You're not executing a mkv or a pdf

You're half wrong and half right, .mkv files are completely safe but the same can't be said about .pdf files, attackers can embed malicious code, such as JavaScript or hidden executables, within a PDF file.

People really underestimate the capabilities of this .pdf file format. I remember some time ago, someone managed to run doom inside a .pdf file.

You only need a VPN in very few countries, some where it is needed to avoid getting your internet connection cutoff from your ISP are the US, Germany, Greece, and a few other countries somewhere in Europe, the rest of the world doesn't care about people downloading movies online.

I pirated this meme in the highest quality I could but lemmy compresses the image to 60-70% of its original quality, that's why it's so blurry 😅

Yes there is. They're called Kavita and Komga. If you wanna host Doujins then there is Lanraragi, it has a better tagging system then both of them but struggles with chapter merging and all.

Kavita is the preferred one nowadays.

F95zone.to but they only allow stuff that's either in English or at least has English subtitles/translation patches.

I don't care what happens to the Manga piracy scene, but please don't touch the Doujin scene 😭, Gooners would retaliate hard

There's a difference between exploiting bugs that haven't even been found and spreading malware through a method that's known by pretty much everyone and is still used to spread malware today.

It's also theoretically possible that your system is already infected by some Advanced Persistent Threats but does that happen that often, No, and have people been infected by running random pdfs they found online, Yes.

Half the things people call "ADHD problems" is just perfectly normal human behaviour

Don't download games and software from it and always check the file extensions and make sure they're not something like Movie.mp4.exe or Movie.mkv.exe**, other than that you're good.

I usually use use ThePirateBay for video media

Be wary of the fake torrents that may be listed as Movie.mp4.exe Movie.mkv.lnk Series.zipx and so one, I'd recommend you to open up your torrent client, I'm expecting Qbittorrent. Click on options > Click on the Downloads tab from the left then scroll down until you find Exclude File names, enable it by clicking the checkbox and add these -

.lnk
.mp4.lnk
.mp3.lnk
.mkv.lnk
.torrent.lnk
.scr
.zipx
.ink

Enabling these would automatically prevent your torrent client to download these files if you mistakenly add these torrents. You can add more or less extensions depending on your use case, like if you never torrent games or software, adding .exe to this list may be beneficial to you, so you don't accidentally download a fake torrent which has some sort of malicious executable inside.

Piratebay is usually considered unsafe, you'd be better off with trackers listed on here - https://fmhy.net/torrentpiracyguide#torrent-sites

EBook, Audiobooks

Private Torrent Tracker: MyAnonaMouse

Android apps

Mobilism or these sites - https://fmhy.net/android-iosguide#modded-apks

And also, what file formats is best?

Preference based, there's no best file format. It's often a battle of compatibility vs. usefulness. Like .mkv can have bundled-in subtitles and audio in multiple languages while mp4 is more compatible with older or less popular devices.

But is x264 or x265 better

x264 and x265 are video codecs btw. These also depend on the user's use case. If you have modern hardware and can run x265 or av1 encoded files with no problem then definitely go for them as they can save you a lot of space because of their great efficiency, but if your hardware struggles to play x265 or av1 files then go for x264 encoded files, as they are compatible on almost all devices old or new.

Not sure if I'm doing piracy correctly

There's no way of doing it correctly just follow basic instructions like using a good adblocker (Ublock Origin), use trusted sources mentioned in the megathread and scan your files with Virustotal.com or tria.ge if you think they are suspicious.

Also other than the megathread, there's this amazing resource called FMHY - https://fmhy.net/

They're don't just hold information regarding pirated stuff but general and free stuff too, not to mention they update it very often to keep it up to date. They even have options for backups - https://github.com/fmhy/FMHY/wiki/Backups

dab.yeet.su

Only games bcz of Denuvo

If you're talking about online multiplayer games, they're server sided so no. Though, for some games, there are people who will sell you battle pass codes for cheaper because they buy them in countries with a weak currency, it all depends on the game.

(even though I’ve not had a leak in ten years) I don’t feel the old VPN/killswitch/public tracker thing is going to keep me safe enough.

Yes it's gonna keep you safe if you make sure to bind your VPN to your torrent client. It's safer than a kill switch.

Thankfully I don't have to deal with any of that shit on private trackers

Pretty great tracker, library is huge though the BON system could be improved a bit. Regular Freeleeches are also great.

On Private Trackers, watch out for Trackers who open their Sign ups on r/OpenSignups or r/OpenedSignups

Microsoft Reward Points are server sided so no this won't work.

Also, MS Rewards is not worth it anymore, I've used it in the past (2021/22) when it was good, they've nerfed it into the ground now. Don't bother with it, they'll nerf it again and again until it dies out in a few years.

Coomer.su Simpcity.su and Empornium Private Tracker

It'd be even better and safer, if you pick Docker containers over VMs. Give them a shot, they'll require less resources and would be overall much more efficient for a this purpose.