This guide will help you find data sets that you can use for any project that requires data to manipulate.
The legal arguments surrounding this are murky. In the United States, exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) were recently expanded to allow libraries and museums to preserve video games in a digital format. However, the legality of making those files available to the public, or for individuals to download them, remains a battleground. The Internet Archive operates under the theory that it is a library providing access to out-of-print, commercially unavailable software—a practice often defended under the principles of "orphan works" and Fair Use.
The Internet Archive’s ROM collection is a landmark in digital preservation. While navigating complex copyright terrain, it provides invaluable access to computing and gaming history that would otherwise be lost. For researchers, educators, and retrocomputing enthusiasts, it is a primary resource—but one that must be used with awareness of its legal and technical boundaries.
The Internet Archive relies on donations and community contributions. If you use their ROM collections, you can help by:
Thousands of classic DOS games can be played directly in your browser, including DOOM , Prince of Persia , and Oregon Trail .
The Archive organizes ROMs into curated sets to aid researchers and enthusiasts in finding verified, high-quality data:
: Files uploaded by the community may occasionally trigger false positives in antivirus software. Users should exercise caution when downloading executable files.