The world's most pirated film named

Avatar is the world's most downloaded film. Photo / Supplied

James Cameron's 3D triumph Avatar is the most pirated film of all time, beating fellow box office blockbusters Transformers and The Dark Knight to the top spot.

Website Torrentfreak.com has compiled a list of the top 10 most downloaded movies, and Avatar came top with 21 million downloads - easily beating The Dark Knight and Transformers by two million downloads.

But the news is not all bad for Cameron - Avatar is the highest-grossing movie of all time, raking in $2.8 billion at the worldwide box office.

Other movies in the top 10 include Inception, The Hangover, Star Trek and Kick-Ass.

Torrentfreak said the list was based on statistics gathered from torrent trackers and dated back to early 2006.

Downloading movies, TV shows and music has exploded in popularity over the past few years thanks to faster broadband connections.

The top 10 most downloaded movies of all time:

1. Avatar (2009) - 21 million
2. The Dark Knight (2008) - 19 million
3. Transformers (2007) - 19 million
4. Inception (2010) - 18 million
5. The Hangover (2009) - 17 million
6. Star Trek (2008) - 16 million
7. Kick-Ass (2010) - 15 million
8. The Departed (2006) - 14 million
9. The Incredible Hulk (2008) - 14 million
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) - 14 million

- Herald online