Multimedia Search

How to find and use images (pictures), audio (sound), and video files on the Web.

This page:
Multimedia, generally | Images | Audio | Video | Plug-Ins

Multimedia, generally

Audio/Video Search Engines:

See also

• Audio Search Engines
• Video Search Engines
• Files Tube - Search for files, mostly multimedia
• Lycos Multimedia Search
• SingingFish - Audio/video search engine

Collections of Images, Audio and Video Files:

• Internet Archive - Audio, video, live music, software, texts, archived web pages
• Creative Commons
• Creative Commons: Content Directories - Audio, video, image, text, and other content that can be reused under certain circumstances
• Wikimedia Commons - Copyright-free images, audio, and video; however, you should check the license restrictions of any file you want to reuse elsewhere.

File Conversion:

• Zamzar - Convert video, audio, image, or e-book files

Images

Image Search Engines:

• Google Image Search
• Advanced Image Search
• Yahoo Image Search
• Bing Image Search
• Ditto
• Picsearch

Reverse Image Search:

• TinEye - Post an image, and TinEye will try to figure out where it came from

Collections of Images, Stock Photography:

See also

• Art Museums
• Corbis Images - Large collection of images available to license (for a fee mostly)
• Flickr Commons - Images from institutions such as libraries and museums with "no known copyright restrictions"
• Getty Images - Another large collection of images available to license
• iStock - "Royalty free stock photography" from Getty Images
• New York Public Library Picture Collection Online
• David Rumsey Visual Collections - Links to collections of fine arts, cartography, and other images
• Smithsonian Images - Images from the Smithsonian's collections
• USA.gov Image Search
• Can Stock Photo
• Fotosearch - Stock photography
• FreeFoto.com
• Free Images (formerly Stock.XCHNG) [freeimages.com]
• Free Images, Free Stock Photos [freeimages.co.uk]
• Morguefile - Free stock photography
• Yahoo Picture Gallery - Offering pictures from Corbis and elsewhere

News Photos and Illustrations:

• AP Images - News photos licensed for personal, publicity, or research use
• Life Photo Archive - From the famous magazine of photojournalism (Google)
• New York Times Photo Archives
• News in Pictures - From many sources
• Yahoo News Photos
• The Cagle Post: Cartoons and Commentary

Historic Images:

• Historypin - Historic images and videos searchable by place on a map

Library of Congress

• American Memory: Photos and Prints - American history (Library of Congress)
• Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog - Not all works in the catalog are in the public domain
• Picture This: Library of Congress Prints & Photos - Blog
• Flickr: Photos from the Library of Congress - LC is posting some of its photos to this popular site
• Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon

New York Public Library

• NYPL Digital Collections - Images from "illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, and more"
• Public Domain Collections - How to find public domain items in NYPL's digital collections

Directories

• Picture Catalogs Online - Representative list from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Reading Room
• Images of History on the Web - Article listing sources by David Mattison, Searcher, May 2002

Clip Art:

• Barry's Clip Art Server
• Free Graphics

Photo Sharing:

• Flickr
• Advanced Search
• Instagram - Videos as well as photos
• Picasa
• Pinterest - Where users make online bulletin boards to share
• Snapchat - Real-time image sharing for iOS and Android devices

Image Editing:

• Pixlr - Photo editing, online or with a downloadable program (Autodesk)

Web Directories of Image Sites:

• Big Search Engine: Image Search Engines
• Finding Images Online - Links in various subjects (Paula Berinstein)
• FreeImages.com - Directory of free and paid image sites

Audio

Audio Search Engines:

• FindSounds



Collections of Audio Files:

See also

• Music Downloads
• Audio E-books
• Internet Archive: Audio Archive - Includes audio books, live music, news and public affairs, podcasts, radio programs
• National Recording Registry - Significant recordings, chosen annually. Some older, out-of-copyright works can be heard here; there are links for some of the other recordings. (Library of Congress)
• Odeo - Music, podcasts, etc.
• SoundCloud - Music and spoken word uploads

 

Podcasts:

See also

• Curricula and Courseware
• Radio (Many programs are available as podcasts)

A  podcast is a series of spoken-word programs available for download, often in the form of mp3 files. Many podcasters announce new installments by RSS feeds. Use these sites to find podcasts you might like.

• iTunes Podcasts
• Podcast Alley
• Podcast Directory

How-To

• How to Listen to a Podcast, with Ira Glass and his friend Mary (video)
• Podcasting Tools

Apps

• Podcasts - For iOS devices
• Stitcher - For Android devices

News Audio:

See also

• News
• Radio
• Internet Archive: News and Public Affairs
• Yahoo News Audio/Video



Historic Audio:

See also

• Presidents on Tape
• Oratory for texts of speeches
• American Memory: Sound Recordings (Library of Congress)
• Historical Voices - "Galleries," or collections, of audio material
• History Channel: Speeches
• Speechbot - Search engine for audio and video files available from news and government sites

Other Sounds:

• WAV Central - Sound effects and clips from movies and TV

Web Directory of Audio Sites:

• Audio Links: Internet audio directories, broadcasters, and technology (December.com)

Video on the Web

Video Search Engines:

• Bing Video Search
• Google Videos
• Yahoo Video Search

Video Streaming / Downloads:

Possibly for a fee or subscription charge.

• Amazon Instant Video
• Apple iTunes Video
• Crackle
• Google Play: Movies and TV
• Hulu
• Netflix

Indexes to Streaming Services

Find out where you can stream that movie or TV show.

• Can I Stream It?
• JustWatch



News Video:

See also

• News
• Associated Press Film and Video - Including some historic footage (AP)
• Yahoo News Audio/Video
• Vanderbilt Television News Archive - Index of TV news back to the 1960s. If you want to see the broadcasts, you'll need to order videotapes.

Video from Television Shows:

See also

• Television for specific networks and shows
• Video Streaming/Downloads (above)
• Clicker - Index to TV episodes online
• Blinkx TV Video Search
• Hulu - TV (mostly NBC shows), plus some movie clips
• ShadowTV - Subscription service to monitor broadcast television
• TVEyes - Monitors broadcast television; searchable

Historic Video:

• American Memory: Motion Pictures (Library of Congress)
• British Pathé - 80,000 news videos from the 20th century

Short Films / Video Sharing:

• YouTube - Users upload their videos here
• Atom Films - Short films and animations viewable with Shockwave
• Internet Archive: Moving Image Archive - Includes the Prelinger Archive of "ephemeral" films from 1927-1987 and other collections, such as artists' videos and documentaries on war
• Instagram - Videos as well as photos
• Vimeo - User-uploaded videos
• Vine - Very short videos

Web Directories of Video Sites:

• Digital Video Collections Guide: Open Video Collection Sites - List of sites with freely available videos (University of Minnesota Libraries)
• Moving Image Gateway - Thousands of sites for moving image and sound materials, arranged by subject (British Universities Film and Video Council)
• Net Video: Web sites for browsing and watching Internet video (December.com)

Plug-Ins

You will need plug-in software in order to use most of the audio and video files you find at the sites above. Most of this software is available in free and full-featured versions.

• Flash Player - Multimedia (Macromedia)
• Musicmatch - Works like a jukebox
• QuickTime - Audio and Video (Apple, but it works on Windows, too)
• Real Player - Audio and Video; be sure to look for the free version if you're not ready to pay for the full version yet
• SVG Viewer - Data-driven graphics (Adobe)
• Shockwave Player - Multimedia (Macromedia)
• Winamp Player - Plays MP3s and videos
• Windows Media Player