Cecil Beaton Second World War Photography Black and White

If your question regarding archive licensing is not answered below, please contact one of our teams: 

Image and sound: 

Email: [email protected]

Film: 

Email: [email protected]

Frequently Asked Questions
Searching for Media

Before completing the form you will need to identify the items you would like to order and locate the IWM catalogue number for each one. You can search for images and sound files by using our Collections Search. A useful tip to search is ‘less is more’. If you put in keywords that relate to the subject you are searching for, rather than whole sentences, you are likely to receive more results. You can also use the filter options available below the search box. Click on the record to see full details of the item, including the IWM catalogue number.

Formats

Images

We offer three sizes of high-resolution (300dpi) image files:
A5 tiff (approx. 900KB)
A4 tiff (approx. 3.5MB)
A3 tiff (approx. 20MB)

Standard digital files are suitable for general use. A copy is created from our master archive image, cropped to remove rebate and sized. Digitally restored files are available on request at an additional cost. Learn more about the range and quality of digital files we offer here.

Sound

Sound files can also be ordered in a range of formats:
WAV files (CD quality) recorded at 16-bit 44.1KHz
MP3 files are recorded at 16-bit 192Kbps. These files are digitally compressed to around one tenth the size of the equivalent .WAV file, so are quicker to download, but have somewhat reduced fidelity (not usually problematic with spoken material)

Film  

Please register on IWM Film, our dedicated film website, to access free downloads of digitised films as .MP4 files with time-code, film number and IWM logo for evaluation and review purposes.

For broadcast quality HD clips, we supply:

ProRes HD/MXF 25fps. Frame size 1920 x 1080

For non-broadcast use, we supply:

SD complete films  - MP4  25fps. Frame size 720x540
SD clips  - MP4 25fps 480x360 / MP4 25fps 720x540-405/ MP4 25fps  720x480 (US standard)

Delivery

Digital Image Orders:

  • All orders are dependent on resources and could take several days, so please check with the team for estimated delivery time.

Digital Sound Orders:

Sound files will be delivered within 10 working days.
If a file requires new digitisation delivery may take longer.

Licence Types and Policies

Please refer to our Policies and Terms and Conditions