TMDb

Overview

The Movie Database (TMDb) API provides movies, TV shows, people, images, and streaming availability — community-curated and rich. Auth is a free API key (v3 auth token) with a generous free tier (an invalid key returns 401 — verified).

Quick Start

Movie details (replace YOUR_KEY):

curl "https://api.themoviedb.org/3/movie/550?api_key=YOUR_KEY"

{
  "id": 550,
  "title": "Fight Club",
  "overview": "A ticking-time-bomb insomniac...",
  "vote_average": 8.4,
  "release_date": "1999-10-15",
  "poster_path": "/pB8BM7pdSp6B6Ih7QZ4DrQ3PmJK.jpg"
}

Search:

curl "https://api.themoviedb.org/3/search/movie?api_key=YOUR_KEY&query=inception"

Trending:

curl "https://api.themoviedb.org/3/trending/movie/week?api_key=YOUR_KEY"

Now playing / popular:

curl "https://api.themoviedb.org/3/movie/now_playing?api_key=YOUR_KEY&region=US"
curl "https://api.themoviedb.org/3/movie/popular?api_key=YOUR_KEY"

Authentication

• Register at themoviedb.org → request an API key (Settings → API).
• The v3 key is used as the api_key query parameter (or Authorization: Bearer with the v4 token).

Rate Limits & Notes

• Free tier: 50 requests/second — among the most generous free movie APIs.
• Images: https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500{poster_path} (choose size: w92…original).
• Pagination via page (max 500) — responses include total_pages.
• Data is community-edited — occasionally lags or differs from official sources.

FAQ

Is TMDb free? Yes — free key with 50 requests/second.

How do I get a key? Register at themoviedb.org → Settings → API → request a key.

How do I build image URLs? https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/{size}{poster_path}.