{"eid":"archive-org-download-web-serving-path","name":"archive.org /download web serving path","domain":null,"resolved_by":"name","topics":["storage"],"n_records":1,"best_vorder":1,"review":null,"aliases":["archive.org /download web serving path","archive.org /download web serving path (the free CDN)"],"records":[{"rid":"storage/archive-org-download-web-serving-path","card":{"rid":"storage/archive-org-download-web-serving-path","eid":"archive-org-download-web-serving-path","topic":"storage","slug":"archive-org-download-web-serving-path","provider":"archive.org /download web serving path (the free CDN)","url":"https://archive.org/download/<identifier>/<filename>","domain":"archive.org","category":"academic","tier":null,"verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","vorder":1,"grp":"usable","self_hosted":0,"confidence":"reported","binding":"per-ip-shaping","identity_kind":"anonymous","identity_basis":"stated","needs_card":0,"needs_phone":0,"needs_id":0,"needs_institution":0,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":"rest,rclone,cli","egress_metered":0,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01T18:05:15.762Z","verified_basis":"inherited","checked_on":"2026-10-21","stale_on":"2026-11-05","n_evidence":9,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"Serving is unmetered and free; no per-file download cap and no egress fee. Practical ceiling is throughput, not quota.","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":9,"free_unit":"mixed"},"record":{"topic":"storage","slug":"archive-org-download-web-serving-path","provider":"archive.org /download web serving path (the free CDN)","url":"https://archive.org/download/<identifier>/<filename>","category":"academic","free_tier":{"stated":"Serving is unmetered and free; no per-file download cap and no egress fee. Practical ceiling is throughput, not quota.","unit":"mixed","metered_on":"unstated","source_url":"https://archive.org/developers/items.html","read_on":"2026-10-21","notes":null},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"not stated","source_url":"https://archive.org/developers/items.html","notes":"not stated"},"retention":{"stated":"not stated","source_url":"https://archive.org/developers/items.html","notes":"not stated"},"egress":{"terms":"Free / unmetered. Docs: 'high performance downloads are achieved via the archive web infrastructure' — i.e. GET https://archive.org/download/<item>/<file>, which 302s to an iaNNNNNN.us.archive.org datanode. BitTorrent webseeds supplement it.","metered":false,"source_url":"https://archive.org/download/<item>/<file>"},"interface":["rest","rclone","cli"],"interface_detail":"rest","tooling":"plain HTTPS GET with Range (measured: 206 + accept-ranges: bytes); ia CLI download w/ --checksum resume; rclone 'internetarchive' reads back through the same front end","chaining":"Parallelise across items — different items can be pinned to different iaNNNNNN datanodes, so aggregate throughput scales with item count rather than with connections to one item.","limits":[{"kind":"per-ip-shaping","value":"1.19 MB/s","source":"https://archive.org/developers/items.html"},{"kind":"per-ip-shaping","value":"1.66 MB/s","source":"https://archive.org/developers/items.html"}],"limits_note":"Canonical URLs 302 at least once (clients need --location-trusted when sending Authorization); do NOT link iaNNNNNN.us.archive.org directly (nodes move); 429/503 under load; no auth on GET, so everything is world-readable.","identity_cost":{"kind":"anonymous","detail":"no credential is needed to read: an anonymous GET of archive.org/download/<identifier>/<filename> redirects once to a datanode and serves the file. Uploading needs an Internet Archive account whose form asks an email address, a screen name and a password, and asks no phone number","country":null},"reliability_note":"Throughput is the binding constraint, not quota: measured 1.19 MB/s on one 90s stream and 1.66 MB/s aggregate across 8 parallel range requests to one datanode from one IP (~145 GB/day) — against a local link calibrated at 27.6 MB/s, so this is server-side shaping, not a user.","confidence":"reported","confidence_note":null,"evidence":[{"url":"https://archive.org/developers/ias3.html","date":"2026-10-21","proved":"'Fast GET downloads ... high performance downloads are achieved via the archive web infrastructure: curl --location http://archive.org/download/sam-s3-test-08/demo-intro-to-k.pdf'"},{"url":"https://archive.org/developers/items.html","date":"2026-10-21","proved":"(snapshot 2025-11-08) — 'A particular file can always be downloaded from https://archive.org/download/<identifier>/<filename>'"},{"url":null,"date":"2026-10-21","proved":"probe: curl -r 0-1048575 web.archive.org replay of a 406MB ISO -> HTTP 206, content-range honoured, accept-ranges: bytes, cache-control: max-age=1800"},{"url":null,"date":"2026-10-21","proved":"probe: 8 parallel 5MB range GETs to one replay target -> 40,000,000 bytes in 23s = ~1.7 MB/s aggregate; single 90s stream -> 1.19 MB/s; Cloudflare 50MB control download -> 27.6 MB/s"},{"url":"probe:archive.org","date":"2026-11-01","proved":"an unauthenticated GET of an archive.org/download URL answered 200 after one redirect","capture":"sha256:2344ace3e7bab201e26cff36d7f3fd40f9e4df12bcb0b0420d93f7faa75ffe7b","quote":"\"status\": 200"},{"url":"https://archive.org/developers/items.html","date":"2026-11-01","proved":"the download URL is a public URL, with no account named","capture":"sha256:f876449c8138dfef8cb710c3be34f15c757af8eb026d9e538a006f6257df504e","quote":"A particular file can always be downloaded from:"},{"url":"probe:archive.org","date":"2026-11-01","proved":"an unauthenticated GET of an archive.org/download URL answered 200, so the read path needs no identity","capture":"sha256:2344ace3e7bab201e26cff36d7f3fd40f9e4df12bcb0b0420d93f7faa75ffe7b","quote":"\"status\": 200"},{"url":"https://archive.org/account/signup","date":"2026-11-01","proved":"an upload account asks a screen name, an email address and a password","capture":"sha256:b64a400f01d831157d788d8375563bd617f1248e0d53a3cf9f3805097ffce4a2","quote":"Choose a screen name3 to 40 characters"},{"url":"https://archive.org/developers/items.html","date":"2026-11-01","proved":"the download URL redirects to a datanode","capture":"sha256:f876449c8138dfef8cb710c3be34f15c757af8eb026d9e538a006f6257df504e","quote":"The resultant URL is not a permalink."}],"verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","verified_at":"2026-11-01T18:05:15.762Z","notes":"Serving is unmetered and free; no per-file download cap and no egress fee. Practical ceiling is throughput, not quota.","extras":{},"binding":"per-ip-shaping","binding_note":null},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier","kind":"has-free-tier","num":1.0,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"},{"path":"$.limits[0].value","kind":"limit:per-ip-shaping","num":1.19,"unit":"MB","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[1].value","kind":"limit:per-ip-shaping","num":1.66,"unit":"MB","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"}],"unknown":[["$.binding_note","boilerplate"],["$.confidence_note","withheld"],["$.evidence[2].url","private-url"],["$.evidence[3].url","private-url"],["$.free_tier.notes","process"],["$.per_object_cap.notes","not-extracted"],["$.per_object_cap.stated","not-extracted"],["$.retention.notes","not-extracted"],["$.retention.stated","not-extracted"]],"history":[],"drift":[]}]}