British Pathé Ltd

British Pathé is the world’s finest newsreel archive, a treasure trove of 220,000 film items from the British Pathé and Reuters Historical Collection spanning the years from 1896 to 1984. It includes footage from around the globe of major events, famous faces, fashion trends, travel, sport and culture.

All of our 220,000 films are digitised and available to view on our website and can be licensed for a number of purposes ranging from Heritage (Museum) display, to Online/Social Media use and Advertising.

Unique to our offering is our Museum Subscription, which grants unlimited access to download and utilise content from the British Pathé archive for a monthly fee. This has allowed Museums with limited budgets to breathe new life into their displays and showcase a myriad of insightful and interesting films from yesteryear to their audiences, greatly enhancing the impact and memorability of their offering.

The Museum Subscription also grants the double advantage of Museums being able to test and adapt footage within their displays, presenting a greater degree of flexibility over committing to a specific license, a unique option in the sector.

The Museum Subscription can also be tailored to cover a wide variety of rights and clearances, though or most common model includes Heritage (Museum) display and Online/Social Media use.

Though our whole collection is digitised, we also hold our original film stock, allowing us to deliver our film in HD, 2K, and 4K resolution and similar. Our standard definition film copies are also of broadcast quality, and it is this format we often dispatch to national and international broadcasters, such as the BBC, ITV, and CBS.

Our archive is also home to a massive selection of still images, Our archive is also home to a massive selection of still images, available in 300 dpi (print quality), another means by which Museums can enhance their displays or provide engaging supplementary print material or advertise to a wider audience.

We also operate a free research service, working with you to help find the best footage to enhance your display, or that very particular clip you’ve been searching for!