Test Awesome International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF)


A list of lists of awesome IIIF resources.

The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) is a group of standard APIs around sharing and reuse of media. It is also a growing community of galleries, libraries, archives, museums, companies, and others who develop the standards and interoperable software implementations. Content includes helpful links around each of the standards, demonstrations of their use, and tutorials and presentations. The list is especially helpful for orienting new community members and developers.

Disclaimer: These lists are created for informational purposes only and any links do not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, or favouring by the IIIF Consortium.

Contents

The IIIF community has developed several standards for interoperable web-based image delivery.

  • API Annex Documents - List of all API annex documents and API implementation notes. ( no checked date )
  • Authentication API - Describes a set of workflows for guiding the user through an existing access control system. ( no checked date )
  • Content Search API - Specifies interoperability mechanism for searching within annotations. ( no checked date )
  • External Services API Annex - Describes the set of related services that have been identified as useful to reference from the IIIF APIs. ( no checked date )
  • Image API - WWW Specifies a web service that returns an image in response to a standard HTTP or HTTPS request. ( no checked date )
  • Presentation API - Provides the information necessary to allow a rich, online viewing environment for primarily image-based objects to be presented to a human user, likely in conjunction with the IIIF Image API. ( no checked date )

These servers support the IIIF Image API. Some may also have support for the Presentation API.

  • Cantaloupe - Image server written in Java. ( no checked date )
  • Hymir IIIF Server - IIIF server written in Java supporting IIIF Image and Presentation API. ( no checked date )
  • IIPImage Server - High performance image server. ( no checked date )
  • Loris - Written in Python. ( no checked date )
  • RAIS - 100% open source tile server for JP2 images written in Go. ( no checked date )
  • SIPI - IIIFv2 image server written in C++. ( no checked date )
  • digilib - Image server written in Java. ( no checked date )
  • go-iiif - IIIF server written in go (fork of greut/iiif). ( no checked date )
  • iiif_s3 - Ruby library for generating a static IIIF level 0 Image and Presentation API server on Amazon S3. ( no checked date )
  • riiif - Written in Ruby as a Rails engine. ( no checked date )
  • serverless-iiif - IIIF Image API 2.1 server as an AWS Serverless Application. ( no checked date )

These shims allow you to use an image server that does not currently support IIIF. If you have not implemented an image server yet, this is probably not where you want to start.


Various tools for working with images such as cropping tools.

  • Compariscope - A demo app by the Victoria & Albert useful for the alignment of overlayed images, served by the IIIF Image API, and providing an interactive viewer for overlayed images, presented fluidly, using responsive image tags. ( no checked date )
  • IIIF cropping tool - Website using Leaflet-IIIF Cropping and Jekyll that allow users to enter the URL of a IIIF image and get the URL for the cropped section of the image. ( no checked date )
  • IIIF-imageManipulation - UCD's tool to crop images and manipulate via IIIF attributes; integrate with Mirador via plugin. ( no checked date )
  • Leaflet-IIIF Cropping - Example of using Leaflet to provide IIIF cropping. ( no checked date )
  • OpenSeadragon Cropping Tool - Script to allow for cropping an image from within OpenSeadragon. ( no checked date )
  • Stanford Cropper - Simple image cropper. ( no checked date )
  • Wikimedia Commons Image Cropper - Create IIIF image regions from image files at Wikimedia Commons. ( no checked date )

These shims allow you to use systems with presentation metadata (e.g. structure or sequences) that do not currently support IIIF. If you have not implemented the Presentation API yet, this is probably not where you want to start.

  • Chronicling America - For newspapers digitized in the National Digital Newspaper Program. ( no checked date )
  • Shimmy - Ruby gem designed to help you build shims for the IIIF Presentation API, and has samples for NYPL, Flickr, and the US National Archives. ( no checked date )

Libraries and applications that support the Content Search API.

  • Ocracoke - Rails application to create, index, and search text from page images and provide results in IIIF Content Search API format. ( no checked date )
  • Whiiif - Python/Flask/Solr application to index IIIF manifests alongside ALTO representations and provide a IIIF Content Search API endpoint. ( no checked date )

Some resources about the IIIF Authentication API.

  • IIIF Auth Demonstrator - Manifests with accompanying images that demonstrate various IIIF authentication modes. ( no checked date )
  • IIIF.io : the hardest part will be saying "no". - Blog post by Russell McOrmond considering the challenges of restricting access to Canadiana's resources. ( no checked date )
  • iiif-auth-client - Client implementation of the IIIF Authentication specification. ( no checked date )
  • iiif-auth-server - A demo server implementation of all apsects of the IIIF Authentication specification. ( no checked date )
  • iiif-image-auth - A simple server implementation based on Docker and Flask. ( no checked date )

Tutorials for how to accomplish functionality in your applications.


Slide decks and presentation videos with a focus on IIIF.


Links to help you discover IIIF resources that have been shared, demonstrations of IIIF discovery and useful discovery tools.

  • Biblissima IIIF-Collections - Prototype application that allows you to search across IIIF-compliant manuscripts and rare books dated before 1800. ( no checked date )
  • Europeana's IIIF filtered search - Europeana provides a filter to identify all IIIF-enabled resources in its collections. ( no checked date )
  • IIIF Discovery in Japan - Prototype discovery system for IIIF resources in Japan. ( no checked date )
  • IIIF Explorer - OCLC's IIIF Explorer is a prototype application that searches across images (all IIIF-enabled) in the CONTENTdm digital content management systems hosted by OCLC. ( no checked date )
  • Musiclibs - Provides cross-library search of thousands of musical scores and manuscripts. ( no checked date )
  • iNQUIRE demo - Open-source IIIF-compliant research and discovery platform. This is the IIIF-compliant version of the platform driving [Digital Bodleian] (http://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/). ( no checked date )
  • iNQUIRE source - Github repository for iNQUIRE. ( no checked date )
  • iiif-universe - Repository that includes links to known IIIF presentation manifest collections. ( no checked date )

Import to Viewers

  • Open in IIIF Viewer - A web browser extension to open IIIF manifest link in your favorite IIIF viewer. ( no checked date )

While annotations are not specified by IIIF they are an important enabling technology.


Annotation Servers

  • Elucidate - Java and Postgres annotation server. ( no checked date )
  • Local IIIF Annotation Server - Jekyll front end, Flask backend, equipped with Vagrant Box that provides a Mirador viewer for creating and save annotations into Jekyll site. Annotations are sharable by using GitHub pages with Jekyll front end. ( no checked date )
  • MangoServer - Mongo-backed annotation server written in Python. ( no checked date )
  • SimpleAnnotationServer - Java annotation server backed by an Apache Jena triple store, Sesame, or Solr. ( no checked date )
  • annotot - Simple IIIF annotations mounted in a Ruby on Rails applications. ( no checked date )
  • ipfs-iiif-db - IIIF annotations JS client over IPFS. ( no checked date )

Annotation Clients

  • IIIF Annotation Studio - Mirador Viewer packaged as a desktop app (macos, linux) with an embedded annotation endpoint that saves annotations to a local sqlite database. ( no checked date )

Content Management Systems (CMS) modules that implement or leverage the IIIF APIs.

  • IIIF Image Field - Drupal 7 module that provides an easy way to add IIIF Images to content types, and configure their display. Supports Image API versions 1.0 or 2.0. ( no checked date )
  • IIIF Server Omeka S Module - Omeka S module that implements the IIIF Image and Presentation APIs. ( no checked date )
  • IIIF Toolkit - IIIF Toolkit by University of Toronto Libraries is a plugin for Omeka Classic (2.3+) that integrates Mirador with a built-in annotator, a manifest generator, Simple Pages shortcodes and Exhibit Builder blocks for a rich presentation experience. ( no checked date )
  • Mirador Viewer Omeka S Module - Omeka S module that integrates the Mirador image viewer. ( no checked date )
  • UniversalViewer Omeka S Module - Omeka S module that integrates UniversalViewer. ( no checked date )

These are resources that are specifically useful for working with newspapers. Many of them are outputs of the IIF Newspaper Community Group.

  • IIIF Newspapers Google Drive Folder - Working documents of the Interest Group for meeting minutes, and working drafts of best practices, etc. ( no checked date )
  • IIIF Newspapers - National Library of Wales' guide, which provides an explanation and examples of how IIIF applies to newspapers. ( no checked date )
  • Populating the Annotation Store with IIIF Annotation List - Provides instructions on how to edit OCR text using annotations in Mirador. ( no checked date )
  • Welsh Newspapers Online - Provides access to over 1 million newspaper pages using the IIIF Image API. ( no checked date )
  • docker-open-oni - Docker friendly setup for open-oni, which will set up and configure the Web application as well as the MySQL, Solr and RAIS Image Server. ( no checked date )
  • ndnp_iiif - Python program for turning National Digital Newspaper Program data into static IIIF JSON that is ready for mounting on the Web. ( no checked date )
  • open-oni - Friendly fork of chronam which is a webapp for viewing National Digital Newspaper Program data from the Library of Congress. ( no checked date )

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math/Medicine

  • CellXplorer - Cell biology annotations in a deep zoom viewer. ( no checked date )

IIIF is a community-based initiative that relies on active participation, discussion, and input. To get involved and learn more, see the IIIF Community page.


  • 3D trade cards explorer - A 3D environment that displays nineteenth-century trade cards from the Boston Public Library. Designed to be viewed on a mobile phone, ideally with Google Cardboard. Created using three.js by Jon White, Cogapp. ( no checked date )
  • ANTLITZ.NINJA - Award-winning digital art app that cuts and re-combines historical portraits. Based on IIIF. ( no checked date )
  • Animal Crossing Art Generator - Getty's tool leverages IIIF to create custom patterns featuring artwork from famous art collections around the world. ( no checked date )
  • David Rumsey MapTab - A IIIF powered, Chrome extension that displays a random map from the David Rumsey Map Collection everytime you open a new tab in your browser. Built using Leaflet-IIIF and React.js. Created by Jack Reed, Stanford University Libraries. ( no checked date )
  • Exquisite Corpse - A prototype that deliberately mixes up portrait paintings. Created using Node.js by Jeff Steward, Harvard Art Museums. ( no checked date )
  • Fractals - Deep zoom into a huge (1bn x 1bn pixel) fractal image, created by Sean Martin, Applied IIIF. ( no checked date )
  • IIIF Gallery - A virtual art gallery using OpenSeadragon and custom image generation, created by Stephen Fraser, Digirati. Also see full source code. ( no checked date )
  • Image Comparison with a Magnifying Glass - Image comparison using leaflet magnifying glass by Digirati. ( no checked date )
  • Image Comparison with a Slider - Image comparison using leaflet slider by Digirati. ( no checked date )
  • Old Map Room - An AppleTV application that uses IIIF to turn any room into a map room. ( no checked date )
  • Puzzles! Powered by IIIF - Drag-and-drop image tile puzzles created by Michael Appleby, Yale Center for British Art. ( no checked date )
  • Sleep Stories - Experiment with the W3C Web Annotation Data Model. The annotations present a sequence of stories associated with a large image. Optimised for mobile. Created by Andrew Dyton and Stephen Fraser, Digirati, for Wellcome Collection. ( no checked date )
  • Slider puzzles - More drag-and-drop puzzles and a Medieval Word Maker, created by Ben Albritton, Stanford University Libraries. ( no checked date )
  • Storiiies - Cogapp's showcase of recent experiments in digital storytelling using IIIF. ( no checked date )
  • The Transcriptinator - A prototype "game" created for use on the British Library's crowd-sourcing arcade machine. Players have to flag up errors in the OCR transcriptions of content taken from the Qatar Digital Library. Created by Jon White and Tristan Roddis, Cogapp. ( no checked date )
  • X-raying Balenciaga - Beautiful use of IIIF images to show X-rays of Balenciaga fashion by the Victoria & Albert Museum. ( no checked date )
  • cover.boutique - Award-winning web application to create designs for smartphone cases from IIIF resources. ( no checked date )


  • CanvasPanel - React library to build IIIF Presentation 3 level viewing experiences including support for annotations. ( no checked date )
  • Diva.js - IIIF image viewer optimized for speed and flexibility. ( no checked date )
  • IIIF Curation Viewer - A general IIIF viewer with added focus on curation and ordering of cropped IIIF images. Demo ( no checked date )
  • IIIFViewer - IIIF WebGL / Canvas / DOM mobile-ready fast viewer powered by OpenLayers V3. ( no checked date )
  • Imaging Helper Plugin - OpenSeadragon plugin with utility functions. ( no checked date )
  • Leaflet-IIIF - Lightweight, extensible IIIF image viewer. ( no checked date )
  • Mirador - Multi-up workspace. See also Awesome Mirador list. ( no checked date )
  • OpenLayers - High-performance, feature-packed Javascript library especially built for maps. It supports the IIIF Image API 2.1. ( no checked date )
  • OpenSeadragon - IIIF tile support. ( no checked date )
  • Scalebar Plugin - OpenSeadragon plugin for physical scale overlay. ( no checked date )
  • Tify - Slim and fast IIIF document viewer built with Vue.js. ( no checked date )
  • Universal Viewer - Rich embeddable interface. ( no checked date )

  • File Analyzer IIIF Manifest Generator from Existing Metadata - Georgetown's desktop application that will generate IIIF manifest files from existing metadata files. ( no checked date )
  • Manifest Editor - Web application for importing, viewing, updating, and exporting manifests. See a demo. ( no checked date )
  • biiif - Organise your files according to a simple naming convention to generate IIIF v3 manifests. ( no checked date )
  • demetsiiify - Web service for creating IIIF manifests from METS/MODS documents. ( no checked date )
  • iiif-producer - A CLI tool that generates IIIF Presentation 2.1 Manifests from METS/MODS (produced by Kitodo). ( no checked date )

  • IIIF Manifest Generator - PHP library for generating IIIF manifests. ( no checked date )
  • Manifesto - IIIF Presentation API client and server utility library. ( no checked date )
  • Manifold - Wraps Manifesto to provide viewer state and related utilities. ( no checked date )
  • O'Sullivan - Ruby API for creating IIIF manifests. ( no checked date )
  • Swiiift - IIIF presentation API library for Swift. ( no checked date )
  • Tripoli - IIIF Presentation API 2.0+ validation library. ( no checked date )
  • ViewDir - Documentation on IIIF-related libraries and components, from an open community of designers and developers interested in creating composable and interoperable interfaces for consuming and creating online content. ( no checked date )
  • iiif-apis - Java IIIF API libraries. ( no checked date )
  • iiif-prezi - Python library providing a reference implementation. ( no checked date )
  • iiif-tree-component - IIIF tree menu sortable by date with multi-select capability. ( no checked date )
  • tabula-rasa - npm module for creating and manipulating IIIF manifests. ( no checked date )

  • iOSTiledViewer - IIIF image API and Zoomify viewer for iOS, written in Swift. ( no checked date )
  • iiif - Python library providing a reference implementation of the Image API. Also includes a test server and static tile generator. ( no checked date )
  • iiif_url - Ruby library for creating and parsing IIIF Image API URLs. ( no checked date )
  • image-iiif - A bring your own framework solution for implementing IIIF Image API 2.1 with PHP. ( no checked date )
  • libvips - A fast image processing library with low memory needs. Includes an operation that can build image pyramids compatible with IIIF Image API. ( no checked date )
  • piffle - Python library for generating and parsing IIIF Image API URLs. ( no checked date )