Of the hundreds of free movie download websites available, public domain movies should be your go-to to ensure their legality. PublicDomainMovie.net is a great source for these types of films.

At the top of the site, you’ll find several genres to help locate dramas, horrors, comedies, and more, among the hundreds of available movies. Each movie page displays the film’s cover image, release date, synopsis, and cast list.

I appreciate being able to stream movies directly from the website to preview them before downloading. However, there are many ads throughout the site; fortunately, they are not included in the videos themselves.

This site is very similar to the one above. Most films at The Public Domain Review originate from the same source as the previous site’s collection. However, I’ve included it here for two reasons: its lack of ads and great filtering options.

The link below directs you to the films section, where you can filter by century, genre, theme, and type. For example, you might explore 20th-century movies, specifically shorts or silent films, or perhaps movies centered around themes like food, architecture, or the natural world.

Everything here can be streamed. The movie download links are at the bottom of each page.

Another way to download movies is through the Library of Congress. According to the LOC, the purpose of this list of movies is to “showcase the range and diversity of American film heritage.”

They are a selection of films from the National Film Registry (NFR), a collection of movies chosen by the United States National Film Preservation Board.

I appreciate that the website is ad-free and all options are on a single page, as there are only a couple dozen movies to choose from.

These titles can be downloaded directly from the Library of Congress website in formats such as MP4 and MOV.

Internet Archive offers a trove of digital information. In addition to movies for download, it includes software, web pages, books, and more. Like the two sites above, this one offers free movie downloads because they’re in the public domain.

There are many categories here where you might find movies, so it could be wise to explore the Feature Films page. There are tens of thousands of free films in over a dozen languages.

Most, if not all, movies from the sites listed above are sourced from Internet Archive. I prefer those movie download sites over this one because there’s just too much to sift through here. Still, I like to use this website for its filtering options, like language, creator, year, topic, and more.

Netflix is an example of a subscription service that lets you save its movies and TV shows to a download portion of the app, so you can watch even without an internet connection.

Having used Netflix for a long time, it’s my top choice for saving movies offline. If you don’t use Netflix, there are several other similar options listed below.

Downloads are available through the Netflix app for iOS, Android, and Windows.

Surprisingly, YouTube permits offline viewing for purchased or rented movies, and it’s not restricted to YouTube Premium subscribers!

Anyone who buys or rents a movie through YouTube can save it for offline playback. Simply open the video for viewing in the Android or iOS app, and tap Download to select the quality and preferred audio track.

If only this worked for YouTube’s free movie collection, it would top this list in a heartbeat!

If you subscribe to Amazon Prime Video, you can download movies from the same screen where you stream the video. Downloading movies also applies to rented and purchased titles.

Most rented movies and films purchased through a Prime subscription expire 48 hours after you download them. Purchased movie downloads can be saved on up to four devices, but subscription titles can be stored on only two devices at a time.

It’s easy to download Amazon Prime movies. Simply look for the Download button in the app for iOS, Android, macOS, or Windows.

I’ve seen many great movies on Disney+, lots of which would be excellent to watch on a long flight. To download movies from the Disney+ mobile app, tap Download on the movie page.

Unfortunately, this only works on certain plans. Specifically, subscribers of the Basic plans can’t download movies.

Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu) permits movie downloads through the official mobile app. Just like with Netflix and similar streaming services, this is possible only if you’ve already purchased the video.

The app can sort movies by most watched or release date. Another feature I like about this app is the ability to show only “Fresh” movies, as determined by Rotten Tomatoes. There’s also a genre picker.