imdb.com
IMDb.com is a huge entertainment database that helps people find movies, TV shows, actors, ratings, credits, reviews, and ideas about what to watch.
What can you do on IMDb.com?
The main value of IMDb.com is that many kinds of movie and TV information sit together on one easy page.
A title page can show the cast, crew, release date, running time, genres, story details, trailers, photos, reviews, ratings, awards, trivia, and other useful facts.
This makes IMDb useful when you remember a face or story but cannot remember the name of the movie.
The site's official IMDb history page says the service went online in 1990 and became part of Amazon in 1998.
IMDb is therefore much more than a place where people give movies a score.
How large is the IMDb database?
The size of IMDb is one reason it appears so often when people search for entertainment facts.
According to the official IMDb statistics page, the database had more than 30 million titles and more than 15 million name records as of June 2026.
Those records cover movies, TV episodes, short films, podcasts, video games, music videos, and many other kinds of entertainment.
The database also contains hundreds of millions of separate pieces of information about credits, dates, genres, plots, images, reviews, and other details.
This large size makes IMDb especially good for finding old, rare, or small productions that may receive little attention elsewhere.
Can you trust IMDb ratings?
IMDb ratings are useful, but they should be read as the opinion of IMDb users rather than a final measure of quality.
Registered users can rate released titles from 1 to 10, and IMDb combines those votes into the score shown on each title page.
However, the number is not a simple average because IMDb uses a weighted system that changes how much different votes affect the final result.
The official ratings FAQ says IMDb may change its weighting when it finds unusual voting activity.
IMDb does not publish the full weighting method because doing so could make the rating system easier to manipulate.
This means a score like 8.0 should be treated as a useful crowd signal, not as a scientific fact.
Why should you look beyond the main score?
A single score can hide a big fight between viewers who loved a movie and viewers who hated it.
IMDb lets users open the rating breakdown and see how votes are spread across the 1-to-10 scale.
This view can tell you more than the headline score when a movie is strange, political, experimental, or aimed at a very specific audience.
IMDb may also show user reviews, critic links, and a Metacritic score, so you can compare several kinds of opinion before choosing what to watch.
The best use of IMDb is therefore comparison, because several signals are usually safer than trusting one number.
How can IMDb help you choose what to watch?
The IMDb Watchlist lets you save movies and shows that you want to watch later.
You can sort saved titles by rating, popularity, and other details instead of trying to remember every interesting movie you see.
IMDb also gives logged-in users personalized suggestions based partly on ratings and Watchlist activity.
The site's recommendation system compares your choices with people who have similar tastes.
That makes IMDb more useful after you rate several movies because the site starts learning what kinds of stories you enjoy.
A newer Watched tool also lets you record something you saw without forcing you to give it a rating or write a review.
Where does all the information on IMDb come from?
IMDb combines managed database work with information submitted by people who use and contribute to the site.
Users can suggest new facts or corrections through the site's contribution system.
This helps IMDb grow quickly because people can submit cast credits, crew information, titles, dates, and many other details.
Submissions do not always appear at once because different types of information can be checked and processed on different schedules.
This open contribution model is powerful, but it also means important facts should sometimes be checked against another trusted source.
What is IMDbPro used for?
IMDbPro is a paid service made mainly for actors, filmmakers, agents, producers, casting teams, and other entertainment workers.
The official IMDbPro guide says members can use professional contact information, advanced searches, industry connections, project information, and profile tools.
This creates an important split inside the IMDb business because normal IMDb serves fans while IMDbPro serves people whose jobs depend on entertainment data.
What is the smartest way to use IMDb.com?
Use IMDb.com as a map of the entertainment world instead of treating it as a judge that tells you which movie is good or bad.
Check credits when you recognize an actor, use the Watchlist when something looks interesting, read the rating spread before trusting the main score, and compare reviews when opinions look divided.
For parents, IMDb's Parental Guide can also describe sensitive scenes in more detail than a simple age certificate.
IMDb becomes most useful when you use its deep database, user tools, and different opinion signals together rather than stopping at the big number beside a movie poster.