What is archive.org (Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine)

The page you wanted to look at is gone. The company shut down its website, the article was deleted or it changed. And yet you can often still reach it. Thanks to archive.org.

What archive.org is

archive.org is the website of the non-profit Internet Archive, which has been archiving the internet since 1996 and building a free digital library. You will find hundreds of billions of saved web pages there, but also books, music, films, old software and games, all freely accessible.

Wayback Machine: a time machine for the web

The best-known part is the Wayback Machine. It regularly takes snapshots of web pages, so you can see what a page looked like years ago.

The steps are simple:

1. Open web.archive.org and enter the page address.
2. Pick a year and a day with a snapshot in the calendar (blue circles).
3. Browse the historical version - clicking through to other subpages works too, as long as they are archived.

What it is good for in practice:

• Looking up an old version of a site and what it said back then.
• Rescuing content from a page that no longer exists or has changed, for example when a company’s domain expires and the site vanishes.
• Proving what a page really said on a given day. Useful in disputes, journalism and research.
• Finding an old manual, price list or article the author has taken down.
• Vetting a suspicious e-shop: if the site of an allegedly long-established company first appeared a month ago, something is off. Related reading: scam messages.

How to save a page yourself

You do not have to wait for the Wayback Machine to catch the page on its own. With the Save Page Now feature on web.archive.org you enter the address and archive.org takes a snapshot immediately. Handy when you want lasting proof of what a page looked like today, before it changes - competition terms, a price quote or a listing, for example.

Tip: after saving you get a permanent link in the form web.archive.org/web/date/address, which you can share or file with your documents.

When your own website vanishes

A chapter of its own is the situation when it is you who loses the website: the hosting company folded, the domain expired, the CMS broke and there is no backup anywhere. The Wayback Machine is often the last resort in that moment - the texts, structure and some of the images can be pulled out of it and the site rebuilt. It is manual work though; archive snapshots are not a complete backup and nothing replaces your own backups.

It is not just the web

The Internet Archive is a huge library beyond the web too:

• Millions of scanned books, some for lending, some freely available.
• Music, concerts, podcasts and public-domain films.
• Old computer games and programs you can run right in the browser through an emulator.
• An archive of software, magazines and historical documents.

What to watch out for

• Not everything is there. The web is archived selectively; some sites are missing or have only a few snapshots.
• Snapshots tend to be incomplete - dynamic parts, search or login do not work in the archive.
• Copyright applies here as well. The fact that something is archived does not mean you may use it freely.
• Do not rely on it as a backup of your own site - it is a selective archive, not a backup strategy.
• It is a non-profit service funded by donations. If it helped you, you can support it.

Summary

archive.org is the memory of the internet. The Wayback Machine shows you the past of the web, serves as evidence and acts as the last resort for vanished content. It is worth knowing about, whether you are looking for an old page, vetting an e-shop, or just an old game from your childhood.

Need to rescue the content of a defunct website or have a site rebuilt? Get in touch, we will also advise on never losing your website again.

This article is part of our Software and system overview.