The number of file-swapping websites has grown more than five-fold in the past year, according to a new study.
Despite legal efforts by Hollywood, music companies and software firms to shut them down, peer-to-peer sites, including Kazaa and Morpheus Music City, have attracted millions of global users who trade primarily copyright-protected songs, films, software and computer games.
According to a survey by US technology firm Websense, the number of peer-to-peer (P2P) sites is nearly 38,000, up 535 per cent in the past year.
Nearly one in three of the most popular applications downloaded off CNet's Download.com are for P2P services, the survey said.
The surge in P2P use is impacting the workplace as employees increasingly use speedy corporate Internet connections to download songs and software, a potentially unlawful activity, Websense warned.
The record labels and Hollywood studios have made unsuccessful attempts to suppress the sites, which they claim are enabling mass consumer piracy that is eating into sales.