Gain richer access to the world's image and audio/visual files

IIIF is a set of open standards for delivering high-quality, attributed digital objects online at scale. It’s also an international community developing and implementing the IIIF APIs. IIIF is backed by a consortium of leading cultural institutions.

Get started

Break down silos with open APIs

Many of the images and audio/visual resources that are fundamental to research exist in silos, with access restricted to locally-built applications. IIIF gives you and your audience freedom to work across barriers.

Simplify and enhance your work

Magnifying glass icon

Great for researchers

Examine, compare, annotate, and share. IIIF enables easy use across repositories, with tools to aid research and presentation.

Code prompt icon

Efficient for developers

Publish once, reuse often. IIIF serves high-quality digital objects to your own site and others in many formats, without vendor lock-in.

Hand holding flag icon

Practical for leaders

Share your collections as widely as possible. IIIF is a cost-effective way to serve billions of digital objects with open-source, community-driven ethics.

Why IIIF

Start building

The six IIIF APIs fit together to deliver endless possibilities.

Image API icon

Image API

Retrieves images from anywhere in the world and allows the user to select an area of the image and to resize, rotate, and edit the quality.

Presentation API icon

Presentation API

Packages each image with its metadata so users know the origin, title of the image, and even what page of a book the image was from.

Auth Flow API icon

Authorization Flow API

Control and restrict access by creating a link to a user interface for logging in and services that provide credentials.

Search API icon

Content Search API

Perform search for text within or annotations related to digital objects.

Change Discovery API icon

Change Discovery API

Harvest any changes published by organizations that deliver digital objects.

Content State API icon

Content State API

Generate a very specific link to a particular view of an object, like a specific area on a particular page rotated at a certain angle.

Join the community

IIIF community groups tackle a range of topics, from implementing IIIF for specific communities to crafting new technical specifications.

Learn more

Funded by global technology leaders

IIIF is funded by a 69-member global consortium, and leveraged by aggregators, research institutions, national libraries, archives, museums, software companies, and digital agencies around the world. Consortium members include:

View members

Latest news

IIIF Consortium Welcomes the French Ministry of Culture

    |   IIIF-C Staff

The International Image Interoperability Framework Consortium is delighted to announce the French Ministry of Culture is a new member.

Read More >

Save the Date for the 2025 IIIF Annual Conference in Leeds, UK

    |   IIIF-C Staff

Save the Date for the 2025 IIIF Annual Conference in Leeds, UK.

Read More >

View all

Events & meetings