# Prelinger and public-domain archive films > Free archive films: Prelinger educational, industrial and advertising films, home movies and early cinema, from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons. 15 clips from 2 sources (Internet Archive 14, NASA Image and Video Library 1), updated 2026-10-28. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily. - Same search in the browser: https://video.shep.bot/search?q=film&category=archive.film - Same search over the API: `curl "https://video.shep.bot/v1/search?q=film&category=archive.film"` - Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://video.shep.bot/v1/clips/{id}` with an id from the table below. - Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial videos; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://video.shep.bot/docs/licences.md - Video is never re-hosted: posters, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites. ## Films nobody meant to keep Industrial films about assembly lines, classroom films about manners and hygiene, adverts for cars and kitchens, home movies of holidays: made for one purpose and then forgotten, these "ephemeral" films are now a goldmine of period footage. The Prelinger Archives on the Internet Archive hold thousands of them, roughly from 1903 to the 1980s, and Wikimedia Commons adds early cinema and digitised films from institutions. ## Using them well These are whole films, not stock clips: scrub through for the shot you need, and skip opening titles and countdown leaders. Expect standard definition and 4:3; pillarbox or crop carefully. The films are public domain, but the people and products in them never signed releases, so they are flagged editorial: perfect for documentaries, essays and history channels, risky in an ad. ## Clips | Clip | id | What | Source | Licence | Commercial use | Direct download | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Skylab Zero-G Flammability Studies - 16mm Film Transfer](https://images.nasa.gov/details/GRC-2022-CM-0138) | `nasa:GRC-2022-CM-0138` | Films & animation, 1985 | NASA Image and Video Library | NASA media (public domain in the US) | Commercial use OK with credit (editorial) | yes | | [San Francisco (1955 Cinemascope film)](https://archive.org/details/SanFrancisco1955CinemascopeFilm) | `internetarchive:SanFrancisco1955CinemascopeFilm` | Films & animation, 21:28 | Internet Archive | CC BY-SA 3.0 | Restricted: read the conditions (editorial) | yes | | [Sleep for Health](https://archive.org/details/Sleepfor1950) | `internetarchive:Sleepfor1950` | Films & animation, Black & white, 10:44, 1950 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Commercial use OK (editorial) | yes | | [Sex Madness](https://archive.org/details/sex_madness) | `internetarchive:sex_madness` | Films & animation, Black & white, 1938 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Unclear: check the terms (editorial) | yes | | [Duck and Cover](https://archive.org/details/DuckandC1951) | `internetarchive:DuckandC1951` | Films & animation, Black & white, Animation / CG, 9:15, 1951 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Commercial use OK (editorial) | yes | | [Charlie Chaplin Festival](https://archive.org/details/charlie_chaplin_film_fest) | `internetarchive:charlie_chaplin_film_fest` | Films & animation, Black & white, 1:17:26, 1938 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Unclear: check the terms (editorial) | yes | | [His Girl Friday](https://archive.org/details/his_girl_friday) | `internetarchive:his_girl_friday` | Films & animation, Black & white, 1:31:44, 1940 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Unclear: check the terms (editorial) | yes | | [Reefer Madness](https://archive.org/details/reefer_madness1938) | `internetarchive:reefer_madness1938` | Films & animation, Black & white, 1:08:17, 1938 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Unclear: check the terms (editorial) | yes | | [Bloody Pit of Horror](https://archive.org/details/BloodyPitOfHorror) | `internetarchive:BloodyPitOfHorror` | Films & animation, 1:22:24, 1965 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Unclear: check the terms (editorial) | yes | | [The Pied Piper of Hamelin](https://archive.org/details/The_Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin) | `internetarchive:The_Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin` | Films & animation, 1:29:00, 1957 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Unclear: check the terms (editorial) | yes | | [Abraham Lincoln](https://archive.org/details/abraham_lincoln) | `internetarchive:abraham_lincoln` | Films & animation, Black & white, 1:24:39, 1930 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Unclear: check the terms (editorial) | yes | | [Don't Be a Sucker](https://archive.org/details/DontBeaS1947) | `internetarchive:DontBeaS1947` | Films & animation, Black & white, 17:21, 1947 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Commercial use OK (editorial) | yes | | [Dressed To Kill](https://archive.org/details/dressed_to_kill) | `internetarchive:dressed_to_kill` | Films & animation, Black & white, 1:11:30, 1946 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Unclear: check the terms (editorial) | yes | | [Boys Beware](https://archive.org/details/boys_beware) | `internetarchive:boys_beware` | Films & animation, Black & white, 10:12, 1961 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Commercial use OK (editorial) | yes | | [Diary of a Nudist](https://archive.org/details/DiaryofaNudist) | `internetarchive:DiaryofaNudist` | Films & animation, 1:12:00, 1961 | Internet Archive | Public domain | Unclear: check the terms (editorial) | yes | ## Questions **What are the Prelinger Archives?** A collection of 20th-century ephemeral films (industrial, educational, advertising and amateur) assembled by archivist Rick Prelinger. Thousands of them are on the Internet Archive, marked public domain by the collection. **Do archive films need a credit?** Public-domain films need no credit by law. Crediting the archive (for example 'Prelinger Archives, Internet Archive') is good practice. **Why is the licence 'check the terms' on some films?** Outside curated collections such as Prelinger, Internet Archive licences are chosen by uploaders and not verified, so they are capped at 'check the terms'. ## Related collections - [Public-domain newsreels and documentary footage](https://video.shep.bot/footage/public-domain-newsreels.md): Free newsreels and documentary films from the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons: wartime, public information and news footage, with year. - [Free city footage: skylines, streets and traffic](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-city-footage.md): Free city stock video: skylines, streets, traffic and night lights from open archives, with editorial flags where people and brands appear without releases. - [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-motion-backgrounds.md): Free motion backgrounds: abstract animations, particles, gradients and data-driven loops for titles, slides, stage screens and websites. - [Free timelapse videos: cities, skies and nature](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-timelapse-videos.md): Free timelapse stock video: city lights, traffic trails, clouds, stars and nature compressed into seconds, with frame rate, resolution and licence. --- Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/prelinger-archive-films