Get Internet Archive Item
ia_get_itemRead-onlyIdempotent
Retrieve metadata and the file manifest for an Internet Archive item by identifier. Returns title, creator, description, subjects, collections, license, language, the total file count, and a page of files, each with its format, size, and direct download URL. Pages hold up to max_files files (default 50, at most 500 per call) starting at file_offset; set format to keep a single file type (e.g. "DjVuTXT", "Text PDF", "VBR MP3"). The primary tool to act on a search result from ia_search_items. Use ia_get_text to retrieve the readable text of a text item.
Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| format | No | Keep only files whose format equals this value, ignoring case — e.g. "DjVuTXT", "Text PDF", "VBR MP3". Applied before paging. Omit to list every format. | |
| max_files | No | Maximum number of files to return (default 50). One call returns at most 500: a larger value (up to 300,000) is served as 500, with a notice naming the next file_offset. | |
| identifier | Yes | Internet Archive item identifier, e.g. "prideprejudice00aust" (Pride and Prejudice). Obtain from ia_search_items results. | |
| file_offset | No | Zero-based position in the (format-filtered) file list to start from (default 0). To read the next page, add the number of files returned to the previous file_offset, or pass the file_offset the notice names. |
Output Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| cap | No | The page size applied: max_files, or 500 when a larger value was capped. | |
| date | No | Publication or upload date when provided. | |
| error | No | Present when the call failed. Absent on success. | |
| files | No | This page of the manifest in upstream order — up to max_files files (at most 500) from file_offset, after the format filter. | |
| shown | No | Number of files returned on this page. | |
| title | No | Item title when provided by the metadata. | |
| notice | No | Paging guidance with the next file_offset, or the formats present when the filter matched nothing. | |
| rights | No | Rights statement when provided. | |
| creator | No | Creator or author name(s) when provided. | |
| subject | No | Subject or topic tag(s) when provided. | |
| language | No | Language(s) of the item when provided. | |
| mediatype | No | Media type (texts, audio, movies, etc.). | |
| truncated | No | True when more files remain past this page. | |
| collection | No | Collection(s) this item belongs to when provided. | |
| file_count | No | Total number of files in the full item manifest, before filtering and paging. | |
| identifier | No | The item identifier. | |
| licenseurl | No | License URL when provided. | |
| totalCount | No | Number of files matching the format filter, before paging. | |
| description | No | Item description when provided. |