The Federal Archives keeps approx. 11 million still pictures, aerial photographs and posters from modern German history. First photographs date from the 1860ties. Most pictures show events and/or persons, in particular from the
- Weimar Republic (1919-1933; among others Group "Bild 102 Aktuelle-Bilder-Centrale, Georg Pahl")
- Nazi Reich (1933-1945; especially war pictures taken by propaganda companies of the German army (Wehrmacht, Group "Bild 101")
- GDR (1945/49-1990; among others pictures of the central press agency (Group "Bild 183 Allgemeiner Deutscher Nachrichtendienst ADN - Zentralbild") and "everyday photography" ("Bild 226 Nachlass Hans Martin Sewcz", "N 1648 Bild Sammlung Beier")
- Federal Republic of Germany (from 1945/49 onwards; among others Group "B 145 Bild Federal Press and Information Office")
As of now, more than 200,000 pictures representing the variety of available images in the Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) are kept in the database. Since November 2008 also photos of the Federal Press and Information Office (Bundespresseamt) are integrated in this databae.