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Mirador

Project Mirador
Website (Opens in new window)

About

Launched: 2013
Record Updated: Oct 19, 2026
Annotations system
Media viewer/player
Mirador is an open-source, web-based viewer for zooming, comparing, and annotating images from repositories worldwide in one configurable workspace. Built on the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), it lets institutions offer rich viewing of their collections and lets users open IIIF content from many institutions side by side. Libraries, archives, museums, and research projects use it for manuscripts, books, maps, artworks, and audiovisual material. Mirador ships as an npm package or a single JavaScript file, embeds in any web page, and is extended through plugins (image tools, download, share, annotation). It supports IIIF Presentation and Image APIs 2 and 3, Authentication, Content Search, and audio/video, with an interface in 12+ languages, including right-to-left scripts.

Domain Relevance

  • Arts (arts, history of arts, performing arts, music)
  • Earth and related environmental sciences
  • History and archaeology
  • Languages and literature
  • Media and communications
  • Other humanities
  • Philosophy, ethics and religion

Mission

To build and sustain a free, open, and accessible viewer that lets anyone view, compare, and annotate the world's IIIF-published images and media, so that cultural heritage and research institutions can offer rich, interoperable viewing without building or licensing their own.

Key Achievements

Mirador 4.0 (Oct 2025): a major modernization with React 19 and Material UI support, Vite builds, React Testing Library, and display of IIIF v3 summaries and provider logos.
4.x releases through 2026 (4.1 Jun, 4.2 Aug, 4.3 Oct): Material UI 9 support, silent login for IIIF external authentication, selectable annotation text, and a Tamil translation.
Accessibility: a 2026 review added ARIA roles and states and contrast fixes; all contributions now target WCAG 2.1 AA.
Growing contributor base: release 4.2 alone welcomed four first-time contributors.
In production since 2013 and used by Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, and Leipzig Universities among dozens more.

Technical Attributes

Maintenance Status

Actively Maintained

Open Code Repository

Implemented
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Technical Documentation

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Code License

Implemented
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Open Product Roadmap

Implemented
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Technical Attribute Statements

Programming Languages

  • javascript
  • Other
Other:
React, Redux, OpenSeadragon

Technology Readiness Level

  • Actual system proven in operational environment

Code Licenses Used

  • Apache License, Version 2.0

Content Licensing

  • Other
Mirador hosts no content; licensing is set by each publishing institution and displayed from IIIF manifests

Standards

Metadata

  • IIIF

Integrations

  • IIIF
  • Omeka

Community Engagement

Code of Conduct

Implemented
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Community Engagement

Implemented

Contribution Guidelines or Fora

Implemented
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Community Statements

User Contribution Pathways

  • Contribute to code
  • Contribute to documentation
  • Contribute to education or training
  • Contribute to working groups or interest groups

Community Engagement Activities

  • Community calls
  • Development sprints

More About Community Engagement

User Contribution Pathways:

Contribute to translation

Community Engagement Activities:

Mirador's development, design, and maintenance is driven by community needs and ongoing feedback and discussion. Join us at our regularly scheduled community calls or review the call notes, on IIIF slack or the iiif-discuss mailing list. To suggest features, report bugs, and clarify usage, submit a GitHub issue.


  • Slack channels within IIIF organization #mirador and #mirador-dev

  • Github

  • IIIF Google group discussion

    • Policies & Governance

    Governance Summary

    Mirador is maintained by a volunteer community of developers and product owners, mostly staff at libraries and universities that use it. Work is coordinated through open community calls with public notes. Changes are proposed as GitHub issues and pull requests; each pull request needs approval from a Mirador maintainer and passing automated tests. Stanford University Libraries hosts the community calls and plays a central role in release management. The community is considering additional governance development.

    Policies

    Commitment to Equity & Inclusion

    Implemented
    Website (Opens in new window)

    Web Accessibility Statement

    Implemented
    Applies to Solution
    Website (Opens in new window)

    Governance Records

    Implemented
    Website (Opens in new window)

    Transparent Pricing and Cost Expectations

    Implemented

    Policy Statements

    Board Structure

    • None

    Community Governance

    • Ad hoc

    Additional Information

    Organizational History

    Mirador began in 2013 at Stanford University Libraries, in close collaboration with Harvard University, as the IIIF standards were taking shape. Mirador 2 (2015–2016) was led by developers at Harvard and Stanford, with contributions from more than a dozen institutions, including the National Gallery of Art. Mirador 3 (2020) was a ground-up rewrite in React that introduced the plugin architecture. Mirador 4 (2025) modernized the codebase for current web frameworks and set the stage for accessibility and architecture work.
    Staff: Full-time staff 0; volunteers 4-20.
    Current affiliations: Developed within the IIIF community; principal contributing institutions include Stanford University Libraries, Leipzig University, and Harvard Library.

    Organizational Structure

    Business or Ownership Model

    Volunteer community

    Current Affiliations

    • Many educational and cultural heritage institutions across the globe use Mirador. Our community is all volunteer. We regularly have people join in our calls from around the world and from institutions like museums and nonprofits, as well as tech agencies, but universities tend to be the most highly represented on our calls.

    Funding

    Primary Funding Source

    • Program service revenue
    • Other
    Other:
    Contributions (in-kind staff time)

    Revenue Sources

    • In-kind contributions

    Funding Needs

    Mirador has no dedicated budget; all development is in-kind staff time from contributing institutions and individual volunteers. Support would most help with: dedicated maintainer time for dependency upgrades and security fixes, which drive much of each release; an independent accessibility audit against WCAG 2.1 AA; implementer documentation and examples for Mirador 4; translation and localization; and keeping community plugins compatible across major versions. Institutions can help by committing developer time, sponsoring a focused sprint, or funding an audit.
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