Conifer (formerly Webrecorder.io)

User-driven web archiving service provided by Rhizome.

History and Purpose

Conifer, previously known as Webrecorder.io, is a hosted web archiving service operated by Rhizome (an arts organization affiliated with the New Museum). It was built to solve the exact problems that cause the Wayback Machine to fail: complex interactive art, flash files, and JavaScript-heavy SPAs.

Symmetric Archiving

Conifer operates on the principle of "symmetric archiving." The exact same software stack used to record the web traffic is used to play it back. You log into the Conifer platform, initiate a remote browser session, and "perform" the web page by clicking and scrolling. Every network request is captured into a WARC file.

Webrecorder vs. Conifer

The Webrecorder project develops the underlying open-source tools (like Browsertrix and ArchiveWeb.page). Conifer is a specific hosted implementation of those tools, aimed at archivists and researchers who don't want to handle Self-Hosting.

Use Cases

Conifer is exceptional for:

Archiving interactive digital art or obsolete web formats (Flash, Java Applets) using their remote containerized browsers.
Capturing Social Media feeds that require scrolling and clicking to load.
Preventing Link Rot for bespoke interactive journalism pieces.

Conifer FAQ

Can I export my data?

Yes. Conifer strongly supports data portability. You can download your collections as standard WARC files at any time.