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Of the hundreds of free movie download websites available on the internet, public domain movies should be your go-to so that there's no question about their legality. PublicDomainMovie.net is a great source for these kinds of films.

When a movie is public domain, it means the copyright is no longer held by any one individual—the public owns the movie. In other words, you can watch and download the films as many times as you like, completely legally.

There are a handful of genres along the top of the site to help you find the dramas, horrors, comedies, etc., among the several hundreds of movies that are offered here.

Every movie page shows the film's cover image, release date, synopsis, and cast members. You can even select one of the actors to see their other movie downloads on this website.

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

The link below takes you to the films section specifically, but once you're there, you can filter by century, genre, theme, and type. For example, maybe you're looking for 20th century movies, or only shorts or silent films, or movies that fall under the fashion, ghost, or natural world theme.

Internet Archive is a trove of digital information. It has not only movies for download, but also software, web pages, books, and more. Like the above two sites, this one offers free movie downloads because they're in the public domain.

There are lots of categories here where you might find movies, so the link below, which takes you to Feature Films, is just one example. There are tens of thousands of free films in over a dozen languages.

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're a selection of films from the National Film Registry (NFR), which is a collection of movies selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board.

A couple of things I like about downloading movies here is that the website is ad-free and all the options are on a single page because there are only a couple dozen movies to pick from.

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

Netflix is one 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.

As a long-time Netflix user, this is an obvious choice for me when I want to save a movie offline. If you don't use Netflix, there are several other, similar options, listed below.

Downloads are permitted from both the mobile app and the desktop app. See How to Download Netflix Shows and Movies to learn how this works.

Streaming services like Netflix, and the other options listed below, don't give you the video file to save wherever you want. You can only download the movie in their approved app, which helps them control further copying or burning to discs.

If you subscribe to Amazon Prime Video, you can download movies from the same screen where you can stream the video. Downloading movies also works for rented and purchased titles (but not the Freevee collection).

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.

To my surprise, 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. Just open the video for viewing in the Android or iOS app, and tap Download to pick the quality and preferred audio track.

Vudu movie downloads are allowed through the official mobile app. Just like with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, this is possible only if you've already purchased the video.

The app can sort movies by most watched or release date. Another thing I like about using this app for movie downloads is the option to show only "Fresh" movies, as determined by Rotten Tomatoes. There's also a genre picker.

You can download movies from Disney+ through the mobile app if you're a Disney+ Premium, Disney Bundle Trio Premium, or Legacy Disney Bundle subscriber. Just press Download on the movie page.

I've seen lots of great movies on Disney+, many of which would be awesome to watch on a long plane ride. So it's disappointing to learn that an entire subset of members, namely paying subscribers of the Basic plans, can't get movie downloads.