Introduction to The Movie Database API

Get introduced to ‘The Movie Database API'.

We'll cover the following

What is The Movie Database?

The Movie Database (TMDB) is a popular, community-built database for movies and TV shows. All the content has been added and updated by users dating back to the year 2008. TMDB has a strong focus on collecting data from around the globe, and covers a wide range of data, most of which can only be found on TMDB.

What is TMDB API?

TMDB API allows us to programmatically fetch and use data provided by TMDB. The TMDB API service is for those interested in using the movie, TV show/season, or actor data and, if required, images in their application.

Following are the reasons that encourage or convince us to use TMDB:

  • Each year since 2008, the number of contributions to TMDB has increased. This led to over 400,000 developers and companies currently using TMDB, making it a premier source for metadata.

  • TMDB not only provides users with extensive metadata for movies, TV shows, and people but also offers one of the best selections of high-resolution posters and fan art. Almost 1,000 new images are added to the collection everyday.

  • TMDB is international. While it officially supports 39 languages, it also has extensive regional data. Each day, the platform is used in more than 180 countries.

  • TMDB community is incomparable. Between its staff and community moderators, it’s always available for help. The team is passionate about ensuring that the user gets the best experience on TMDB.

  • TMDB is a trusted platform. It processes over 3 billion requests every day. The team has proven for years that this is a service that can be trusted and relied on.

How would it help us?

Until now, we have learned that TMDB allows the users to fetch movie or TV show-related data, but how would it help us in making a good application?

Let’s quickly look at a few ways to use the data in a useful manner:

  • Find movies or TV shows/seasons.
  • Get the status of movies or TV shows/seasons.
  • Get a list of trending, popular, top-rated movies, or TV shows/seasons.
  • Get the movies or TV shows/seasons features.

Endpoints overview

An API endpoint is a point where an API communicates with the software program.

We’ll cover most of the TMDB API’s endpoints in this course. The illustration below will expand on this concept.