Internet Archive Search — Wayback Machine Advanced Query Tool

What does Internet Archive Search do?

Internet Archive Search runs advanced queries against archive.org — the Internet Archive's collection of billions of archived web pages, books, audio recordings, video, and software. Filter by date, media type, language, subject, and more — and get back structured metadata for matching items.

This Actor runs on the Apify platform. Use it for digital humanities research, media discovery, historical web analysis, or building datasets from public domain content.

Why use Internet Archive Search?

• Powerful filtering — date range, media type, language, subject, creator, and more
• All media types — archived web pages, texts, audio, video, software, images
• Bulk export — retrieve thousands of results as structured JSON or CSV
• Research-ready — perfect for academic, journalistic, or historical research
• No account needed — the Archive's search API is publicly accessible

How to use Internet Archive Search

1. Open the Actor and click Try for free
2. Enter your search query and any filters
3. Click Start — matching Archive items appear in the Output tab
4. Download as JSON or CSV for analysis

Input

{
  "query": "climate change report",
  "mediaType": "texts",
  "dateFrom": "2000-01-01",
  "dateTo": "2024-01-01",
  "language": "en",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Field	Type	Description	Default
query	string	Full-text search query	required
mediaType	string	texts, audio, movies, web, software, image	all
dateFrom	string	Start date (YYYY-MM-DD)	—
dateTo	string	End date (YYYY-MM-DD)	—
language	string	Language code filter	—
maxResults	integer	Maximum results to return	100

Output

Results are stored in the Apify dataset. Download in JSON, CSV, HTML, or Excel.

{
  "identifier": "ClimateReport2020",
  "title": "Climate Change: The 2020 Global Report",
  "creator": "Environmental Research Institute",
  "date": "2020-04-15",
  "mediaType": "texts",
  "description": "Comprehensive analysis of global climate data...",
  "subject": ["climate change", "environment", "global warming"],
  "language": "en",
  "archiveUrl": "https://archive.org/details/ClimateReport2020",
  "downloadUrl": "https://archive.org/download/ClimateReport2020/report.pdf"
}

Output fields

Field	Type	Description
identifier	string	Internet Archive item identifier
title	string	Item title
creator	string	Creator or author
date	string	Publication or archived date
mediaType	string	Media type
description	string	Item description
subject	array	Subject tags
archiveUrl	string	Archive.org item page URL
downloadUrl	string	Direct download URL (where available)

Cost

Pay-per-result pricing:

Volume	Estimated cost
100 results	~$0.01–$0.10
1,000 results	~$0.10–$1.00

Tips

• Use mediaType: "web" to search specifically for archived web pages (Wayback Machine snapshots)
• Combine dateFrom and dateTo to limit to a specific historical period
• Use mediaType: "texts" with subject filtering for academic or document research

FAQ

Can I access the full content of archived items? The Actor returns metadata and download URLs. Downloading the actual files is up to you.

Is the Internet Archive's content free to use? Most content on archive.org is public domain or openly licensed. Always check individual item licenses.

Is this Actor maintained? Yes. Report bugs or feature requests in the Issues tab.

Need help or have questions? Open an issue in the Issues tab or reach out on Discord: maged03211