Image Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/workplace-with-modern-laptop-with-program-code-on-screen-3888151/

What is an API?

Before we talk about movie APIs, let us start by defining an API. An API (Application Programming Interface) is a software intermediary that makes it possible for two or more applications to talk to each other. For example, when you start an application on your phone that connects to the internet, it sends data to the server. The server will then retrieve and interpret the data you send to it, perform the instructions you issued then send the data back to your phone. The application will then interpret this data and give you the information in a way that you can understand. All this happens through an API.

What is a Movie API?

Now that we know what an API is, let us discuss the movie API. A movie API is an online repository of information related to films, TV programs, movies, video games, internet streams among others. It also keeps data related to each of these listings such as producers, directors, the cast, plot summaries, trivia, fan reviews, ratings among others. Movie APIs collect most of this data from users and content generated by the users.

They make it easy for their users to get all this data through an extensive set of endpoints that the users can use to query for the information. There are a number of movie APIs that can get the work done for you without any problems. This list shows the best-rated movie APIs you can get today.

How Does a Movie API Work?

What do you think comes into the minds of movie fans when they hear about a new upcoming movie? Most definitely the cast, the directors, producers, a summary, and maybe the movie release date. All this information can be queried with most movie APIs. They come organized into several endpoints that offer all the information about the movie.

For instance, the IMDb API is one of the most popular movie APIs we have today. It does not have a POST endpoint but comes with two GET endpoints. These include;

Title or ID endpoint: This endpoint requires one to have the movie ID or title for a search to be done. In return, you get detailed information about that specific movie. This endpoint comes with several other parameters including type, plot, r, callback, y, and i parameters.
Search endpoint: The search endpoint returns a list of movies or TV shows depending on the search done using the movie title. It also comes with several parameters including page, type, y, and r parameters.

Although there are different movie APIs, they all work in a similar manner and do the same job to return a similar type of results.

Who Uses Movie APIs?

There are developers who create applications for film buffs or any other application related to trailers, movies, TV shows, or even movie reviews. These developers rely on movie APIs to develop these applications.

These APIs have so much information about movies that you cannot easily generate on your own. You can even perform data analytics and build film quizzes to get more information from your audience. However, if you are a developer who wants to create an application for movies, make sure that you get the best movie API that meets all your requirements as well as those of your application and users.