Jointly launched in early 2009, the website will allow access to millions of archived photographs from Life magazine, famous for its captivating images of US presidents and celebrities from the 40s, 50s and 60s.
Getty Images, will supply thousands of photographs from its news, entertainment, sports and travels archives, as well as 3,000 new images uploaded on a daily basis.
Bill Shapiro, editor of Life.com, said: "Only 3% of the Life archive has been seen by the public. This site will put everything on display. You'll be able to look at the biggest events of yesterday and the stories making news today with just a couple of clicks."
Andy Blau, president of Life magazine said the website launch is in response to the growing proliferation of online image searching and the popularity of image focused websites like Flickr.
However, Blau told the Washington Post: "First and foremost, this is not Flickr, but we will have users' photographs. But they will be separated from the main site. And there will not be family vacation photos. That's not what Life is about."
Life.com will be based on Getty Images' search technology and will allow users to print photographs, share photos online and create collections of photos for a variety of special interests.
Visitors will be able to create their own Life branded custom-made coffee table books of personal favourites, or purchase albums made by other users.
Searching and viewing photographs on the site will be free.
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