In a surprise move, ExtraTorrent decided to shut down today, for good.

Users who access the site’s homepage are welcomed by a short but clear message, indicating that the popular torrent index will not return (the message appears intermittently).

“ExtraTorrent has shut down permanently.”

“ExtraTorrent with all mirrors goes offline.. We permanently erase all data. Stay away from fake ExtraTorrent websites and clones. Thx to all ET supporters and torrent community. ET was a place to be….”

TorrentFreak reached out to ExtraTorrent operator SaM who confirmed that this is indeed the end of the road for the site.

“It’s time we say goodbye,” he said, without providing more details.

With ExtraTorrent’s demise the BitTorrent community has lost yet another prominent player. Whether this also means the end of associated release groups, such as EtHD and ettv, remains to be seen.

ExtraTorrent was founded in November 2006, at a time when sites such as TorrentSpy and Mininova were dominating the landscape. Nonetheless, ExtraTorrent was determined to develop an audience of its own.

The site went on to outgrow many of its predecessors and with millions of daily visitors, ExtraTorrent ended up as the second largest torrent site, trailing only behind The Pirate Bay.

The site’s popularity placed it in the crosshairs of various entertainment industry groups in recent months. These outfits regularly pressured hosting companies and domain name services to take action.

It’s unclear whether legal pressure had anything to do with the decision to shut down, but that wouldn’t come as a surprise.

ExtraTorrent is the latest in a series of BitTorrent giants to fall in recent months. Previously, sites including KickassTorrents, Torrentz.eu, TorrentHound and What.cd went offline.

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