What is The Internet Time Machine?

The Internet Time Machine is an online archive of websites to help internet users see into the web’s past. Let’s imagine a scenario to give you an idea of how The Internet Time Machine works. Four years ago, you designed a website that you liked. The colors, the layout, and the flow were all perfect. You turned your work over to the client and went on your way.
Years later you’re designing a website for a new client and think a site like the one you had before designed would look great. You log on to the client’s website to inspire you, but in the years since you created the site, they have changed their layout.
Aww man, that website had plenty of great inspiration, and you don’t have any other backups of how it looked. If only there were a way that you could look at that website again but with The Internet Time Machine, you can.

So, What is the Internet Time Machine?

The Internet Time Machine, or the Wayback Machine, is a part of the Archive.org non-profit web page, also known as the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive houses free books, movies, television, music, and of course websites. To date, the Internet Archive has saved over 300 billion unique web pages. You can save sites and sign up for a subscription service.

How to Use the Internet Time Machine Works

Head to The Internet Time Machine.
Enter the domain of the website you want to access.

Select the year you want to see the website as it was.

Click on the exact date you want to see the website, and that’s it, you can now see the web page as it was.

Does the Wayback Machine Save Everything on the Web?

The Wayback Machine does the best it can to archive websites across the web. It doesn’t always catch everything, and sometimes it doesn’t have an accurate picture of what a site looked like in the past. Over time, it’s added functionality that shows redirects, 404s, and other tidbits about the website snapshot it’s taken to help users get a clearer picture of a domain’s history on the web.
If you need to find an old site design, want to grab that logo that you designed years ago, or you’re curious how a website looked way back when you can use The Internet Time Machine to travel back in time. Think of yourself as the Marty McFly of the world wide web.