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Store a website capture’s original content in a WARC file, keep that file in durable file or object storage, and put its searchable catalog record and operational metadata in a database. This split preserves the captured web resources and their relationships without making large, mostly immutable payloads part of everyday SQL transactions. A screenshot can be cataloged as a visual derivative, but it is not a substitute for a replayable web archive.
Choose what you mean by a “website capture”
A capture might mean a picture of what a page looked like, the page’s HTML, or an archive of the page and its resources that can be replayed later. Those are different deliverables. A screenshot records appearance at a moment in time; it does not preserve the page’s hyperlinks, scripts, stylesheets, images, or other dependencies as usable web content.
For preservation, use WARC (Web ARChive) as the payload format. WARC records can contain HTTP request and response information, arbitrary data blocks, metadata, duplicate-detection events, and segmented resources. The International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC) describes WARC’s standardization as ISO 28500:2009; its implementation guidance says that since May 15, 2009, memory institutions and other digital archiving organizations have had a standardized way to store and preserve documents harvested from the web.
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) identifies WARC 1.0 as a preferred transfer format for web records and says transferred records should maintain original links, functionality, and data integrity. NARA also says static screenshots are not an acceptable substitute for that purpose. The Library of Congress recommends non-proprietary capture output, WARC-standard metadata, and clear display of the institution and capture date and time.
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Keep the payload separate from the catalog
Use object or file storage for immutable WARC files; use a relational database for records that let people find, relate, manage, and interpret those files. The database should point to the WARC object and, when applicable, to a record within it. Store enough location information to retrieve the exact record, such as a WARC record identifier and payload offset and length when your capture process provides them.
| Approach | What it preserves | Best fit | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| WARC in durable file or object storage, with SQL catalog rows | Original capture records and their relationships, with searchable metadata | Archives that need provenance, replay, integrity checks, and discovery | Requires coordination between archive storage and catalog updates |
| HTML or other capture payloads stored directly in SQL rows | Whatever individual fields or blobs the application chooses to store | Small, application-specific data where replay and preservation are not requirements | Does not by itself provide a WARC archive; large payloads also become part of database backup and transaction operations |
| Screenshot file plus a catalog row | A visual rendering at capture time | Visual reference, review, or evidence of appearance | Does not preserve hypertext functionality or the dependencies needed for full replay |
Do not treat the SQL row as the preservation copy. Keep the WARC object in storage with replication, backups, and periodic fixity verification, and retain its object key or file location in the catalog. Keep extracted text and indexes for search if useful, but treat them as derived data: the original captured bytes remain the preservation copy.
Design a catalog schema around captures and WARC records
A practical schema separates a crawl or capture event from the records it produced. A single capture can contain a page and many linked resources; the same resource may also appear in more than one capture. The following logical model accommodates provenance, versions, discovered resources, duplicate events, rights, and retention. Adapt field types and constraints to your database and the exact WARC tooling you use.
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| Table | Purpose | Useful fields |
|---|---|---|
capture |
One attempt to capture a target page or site | Capture ID, collection ID, target URL, UTC capture time, crawler or tool version, crawl job ID, status, and WARC object key |
warc_record |
Catalog entry for an individual WARC record | Record ID, capture ID, record type, target URI, record date, payload offset and length, HTTP status, MIME type, charset, content length, digest, and compression |
resource_relation |
Links a captured page to its discovered resources | Parent capture, resource record or URI, relation type, and source link |
capture_version |
Tracks successive captures of a canonical page | Canonical page ID, version number, first-seen and last-seen times, change digest, and superseded version |
metadata |
Describes context and preservation events | Title, language, subjects, rights, access restrictions, operator notes, and preservation events |
duplicate_event |
Records deduplication decisions | Digest, reused record ID, detection method, and event timestamp |
retention |
Tracks the applicable retention decision | Retention class, review date, disposition status, legal hold, and policy reference |
Use UTC timestamps consistently. Keep both the original target URI and any canonical page identifier: canonicalization can help group versions, but should not erase the URL that was actually requested. Store HTTP status, MIME type, digest, and content length as catalog values when available so a user can inspect a capture without opening every WARC file. Keep rights and access restrictions explicit rather than burying them in operator notes.
Example PostgreSQL catalog tables
This DDL demonstrates the key relationships. It stores catalog metadata, not the WARC payload itself. The application that creates the archive must supply WARC IDs, digests, offsets, and storage keys where available.
CREATE TABLE capture (
capture_id BIGINT GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
collection_id TEXT NOT NULL,
target_url TEXT NOT NULL,
captured_at TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL,
tool_version TEXT,
crawl_job_id TEXT,
capture_status TEXT NOT NULL,
warc_object_key TEXT NOT NULL,
created_at TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT now()
);
CREATE TABLE warc_record (
record_id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
capture_id BIGINT NOT NULL REFERENCES capture(capture_id),
record_type TEXT NOT NULL,
target_uri TEXT NOT NULL,
record_date TIMESTAMPTZ,
payload_offset BIGINT,
payload_length BIGINT,
http_status INTEGER,
mime_type TEXT,
charset TEXT,
content_length BIGINT,
digest TEXT,
compression TEXT
);
CREATE TABLE resource_relation (
relation_id BIGINT GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
capture_id BIGINT NOT NULL REFERENCES capture(capture_id),
parent_record_id TEXT REFERENCES warc_record(record_id),
resource_uri TEXT NOT NULL,
relation_type TEXT NOT NULL,
source_link TEXT
);
CREATE INDEX capture_target_time_idx
ON capture (target_url, captured_at DESC);
CREATE INDEX warc_record_capture_idx
ON warc_record (capture_id);
CREATE INDEX warc_record_digest_idx
ON warc_record (digest);For a production schema, add the version, metadata, duplicate-event, and retention tables if your workflow needs them. Decide whether an incomplete attempt belongs in capture with a failure status or should be represented in a separate job table; either way, do not make a failed capture look like a successful archived page. Add uniqueness rules only where your capture process guarantees uniqueness, such as for a record identifier within its archive scope.
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Write the archive and catalog as one coordinated job
Object storage and a SQL database usually do not share a single transaction. Plan for partial failure rather than assuming both writes will always succeed together. A safe sequence is to finish and verify the WARC object first, then commit catalog rows that point to it. If the catalog write fails, keep the object in a staging or recoverable state and retry cataloging; if the archive write fails, do not commit rows that claim the payload is available.
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- Create WARC records and calculate payload digests. Preserve the records and any metadata your archive workflow needs. Record a digest for integrity verification and duplicate detection.
- Write the WARC file to durable storage. Use a stable object key or filename. Replicate and back up the object, and verify fixity over time.
- Commit the catalog rows. Insert the capture row and its WARC record and resource-relation rows in a database transaction. Save the object location and available record identifiers and offsets.
- Index derived data separately. Extracted text and metadata can support discovery, but keep the WARC bytes as the source of truth.
- Replay through a WARC-aware viewer. Identify the archive institution and capture date and time in the viewer, and disclose known differences from the live site.
- Run preservation checks. Schedule integrity checks, duplicate detection, and restore tests; record preservation events, exceptions, and results.
This sequence needs a retry and reconciliation process. For example, periodically compare catalog object keys with stored WARC objects and flag missing objects or unindexed objects for investigation. Do not delete an object simply because its database row is absent until you have checked whether it is awaiting catalog recovery or subject to a retention hold.
Plan for replay, versions, and exceptions
Replay depends on more than saving the HTML response. A page may rely on stylesheets, JavaScript, images, fonts, media, and other linked resources. The Library of Congress notes that WARC can retain HTTP request and response data, arbitrary linked metadata, and duplicate-detection events, while also noting that replay depends on preserving many dependencies. Record relationships between the page and resources so the archive can explain what was captured and support replay.
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Use a version record to group snapshots of a canonical page over time, but retain the timestamp and target URI of every capture. A change digest can help identify potential changes; it does not replace keeping the original records. Store first-seen and last-seen times and a supersession link if your retention or publication process replaces one version with another.
Some material may not be captured or replayed faithfully. Current tools may have limits with multimedia-rich pages, streaming media, deep-web content, and database-backed experiences. NARA guidance also describes cases where dynamic content needs conversion to readable HTML or manual capture. Keep an exception record linked to the capture stating what was unavailable, transformed, or manually handled. This makes replay differences interpretable rather than silently presenting an incomplete page as complete.
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There is no universal storage-size or performance figure that determines the right design. Compare options against the size and frequency of your captures and the obligations attached to them. Relevant factors include:
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- Preservation fidelity and replayability: whether original responses and linked resources are retained in a standard archive format.
- Query needs: which fields users must filter or search, and whether extracted text needs a separate index.
- Storage cost and deduplication: how much content is repeated and whether duplicate events or reused records are appropriate for your workflow.
- Fixity, backup, and restoration: how you detect corruption, maintain copies, and prove that recovery works.
- Rights and access: whether a capture has restrictions, a legal hold, a review date, or a disposition decision.
- Operational complexity: how your team will reconcile object storage and SQL, handle retries, and support the expected capture volume.
NARA recommends documenting procedures, creating site maps, setting a retention schedule, choosing capture frequency through risk assessment, and tracking changes between snapshots. Apply retention policy to both catalog records and payloads: deleting one while retaining the other can leave orphaned files or misleading catalog entries. The Library of Congress’s Recommended Formats Statement says, “The Library, and other organizations involved in web archiving, are preserving web content in the Web Archive (WARC) format.”
When a screenshot is useful—and where ScreenshotNeo fits
A screenshot is useful when the requirement is to document a page’s visible appearance, but it cannot provide the WARC-based preservation and replay described above. ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server from Yorker Media, not a WARC archive. Its output can be cataloged as a visual derivative alongside a WARC capture when you need both; do not treat the image or PDF as the preservation master. See ScreenshotNeo and its API documentation.
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This one GET request returns a screenshot file; it does not create a WARC archive. Adapt the target URL as needed:
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Troubleshoot common archive and catalog problems
- A catalog entry exists, but the WARC object is missing. The archive write may have failed or the object key may be wrong. Reconcile database keys against storage, retry from a recoverable staging copy if available, and mark the capture unavailable until the payload is verified.
- The WARC exists, but the page does not replay correctly. Check whether linked resources were captured, whether the viewer supports the recorded content, and whether an exception such as streaming or dynamic content was documented. Do not infer that a successful HTML response means every dependency was archived.
- A restored archive fails its digest check. Treat that as an integrity incident. Compare against verified replicas or backups, record the fixity event and recovery action, and avoid silently replacing the catalog digest with a newly calculated value.
- Repeated captures create duplicate storage. Compare digests and record duplicate-detection events where appropriate. Preserve the relation between a reused record and each capture that depends on it so deduplication does not erase provenance.
- A version appears to have overwritten an earlier one. Check whether the storage key is immutable and whether version rows point to distinct WARC objects or records. Keep prior captures unless a documented retention decision authorizes disposition.
- SQL backup is much larger than expected. Confirm that WARC payloads are not being copied into transactional tables accidentally. Keep payloads in durable archive storage and restore-test the object store and catalog together.
- Users cannot tell what a capture represents. Check that the catalog exposes the actual target URI, capture time, institution or collection, restrictions, and known exceptions. The viewer should not imply that an archived page is identical in behavior to the live site.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does WARC preserve a live website exactly as it behaves today?
No. It preserves captured records and dependencies to support replay, but some dynamic, streaming, deep-web, or database-backed behavior may be unavailable or transformed. Record those exceptions with the capture.
Should I store extracted text in the same database as the catalog?
You can index extracted text for search, but treat it as derived data and keep the original WARC bytes as the preservation copy.
Can I delete a WARC file after importing its HTML into SQL?
Not if the WARC is your preservation copy. Follow the applicable retention and rights policy; an HTML import alone does not retain the full archive record and its provenance.
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