The absorption characteristics of lanthanide-based functional materials are of key importance for many scientists and engineers, e.g. in luminescence studies, bioimaging, optical heating/cooling, Raman spectroscopy, and industrial applications such as new light sources, optical sensors, labeling and tracing techniques, etc. Here we show the absorption spectra of solid, optically active lanthanide fluorides (CeF₃, PrF₃, NdF₃, SmF₃, EuF₃, GdF₃, TbF₃, DyF₃, HoF₃, ErF₃, TmF₃, and YbF₃) and oxides (CeO₂, Pr₆O₁₁, Nd₂O₃, Sm₂O₃, Eu₂O₃, Gd₂O₃, Tb₄O₇, Dy₂O₃, Ho₂O₃, Er₂O₃, Tm₂O₃, and Yb₂O₃), measured in the UV-Vis-NIR range, from 200 to 2500 nm. The spectra were measured in diffused-reflectance mode using a spherical integrator. We assigned energy levels (^2S+1L_J) of lanthanide ions(III), i.e. intraconfigurational 4f–4f transitions to the observed absorption bands. In order to clearly distinguish the 4f → 4f transitions, we also pointed out other absorption bands commonly observed in the measured spectra, such as intrinsic absorption of the matrices, interconfigurational 4f → 5d and charge transfer transitions, artificial bands from absorbed water (present in most materials) and a quartz holder.