Does IMDB provide an API? [closed]

I recently found a movie organizer application which fetches its data from the IMDB database.

Does IMDB provide an API for this, or any third party APIs available?

Solution 1:

The IMDb has a public API that, although undocumented, is fast and reliable (used on the official website through AJAX).

Search Suggestions API

• https://sg.media-imdb.com/suggests/h/hello.json

• https://v2.sg.media-imdb.com/suggests/h/hello.json (as of 2019)

  • Format: JSON-P
  • Caveat: It's in JSON-P format, and the callback parameter can not customised. To use it cross-domain you'll have to use their function name for the callback (which is in the imdb${searchphrase} format). Alternatively, one could strip or replace the padding via a local proxy.

• https://v2.sg.media-imdb.com/suggestion/h/hello.json (as of 2020)

  • Format: JSON
  • Caveat: It's not CORS-enabled. This is fine for use in apps and server-side scripts. For use in a web app, you'll need to route it through a simple proxy (and consider enabling caching, too!)

// 1) Vanilla JavaScript (JSON-P)
function addScript(src) { var s = document.createElement('script'); s.src = src; document.head.appendChild(s); }
window.imdb$foo = function (results) {
  /* ... */
};
addScript('https://sg.media-imdb.com/suggests/f/foo.json');

// 2) Using jQuery (JSON-P)
jQuery.ajax({
    url: 'https://sg.media-imdb.com/suggests/f/foo.json',
    dataType: 'jsonp',
    cache: true,
    jsonp: false,
    jsonpCallback: 'imdb$foo'
}).then(function (results) {
    /* ... */
});

// 3) Pure JSON (with jQuery)
// Use a local proxy to the clean `/suggestion` API.
jQuery.getJSON('/api/imdb/?q=foo', function (results) {
    /* ... */
});

// 4) Pure JSON (plain JavaScript; Modern ES6, ES2017, and Fetch API)
// Serve a "/api" route in your app, that proxies (and caches!)
// to v2.sg.media-imdb.com/suggestion/h/hello.json
const resp = await fetch('/api/imdb/?q=foo');
const results = await resp.json();

Advanced Search

• Name search (json): http://www.imdb.com/xml/find?json=1&nr=1&nm=on&q=jeniffer+garner
• Title search (xml): http://www.imdb.com/xml/find?xml=1&nr=1&tt=on&q=lost
• Format: XML
• Upside: Supports both film titles and actor names (unlike Suggestions API).

Beware that these APIs are unofficial and could change at any time!

Update (January 2019): The Advanced API no longer exists. The good news is, that the Suggestions API now supports the "advanced" features of searching by film titles and actor names as well.

Solution 2:

new api @ http://www.omdbapi.com

edit: due to legal issues had to move the service to a new domain :)