The Archive also oversees numerous book digitization projects, collectively one of the world's largest book digitization efforts.
Its web archive, the Wayback Machine, contains hundreds of billions of web captures. The Internet Archive allows the public to upload and download digital material to its data cluster, but the bulk of its data is collected automatically by its web crawlers, which work to preserve as much of the public web as possible. Their mission is to provide 'universal access to all knowledge.' As of January 1, 2023, the Internet Archive holds more than 38 million print materials, 11.6 million pieces of audiovisual content, 2.6 million software programs, 15 million audio files, 4.7 million images, 251,000 concerts, and over 832 billion web pages in its Wayback Machine. The Archive also advocates for a free and open Internet. It provides free access to collections of digitized materials including websites, software applications, music, audiovisual and print materials. The Internet Archive is an American digital library founded on May 10, 1996, and chaired by free information advocate Brewster Kahle. Since late 2009, the headquarters of the Internet Archive has been the building that formerly housed the Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist (San Francisco, California).
