What is AO3? It’s a fan creation site for fans. Whether you want to read fan fiction, publish your own stories, or just want to browse fan works safely, this platform can meet your needs.
This article will take you to quickly understand the background, types of works, usage methods and safety suggestions of AO3, so that you can easily get started with one of the most popular fan sites in the world.
What Is AO3?
AO3, the full name of “Archive of Our Own”, is a non-profit open source website for people to share and read fan fiction and works. It was created by OTW (Organization for Transformative Works) in 2008, officially launched public beta in 2009, and is still in operation today.
AO3 was born out of people’s need for a safe and inclusive platform. On this platform, fan creators can share their works without worrying about censorship or being driven by interests. The name “Archive of Our Own” comes from a blog post by writer Naomi Novik, inspired by Virginia Woolf’s famous essay “A Room of One’s Own”.
As of May 2025, AO3 has more than 15 million fan works from more than 71,000 fan circles, covering anime, TV series, books, video games, and even real people.
AO3 relies on donations and regular fundraising activities to operate. Fundraising is mainly used to pay for server costs and maintenance expenses. It doesn’t run ads, doesn’t charge users, and doesn’t sell data.
Types of Works on AO3
AO3 is a collection of all kinds of fan works, from written stories to radio plays, artwork, and even prose. Here are some of the things you can find on AO3.
1. Fan Fiction (the core of AO3)
At the core of AO3 is a repository of fan fiction, with stories covering every genre you can think of.
- Romance
- Adventure and Action
- Horror and Mystery
- Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Slice of Life
You’ll also come across some unique subgenres, such as:
- Crackfic: intentionally absurd or hilarious stories written for fun.
- Fix-it fic: fans rewrite classic plots that are frustrating or give characters a better ending.
- Alternate Universes (AUs): put your favorite characters in other stories.
2. Fan Visuals
AO3 isn’t just for writers, visual creators are welcome too. You can find illustrations, digital collages, and other visual media. Some works are standalone, while others are presented with fanfiction as covers or embedded scenes.
3. Podfic
One of the coolest things about AO3 is that it offers Podfic, mostly audiobooks of fanfiction. These are narration recordings of audiofiction, created and shared by fanfiction fans.
4. Meta-essays
Meta-essays are articles written by fanfiction fans about fandom, characters, plots, or broader themes.
Is AO3 Safe?
Yes, AO3 is a safe website. It is run by a non-profit organization (Organization for Transformative Works), open source, ad-free, and supported by donations. This means no intrusive ads and pop-ups, and your information will not be sold or leaked.
However, AO3 gives users a lot of freedom to publish content, which is both its biggest advantage and a point of caution. You may encounter stories that contain sensitive topics, but the site provides detailed labels and content warnings to help you filter what you want to see or avoid.
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How to Use AO3 Safely?
It’s important to know how to use it safely. Here are guidelines for readers and creators on using AO3 safely
1. Browse and search fan fiction
AO3 has millions of fan works, and you can find the articles you want through search and filtering tools:
Use the search bar in the upper right corner to find fandoms, characters, fan communities, or specific keywords.
You can filter results by:
- Rating: General (G), Teen (T), Mature (M), Explicit (E), or Unrated.
- Warning: Choose whether you want to see works with sensitive themes.
- Relationships: Filter by character relationships.
- Tags: Used to describe genres, tropes, character traits, and more.
Tip: AO3’s tag system is user-generated, so you’ll see many creative and even funny tags.
AO3 gives creators full control over tags, which means you can filter out content you don’t want to see:
Archive warnings (required tags): Major character death, Violent scenes, Opt out of archive warnings, Archive warnings not applicable, etc.
These warnings appear at the top of each work and are searchable when filtering. Authors can also add additional tags that describe the article’s theme, style, format, etc.
3. Safe Reading
When you find an article you want to read, check the article’s rating and warnings to help you avoid content you are not interested in. You can also see metadata such as the number of chapters, word count, status (completed or in progress), and publication date.
If you like some article, you can bookmark them and leave likes and comments.
4. Posting Your Own Fanworks (Writers)
If you are a creator of fan fiction, here is the safe and correct way to do it:
- Create an AO3 account.
- Click “Post a New Work” and fill in the required fields: Fandom, Title and Description, Rating, Archive Warning, Character Relationships, Characters, Tags, etc.
- Upload your story.
Important: Please fill in the tags and warnings honestly. This helps protect readers and ensures a better community experience.
5. Privacy and Safety Tips
You do not need to use your real name or email address publicly. AO3 does not use ads or trackers, but you are still advised to use strong passwords and be wary of phishing or spam links in comments or messages.
FAQ about AO3
1. Is AO3 Down?
As of now, AO3 is back up and running. Monitoring sites (such as “Is everyone down or just me?”) show that there is no widespread outage.
If you notice slow loading or login issues, refresh or wait a few hours before restarting. You can also follow AO3’s official social media (such as Tumblr/X) to learn about its latest status.
2. Why is AO3 so much better than Wattpad?
AO3 is considered better than Wattpad mainly because it is created and maintained by a fan community, has no ads, and is cleaner and smoother to use. Its tagging system is very powerful, helping readers quickly find what they want to see or avoid topics they don’t like.
At the same time, AO3 is more creator-friendly and allows a wider range of content types to be published. In contrast, Wattpad is more commercial and has stricter content review.
