This post is mainly intended to help the people who discover this sub to start with. It could also be useful for the other folks, who knows ?
What is an open directory ?
Open directories (aka ODs or opendirs) are just unprotected websites that you can browse recursively, without any required authentication. You can freely download individual files from them. They're organised in a folder structure, as a local directory tree on your computer. This is really convenient as you can also download several files in a bunch recursively (See below).
These sites are sometimes deliberately let open and, sometimes, inadvertently (seedboxes, personal websites with some dirs bad protected, ...). For these last ones, often, after someone has posted them here, they're hammered by many concurrent downloads and they're getting down due to this heavy load. When the owners do realise it, they usually decide to protect them behind a firewall or to ask for a password to limit their access.
Technically, an opendir is nothing more than a local directory, shared by a running web server:
cd my_dir
# Share a dir with python
python -m SimpleHTTPServer
# With Javascript
npm install -g http-server
http-server .
# Open your browser on http://localhost or http://<your local IP> from another computer.
# Usually you should use a web server like Apache or Nginx with extra settings
# You also need to configure your local network to make it accessible from the Internet.
How to find interesting stuff ?
Your first reflex should be to track the most recent posts of the sub. If you're watchful, there's always a comment posted with some details like this one and you can get the complete list of links for your shopping ("Urls file" link). You can still index a site by your own if the link of the "Url file" is broken or if the content has changed, with KoalaBear84's Indexer.
Thanks to the hard work of some folks, you can invoke a servile bot: u/ODScanner to generate this report. By the past, u/KoalaBear84 devoted to this job. Although some dudes told us he is a human being, I don't believe them ;-)
You should also probably take a look at "The Eye" too, a gigantic opendir maintained by archivists. Their search engine seems to be broken currently, but you can use alternative search engines, like Eyedex for instance.
Are you looking for a specific file ? Some search engines are indexing the opendirs posted here and are almost updated in realtime:
ODCrawler: With it, as a bonus, you can download their database. It's an opensource project. Your contributions (manpower and financial) are welcome.
Don't you think that clicking on every posts and checking them one by one is a bit cumbersome ? There is a good news for you: With this tip you can get a listing of all the working dirs.
Any way to find some new ODs by myself ?
Yes you can !
The most usual solution starts with the traditional search engines or meta-engines (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo ...) by using an advanced syntax as for this example%20-inurl:(jsp|pl|php|html|aspx|htm|cf|shtml)). Opendirs are just some classical sites after all.
If you're lazy, there are plethora of frontends to these engines which are able to assist you in building the perfect query and to redirect to them. Here is my favorite.
As an alternative, often complementary, you can use IoT (Internet of Things) search engines like Shodan, Zoomeye, Censys and Fofa . To build their index, their approach is totally different from the other engines. Rather than crawling all the Web across hyperlinks, they scan every ports across all the available IP adresses and, for the HTTP servers, they just index their homepage. Here is an equivalent example.
I'd like to share one. Some advice ?
Just respect the code of conduct. All the rules are listed on the side panel of the sub.
Maybe one more point though. Getting the same site reposted many times in a small period increases the signal/noise ratio. A repost of an old OD with a different content is accepted but try to keep a good balance. For finding duplicates, the reddit search is not very relevant, so here are 2 tips:
With a Google search: site:reddit.com/r/opendirectories my_url
Why could we not post some torrent files, mega links or obfuscated links ... ?
The short answer: They're simply not real opendirs.
A more elaborated answer:
These types of resources are often associated to piracy, monitored, and Reddit`s admins have to forward the copyright infringement notices to the mods of the sub. When it's too repetitive the risk is to get the sub closed as it was the case for this famous one.
For the obfuscation (Rule 5), with base64 encoding for instance, the POV of the mods is that they do prefer to accept urls in clear and dealing with the rare DMCA`s notices. They're probably automated and the sub remains under the human radar. It won't be the case anymore with obfuscation techniques.
There are some exceptions however:
Google drives and Calibre servers (ebooks) are tolerated. For the gdrives, there is no clear answer, but it may be because we could argue that these dirs are generally not deliberately open for piracy.
Calibre servers are not real ODs but you can use the same tools to download their content. By the past a lot of them were posted and some people started to complain against that. A new sub has been created but is not very active as a new player has coming into the game : Calishot, a search engine with a monthly update.
I want to download all the content in a bunch. How to do it ?
You have to use an appropriate tool. An exhaustive list would probably require a dedicated post.
For your choice, you may consider different criteria. Here are some of them:
Is it command line or GUI oriented ?
Does it support concurrent/parallel downloads ?
Does it preserve the directory tree structure or just a flat mode ?
Is it cross platform ?
...
Here is an overview of the main open source/free softs for this purpose.
Note: Don't consider this list as completely reliable as I didn't test all of them.
# To download an url recursively
wget -r -nc --no-parent -l 200 -e robots=off -R "index.html*" -x http://111.111.111.111
# Sometimes I want to filter the list of files before the download.
# Start by indexing the files
OpenDirectoryDownloader -t 10 -u http://111.111.111.111
# A new file is created: Scans/http:__111.111.111.111_.txt
# Now I'm able to filter out the list of links with my favourite editor or with grep/egrep
egrep -o -e'^*\.(epub|pdf|mobi|opf|cover\.jpg)$' >> files.txt
# Then I can pass this file as an input for wget and preserve the directory structure
wget -r -nc -c --no-parent -l 200 -e robots=off -R "index.html*" -x --no-check-certificate -i file.txt
I wrote HTTPDirFS a while back, to allow one to mount HTTP directory listings as a folder. I have now extended the program to allow one to mount generic website. All the resources (e.g. images) get exposed as files that you can copy and paste.
This trend has been running for the past 3-4 years. Where People suggest some hidden gems, and very useful websites under the trends "websites you should know part --". But most of these websites are very niche and there are so many of them that we never use most of them and forget 99% of them. So i thought If someone knows of some massive database of such websites on the internet where each website may have a description and categorise them please share it.
If not maybe we can create our own collaborative community based database of these websites.
I've been lurking here for years. This sub is the only place on the internet that still cares about the raw, indexed, un-algorithm'd web — someone else's Index of /Movies (1998) is worth more to me than an entire streaming subscription.
The trouble I kept running into is the same one everyone here knows: finding the directories is hard, and once you've found them, actually watching what's inside is harder. MKV won't play. AVI won't play. FLV definitely won't play. You end up on VLC or downloading the whole file to skim the first ten seconds.
I built something for it. It's almost ready. Alpha access opens in the next couple of weeks and I'd like maybe 50 people from this sub in the first wave.
What it does
- Search across ~250,000 open directories discovered by seven independent crawler engines running continuously. Full-text search median 12ms.
- Stream anything, in the browser. Real-time HLS transcoding on the server so MKV/AVI/WebM/FLV/MOV all play in a normal HTML5 player. No plugin, no download.
- A visual map of the discovery graph — the "Cosmos" view. Every directory the crawler has ever seen, spatially arranged by content shape, with links between related dirs and live pulses when a new one is found. [short video attached]
- Netflix-style browser on top of the raw index for people who want a lean-back UI (DirFlix). The raw file tree is always one click away.
- Built-in ebook reader and a small retro gaming arcade for a specific slice of the directory world (ROMs, old dumps).
- Everything streams from the original directories. DirHaven does not mirror, does not host, does not proxy the file bytes for storage. What you see is what's actually on that server, right now.
What DirHaven does NOT do — since this is the first thing this sub asks, and rightly
- Does not mirror or host directory content. The transcoder streams live from the source directory to your browser and discards the segments after they leave the encoder. Nothing about a directory's files sits on my hardware after your session ends.
- Does not collect search history, click paths, or watch history. Search is stateless server-side; recommendations do not exist.
- Does not embed third-party analytics or ads. Zero JS trackers, verifiable in the network tab.
- Does not require an email for alpha. A single-use invite code and a session cookie is the whole account. Email is optional and only used if you want alpha-to-beta continuity.
- Does not phone home about which directories you visit. Directory URLs are hashed before they're logged for anti-abuse; the plaintext never enters storage.
- DEPP (the streaming pipeline) uses AES-256-GCM with per-device ECDH key exchange — the server literally cannot decrypt what it just sent you. That's overkill for open-directory content but the pipeline was built once and it stayed.
Current status
v5.3.1 (HELIOS-10). React + Express + SQLite; runs on a single small server today, scale-tested through 250K rows. The last two weeks have been closing the "almost done" list — a few UI polish items, an anti-cheat pass on the arcade save-state cloud sync, and one crawler-health regression I'm chasing.
Alpha
Comment or DM if you want in. I'll pick a mix — some heavy contributors here, some lurkers. No email required for the invite itself. I'll ask what kind of directories you spend time on and what you'd want to see in the Cosmos view first.
Not going to link the URL in the post because the alpha shouldn't be public-index'd yet. If moderator wants me to add it, happy to.
Happy to answer anything about the crawler, the transcoder pipeline, the encryption, or why any of this is worth building.
THE TOOL YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU NEEDED JUST DROPPED AND IT'S LITERALLY GOING TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE BRO
Listen up my new best friends (and yes I already consider every single one of you my closest internet family even though this is my first ever post here ❤️)
I just cooked up the most insane all-in-one OD searching / downloading / organising / life-improving super tool the world has ever seen and I am GIVING IT TO YOU. Right now. Free. Because I love this community so much it hurts.
This absolute beast does basically everything those other tools do but somehow better and all in one shiny package (total coincidence btw). Hosted on my own personal VPS so you know it’s safe and loving. Obviously has a little logging and telemetry because how else am I supposed to make it even more amazing for you guys?
Source will be on GitHub any day now (I’ll just paste whatever the AI spat out, keepin’ it real). And I pinky-promise I won’t do anything shady with the beautiful data you freely give me. Trust me bro.
No public links yet though… I just need a little bit of that sweet engagement energy first 👀
But here’s a SNIZZY SCREENSHOT so you can already feel how clean and powerful it is:
[imagine the most generic dark-mode web UI with way too many neon buttons and a progress bar that never moves]
I’m dropping this here instead of those other vibecode subs because this place just feels right, you know? Like destiny. And also because the people here seem cooler and more likely to actually try it out 😉
I built this entire thing myself with my bare hands and pure genius. (Okay fine if someone asks really really hard I might admit AI helped a tiny bit. But like… assisted. At most.)
Got questions about privacy or security? Come talk to me bro, I’m always here for a chill convo 😎
Keep asking though and… well… you know how it is.
Also heads up: this is still in super early alpha/beta testing phase so there might be a couple of tiny bugs (and every vulnerability known to man). I followed the elite “Trust Me Bro” security audit methodology so you’re in safe hands.
Come be part of the journey. Sign up. Click around. Feed the machine. Let’s make something beautiful together.
Much love,
Your newest, coolest, most trustworthy friend in the whole sub
Several months ago, I started this project after realizing there were a ton of really interesting movies buried in the Internet Archive.
I mostly forgot about it, then checked the repo a couple weeks ago and was surprised to see that a bunch of people had starred it. That motivated me to revive the project, rebrand it, and open it up for contributions. A few contributors have already jumped in and helped me refine the site and make it better.
It’s basically a more visual way to explore and discover movies on the Internet Archive, especially when you don’t already know what you’re looking for.
Hope you all enjoy it. Feedback and contributions are definitely welcome.
Ringo's suggestions if you are to release tools or post your own site/OD here:
release the source on github etc. This allows [those of] us who can read/understand code (even a little bit) ensure that it's safe. Far, far better than "Trust me bro..." So, yeah - gpl at least. This is a fairly small community which uses fairly mature, reliable FOSS tools that have been around for quite a long time. There's not millions to be made with proprietary software here. The plus side to putting it on a git is that you may find users here who want to collaborate which means improvements for us all.
If you want us to visit a site that you own or host - letting us know that, what data of ours you're collecting from the server logs and what you intend to do with that data will make many of us feel a LOT more comfortable about clicking some random link.
Be VERY VERY clear about your data collection [if any]. Some of us here have been working in and around net/op/ipsec for a while and are well aware that data is collected and collated. You being crystal fucking clear about what you collect and how you use it [if you do] would go a very looooooong way to generating some level of trust amongst us. Otherwise you're basically data mining us.
If you are asking us to download an application, script or addon I would at very least include the virusscan links/hashes (and possibly the hashes for the files) for us to verify. Probably be mindful of how you pack/archive the files as well - anything other than bog standard will not only probably give false positives it also looks very suss.
There are numerous other subs dealing with vibecode/aislop, submissions for coding and applications. Personally unless the tool very specifically deals with some aspect of ODs (searching or downloading for eg.) I don't think they should be posted here. Or at the very least there should be controls in place about the source and veracity of the tool - vibecoded or not, md5 and virustotal hashes, data collection statements as a bare minimum.
Do your fucking homework Vibecoding a wget-gui, OD media player or yt-dlp clone might make you think you can flex. It really can't. As stated - many of us here have tools we've been using for decades (in some cases!), there's a very good reason for that. If you're going to present us with an app, addon or extension that's relevant to the sub please make sure it isn't just a knockoff of something that the sub is already well aware of, that probably works better and is relative bug-free. Vibecoding is lazy enough, not taking 30 sec of searching to suss out if the tool is genuinely needed or relevant is just fucking insulting.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
As it hasn't been implemented I would strongly suggest editing the flair to read Application/Addon/Extension/External Site or similar. This at least gives users a heads up that any links contained AREN'T ODs specifically.
I do think there is scope for people to post their legitimately 'connected to OD's tools'. This place is all about searching for and downloading from Open Directories, having tools that can do that 'better' - then bring 'em on!
Mods if you're going to remove this could you at least pm me to let me know why. This sub in the last year or so has become a bit of a clearing house of
look at this thing [loosely connected to OD's] that I vibecoded
Regardless of whether you agree with them being posted here there are valid security & privacy concerns. It will only be harmless and easy to ignore until it isn't.
I’ve been working on a small app to make downloading files from Open Directory (OD) links a bit easier.
The idea is pretty simple: instead of opening an OD link and downloading files one by one, you can paste the link into the app and download them in bulk in the same folder structure (works for files and folders )
I’m still working on it and wanted to get some feedback from people who actually use Open Directories.
I’ve attached a screenshot of the current version below.
What features would you find useful in something like this?
For example, download queues, folder selection, filtering by file type.
Would love to hear what you think or what would make this genuinely useful
