Since the 1970s, the Pacific Film Archive has hosted numerous guest speakers in conjunction with its film and video exhibition program. The speakers include filmmakers from around the world, as well as others involved in filmmaking, film study and criticism, and film preservation. The audio collection documents these speakers' appearances and consists of question and answer sessions, lectures, symposia, and other interactions between PFA guests and audiences.

The PFA audio collection includes more than 2,300 recordings of speakers who have appeared at PFA's film exhibition program since 1978. Earlier recordings are on analog audiocassettes; recordings made since 2005 are digital MP3 or WAV files. PFA is slowly converting early analog tapes to digital files.

Due to copyright restrictions, audio from the PFA collection may not be reproduced without the speaker's permission.