WPA Film Library

What WPA Film Library does

MPI Stock Footage Archive, formerly known as WPA Film Library, operates an online stock footage licensing platform serving film and media production professionals, documentary filmmakers, educators, and archival researchers. The company is privately held and headquartered at 16101 S. 108th Avenue, Orland Park, Illinois, with no disclosed parent company, institutional investors, or PE/VC backing.

The platform provides account-based self-serve access to what the company describes as one of the industry's largest and most diverse stock footage collections, with content organized into curated themed exhibits covering subjects such as the SOUL! music and interview archive, Palestine (1940s-2000s), World War II in color, the African American Civil Rights movement, 1960s music, the Apollo space missions, the MLK assassination, and 1950s computers. Supporting technical components include web-based clip search, preview, and selection functionality, plus a human-assisted research-request workflow for custom inquiries; no AI/ML capabilities, APIs, or SDKs are disclosed.

Revenue is generated through transactional licensing of individual clips to production customers, with pricing handled via direct sales contact rather than public listing. The go-to-market is primarily direct-to-customer through the online platform, supplemented by organic social presence on X, Facebook, and YouTube for top-of-funnel awareness. The company's competitive positioning rests on the breadth and historical significance of its rights-cleared archive and the difficulty of replicating that catalog, rather than on technology differentiation.

Name

WPA Film Library

Legal name

MPI Stock Footage Archive

Website

https://wpafilmlibrary.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

MPI Stock Footage Archive (formerly WPA Film Library) is a privately held, US-based online stock footage licensing platform serving filmmakers, documentarians, educators, and media professionals with a large, rights-cleared historical archive.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Stock Footage Library

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Industries (5121), Motion Picture and Video Distribution (51212)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Distribution (7822), Services-Allied To Motion Picture Distribution (7829)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPADALAD

Footage & Stock Media Licensing (Archival/Newsreel/Stock)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Film & Video Production/Distribution/Film/TV Licensing & Rights Management

SECONDARYBPAMAJAM

Stock Media, Asset Marketplaces & Licensing Platforms

Business & Public Services/Web, Mobile & Digital Platforms/Media Streaming, Publishing & Content Platforms

SECONDARYMPABANAC

Archive & Library Footage Licensing (News, Sports, Entertainment)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Broadcasting (TV & Radio)/Broadcast Content Sales & Licensing (Formats, Archives)

Keywords

• Stock footage licensing
• Archival video clips
• Historical footage library
• Documentary footage archive
• Media licensing platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Orland Park

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Footage Licensing: The company generates revenue through licensing its stock footage collection to production companies, filmmakers, and media professionals for use in their productions

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

MPI Stock Footage Archive (formerly WPA Film Library) licenses one of the industry's largest and most diverse collections of historical and archival stock footage to production companies, filmmakers, documentary creators, and media professionals. Customers access the collection through an online platform that supports account creation, search, clip preview, and selection, with professional staff available for custom research and inquiry support.

Product overview

MPI Stock Footage Archive (formerly WPA Film Library) is a single unified online platform offering one of the industry's largest and most diverse stock footage collections. The core service provides an online database where clients can create accounts, search, preview, and license clips. The platform organizes content through themed exhibits (such as SOUL! Music and Interviews, Palestine, World War II in Color, Civil Rights, Music of the 1960s, Apollo Space Missions, MLK Assassination, and 1950s Computers) and demo reels categorized by subject (Nature & Environment, Politics, Stock Footage, Chicago).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• MPI Stock Footage Archive

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• AP Archive: News and historical footage archive operated by The Associated Press, licensing archival video to broadcasters and producers. Comparable to MPI as a large rights-managed historical footage library.
• Pond5: Online stock footage and media marketplace with self-serve pricing and instant licensing. Closely comparable to MPI's self-serve, web-based licensing model for footage buyers.
• Bridgeman Images: Rights-cleared cultural and historical image and footage library serving editorial, broadcast, and documentary clients. Comparable to MPI's focus on rights-managed historical and cultural archive content.
• CriticalPast: Archival footage and newsreel licensing platform serving documentary and broadcast producers. Directly comparable to MPI as a specialist in historical news and event footage licensing.
• Footage.net: Stock footage search engine and marketplace aggregating footage from multiple archives. Comparable to MPI as a discovery and licensing surface for archival footage buyers.
• Historic Films Archive: Stock footage library specializing in historical, news, and cultural footage for documentary and broadcast clients. Comparable niche focus to MPI's archival licensing business.
• Reuters Archive (Refinitiv / Thomson Reuters): Historical news footage archive from Reuters, offering licensed archival video for editorial and documentary use. Comparable to MPI's coverage of major historical and world events.

Broad incumbents

• Adobe Stock Video: Subscription-based stock video marketplace integrated with Creative Cloud. Comparable to MPI as a footage-licensing destination for production professionals.
• Getty Images: Global stock imagery and footage marketplace offering editorial and archival video licensing. Directly comparable to MPI as a footage-licensing platform with broad catalog and enterprise relationships.
• Shutterstock (Editorial Footage): Large subscription and per-clip stock footage and editorial platform. Comparable to MPI on buyer-side self-serve footage licensing across broad customer segments.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/wpafilmlibrary
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@mpistockfootage
• Facebookfacebook.com/mpistockfootage

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about WPA Film Library