Is it actually copyright free? How can such a large library of downloadable content come without any issues? Do they contact all the owners of the footage/work and they release it to them? Am I able to then use any of it in my own projects?
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All the material on archive.org is under the same copyright protection as if it was still in its original location. You don’t get any special license and you can’t just take and use stuff without violating the original terms.
Material falls under several broad categories:
Public domain: The copyrights have elapsed “naturally” or were released by their holders. A large amount of historical literature falls under this category. Free for any use.
Abandonware: The material is still under copyright, but the holders do not practically exist. A lot of old computer games fall under this category, as the companies that owned them have been sold, split, and dissolved. You are very unlikely to get in trouble for reuse, and morally it’s probably OK too.
Licensed: The copyright holders specifically allow archive.org to publish the material. They could have uploaded it themselves or reached out for specific archival projects. Personal use and research are probably fine, but you won’t be protected if you start reselling it or something.
Unlicensed: All other material still under copyright. If the holders want they can issue takedown notices and have it removed. For the most part they either don’t care, or see the common value in archival. Most of the web archive falls under this category. As archive.org makes no profit and cooperates with requests they are fine to carry on. You, however, would not be.
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