The animal sound archive at the Humboldt-University of Berlin: Current activities in conservation and improving access for bioacoustic research The animal sound archive of the Humboldt-University is one of the oldest and largest collections of animal sounds. It was founded in 1951 by Günter Tembrock. Presently, the collection consists of about 120,000 bioacoustical recordings comprising almost all groups of animals. Most of the recordings are still on analogue magnetic tape. Currently, these tapes are transferred to digital storage media, mainly with 96 kHz sampling rate and 24 bit resolution. In this way, more than 50% of all recordings could already be preserved in digital form. The recordings will be documented by a database. Currently, an efficient system for the exchange of bioacoustical information, both metadata and soundfiles, for scientific purposes, is under development. The system consists of a central web-based database and local file storage servers. Free access to the metadata is available at “http://www.tierstimmen.org”. Individual access to defined sound recordings will be controlled by password. The system should enable scientists to cooperate effectively in bioacoustic research.