NASA Launches Massive Digital Library for Space Video, Photos & Audio

The NASA Image and Video Library is an online database that consolidates 60 different NASA space image, video and audio archives in a single searchable location.
The NASA Image and Video Library is an online database that consolidates 60 different NASA space image, video and audio archives in a single searchable location. (Image credit: NASA)

NASA on Tuesday (March 28) unveiled a new online library that assembles the agency's amazing space photos, videos and audio files into a single searchable library.

The NASA Image and Video Library, as the agency calls it, can be found at http://images.nasa.gov and consolidates space imagery from 60 different colletions into one location. 

"NASA Image and Video Library allows users to search, discover and download a treasure trove of more than 140,000 NASA images, videos and audio files from across the agency's many missions in aeronautics, astrophysics, Earth science, human spaceflight, and more," NASA officials wrote in a statement. "Users can browse the agency's most recently uploaded files, as well as discover historic and the most popularly searched images, audio files and videos."

The new database allows users to embed NASA imagery in websites, includes image metadata like date, description and keywords, and offers multiple resolution sizes, NASA officials said. According to the NASA statement, other features include: 

  • Automatic scaling to suite the interface for mobile phones and tablets;
  • EXIF/camera data that includes exposure, lens used and other information (when available from the original image);
  • Easy public access to high resolution files;
  • Downloadable caption files for all videos.

The new NASA archive is not meant to be a complete archive of all of the space agency imagery. But it does aim to showcase what the space agency has to offer.

"The library is not comprehensive, but rather provides the best of what NASA makes publicly available from a single point of presence on the web," NASA officials said. "Additionally, it is a living website, where new and archival images, video and audio files continually will be added."

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.