威廉斯創作過上百部電影配樂，共獲得5座奧斯卡金像獎、7座英國電影學院獎、25座葛萊美獎、4座金球獎之肯定。其中許多是與大導演史帝芬‧史匹柏合作的電影。獲得奧斯卡金像獎的作品包括1971年「屋上提琴手」(Fiddler on the Roof)最佳編曲獎，1975年「大白鯊」(Jaws)最佳原著音樂獎，1977年「星際大戰」(Star War)最佳原著音樂獎，1982年「外星人」(E. T.)最佳原著音樂獎，1993年「辛德勒的名單」(Shindler's List )最佳原著音樂獎。其他知名的作品還包括「侏羅紀公園」、「虎克船長」、「超人」、「太陽帝國」、「第三類接觸」、「法櫃奇兵」、「哈利波特」系列等。
2005年美國電影學會（American Film Institute ）評選約翰．威廉斯的「星際大戰」為「有史以來最偉大的美國電影配樂」第一名。而在此榜單中，「大白鯊」與「外星人」也分別被評選為第6名與第14名。他是這份榜單中唯一有三部作品入榜的作曲家。2016年美國電影學會更頒贈他終身成就獎，成為首位獲此獎項的作曲家。
CD 1Pops On The March Williams pays homage to one of the most enduring and beloved repertoires of the Boston Pops: the marches. Williams expanded the repertoire with music from Europe (Walton’s Orb and Sceptre and Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance no. 4, Tchaikovsky’s Coronation March, and Joseph Franz Wagner’s Under the Double Eagle), and from Hollywood (Alfred Newman’s Conquest from the 1947 film Captain from Castile and his own The Midway March, from the 1977 film The Battle of Midway).
CD 2Pops In Space The first Williams/Pops album released by Philip Classics, presents suites from his space-themed film scores: Superman, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, showcasing the stand-alone concert quality of film music.
CD 3“That’s Entertainment” (Pops On Broadway) That’s Entertainment (also known as Pops on Broadway) pays homage to Broadway and Hollywood musicals. Older hits, like Gigi and The Band Wagon, and older masters – like Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II and Frederick Loewe & Alan Jay Lerner – share the stage with the new generation: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim, and Marvin Hamlisch. Two highlights are a medley of Richard Rodgers waltzes by the Pops’ historic arranger Leroy Anderson and a brand-new arrangement for virtuoso violin and orchestra, which Williams penned from his own Oscar-winning film adaptation of Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick’s Fiddler on the Roof.
CD 4We Wish You A Merry Christmas Williams’ first Christmas album with the Boston Pops and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus features arrangements and compositions by – among others – Leroy Anderson and Charles Ives, along with a new medley commissioned by Williams of the carols of Alfred Burt, one of those lesser-known composers whom he rediscovered.
CD 5Pops Around The World A selection of international overtures, from Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri, to Glinka’s Russlan and Ludmilla, to Auber’s The Bronze Horse, von Suppé’s Boccaccio, Bernstein’s Candide and Williams’ own The Cowboys.
CD 6Aisle Seat – Great Film Music Includes: Williams’ E.T., the Extraterrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the song “If We Were in Love” written for the Luciano Pavarotti vehicle Yes, Giorgio, and the symphonic version of Vangelis’ Chariots of Fire, as well as such classics as Max Steiner’s Gone with the Wind, and Dimitri Tiomkin’s Friendly Persuasion.
CD 7Out Of This World Film music for the sci-fi genre, including Jerry Goldsmith’s own concert versions of Alien and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, as well as selections from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Return of the Jedi, plus the TV shows Battlestar Galactica, The Twilight Zone, and Star Trek.
CD 8Prokofiev: Peter & The Wolf; Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Excerpts) Williams and the Pops return to the ‘classical’ repertoire, with Prokofiev’s musical tale Peter And The Wolf with Dudley Moore narrating, and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.
CD 9With A Song In My Heart Jessye Norman joins Williams and the Boston Pops to apply her talent to the Great American Songbook; with works by Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, and George Gershwin.
CD 10Swing, Swing, Swing Journey back to the big bands era, with orchestral presentations of In the Mood, Tuxedo Junction, Opus One, Begin the Beguine, Sing, Sing, Sing, plus Williams’s own tribute to the genre, “Swing, Swing, Swing”, from thefilm 1941.
CD 11America, The Dream Goes On Named after a Williamscomposition, this album has patriotism at its core, with a line-up of such quasi national anthems as America, The Beautiful, This Land is My Land, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Fanfare for the Common Man, and American Salute.
CD 12On Stage Is dedicated to musicals,with excerpts from Annie Get Your Guns, Cats, and A Chorus Line, as well as two tribute medleys of Duke Ellington’s works and Fred Astaire’s films.
CD 13Bernstein By Boston A taster of the multifaceted output of ‘Lenny’ Bernstein, from his musicals and operettas (On the Town, Wonderful Town, West Side Story, Candide), to his theatre music (Mass), to his symphonic production (Divertimento for Orchestra).
CD 14Pops In Love gathers popular pieces in a sentimental vein by Ravel, Satie, Fauré, Debussy, Albinoni, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Pachelbel, and Vaughan-Williams.
CD 15Holst – The Planets
CD 16Digital Jukebox A pot-pourri that mixes easy-listening music from the pop-song and film repertoires: from The Girl from Ipanema, Those Were The Days, Tijuana Taxi, Mack the Knife, to the theme songs from The Pink Panther, Summer of 42, A Summer Place, Days of Wine and Roses, and Love is a Many Splendored Thing.
CD 17Lucky To Be Me John Williams accompanies Jessye Norman on the piano as they explore the song repertoire of Leonard Bernstein, Michel Legrand, Richard Rodgers, Kurt Weill, George Gershwin, Frederick Loewe, and Billy Joel.
