen which is an annoying thing from a user perspective. But the quality of the content is no less than 123Movies.

FMovies

FMovies is among those websites that don’t need any introduction. The website is so popular among the online content streamers that it has millions of unique visitors per month. Just like 123Movies, FMovies also has a long history of providing great quality content to stream online for free.

When we talk about FMovies, we don’t refer to one single site because FMovies is a full series of various websites that host links and embedded videos, which are mostly Movies and TV Shows, allowing the users to access them online. In terms of looks and design, it has a dark and not so eye-straining look with a lot of features to filter for your movie quest. There is already a dedicated movie genre section n the homepage for different tastes of different users. FMovies has the largest list of the country-wise movie selection.

PutLocker

PutLoker is also one of the brand names in this industry of online streaming content providers. Ever since its origin in 2011, the website is so passionate about proving streaming content that it is now getting millions of visitors daily. You might already be familiar with the PutLocker that it is a series of websites that is an online file hosting index destination which includes mostly movies.

The website has a green and white-coloured theme which gives it a very elegant look. Plus this colour scheme matches what 123Movies colour scheme is and hence there are chances that you wouldn’t find any difference in 123Movies and PutLocker, except the logo. This is a very good thing as the content streaming experience is not going to be changed if you use PutLocker.

As far as the streaming facility and quality of the content are concerned, you don’t have to worry about that. PutLocker’s streaming quality and the online media player are top of the line and no one will find any difficulty in streaming the desired movie.

WatchFree

There is a new player in the online content streaming game and hence it is not that popular right now but the features and user experience that this website provides no less than any other top contender of this game. By the tag of being a new contender, not think that there would be a lack of content as WatchFree has almost 16,000 movies in different genres like Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller, etc.

The look of the website also shares a resemblance to the 123Movie website’s original look. That means, MatchFree also has a green plus white-coloured theme but the look and feel are not so 123Movie-ish. The website is still pretty clean looking with a decent navigation system. There is no compromise in the steaming content. WatchFree provides 2-3 different servers for each movie to stream online so that the user doesn’t face any problem while streaming. The streaming page of any movie can be accessed in just one click without any problem.

Popcornflix

Owned by Screen Media Ventures, Popcornflix is a website and an Over The Top (OTT) service that offers free ad-supported video streaming of full-length movies and webisodes. The website primarily streams independent feature films, many of which come from Screen Media’s library. Popcoornflix’s service is currently accessible in the United States and Canada, with plans to launch in more territories in the future.

PrimeWire

Yet another popular place to satisfy your movie hunger is PrimeWire. There are tons of movies and TV Shows that you can go with to entertain yourself. PrimeWire has almost each and every kind of movie. Whether it be Antion, Adventure, Thriller or Sci-Fi, Comedy, etc. it has something for everyone.

However, if you are obsessed with food, modern and minimalist looks then you might feel bad while surfing on PrimeWire. PrimeWire has a seriously outdated and unpolished design and for searching the movie, there is just a simple search bar. You can either type the name of the movie or the IMDb ID of that movie in order to search.

The quality and streaming facility of PrimeWire is not so like its looks. The quality of the available content is just awesome and the streaming online MediaPlayer is also up to the mark. There will be no issue in reaching the streaming page of any movie. All a user has to do is to click on the movie.

Vumoo

It’s a simple and elegant look hides a huge pile of great quality content available on the internet. The website is flooded with a lot of content made for the user to stream online very easily. The website has a very clean and simple look just like most of the other alternative sites in this list but this one has a maroon and black-coloured theme which is also pretty great looking.

However, the website lacks the options of categories of the movies. The main menu is blessed with just two sections i.e. Movie, and TV-Series. There is no genre section even. The website seriously needs some categorization of the available content. It always helps a user to find a specific movie. The quality of the available content is pretty great with most of the content available in 720p. The streaming facility is also very stable and the user can reach the streaming page very easily.

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