Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Income Per Share, Allowance for Doubful Accounts, Income Taxes, and Concentration of Credit Risk (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2017 USD ($) bank $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2017 USD ($) bank $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) bank	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Income (Loss) Per Share-Basic and Diluted
Income (loss) from continuing operations	$ 83,148	$ (14,720)	$ 141,992	$ 48,321
Less: Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests	2,492	835	2,874	1,102
Income (loss) from continuing operations (utilized in numerator of Earnings Per Share calculation)	80,656	(15,555)	139,118	47,219
Income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax	(2,026)	1,587	(2,363)	1,587
Net income (loss) attributable to Iron Mountain Incorporated	$ 78,630	$ (13,968)	$ 136,755	$ 48,806
Weighted-average shares—basic | shares	264,217,000	246,387,000	264,036,000	228,957,000
Effect of dilutive potential stock options (in shares) | shares	395,044	0	428,403	622,293
Effect of dilutive potential restricted stock, RSUs and PUs (in shares) | shares	318,375	0	405,640	450,100
Weighted-average shares—diluted | shares	264,930,419	246,387,000	264,870,043	230,029,393
Earnings (Losses) per share-basic:
Income (Loss) from continuing operations (in dollars per share) | $ / shares	$ 0.31	$ (0.06)	$ 0.53	$ 0.21
Total (loss) income discontinued operations (in dollars per share) | $ / shares	(0.01)	0.01	(0.01)	0.01
Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Iron Mountain Incorporated (in dollars per share) | $ / shares	0.30	(0.06)	0.52	0.21
Earnings (Losses) per share-diluted:
Income (Loss) from continuing operations (in dollars per share) | $ / shares	0.30	(0.06)	0.53	0.21
Total (loss) income from discontinued operations (in dollars per share) | $ / shares	(0.01)	0.01	(0.01)	0.01
Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Iron Mountain Incorporated (in dollars per share) | $ / shares	$ 0.30	$ (0.06)	$ 0.52	$ 0.21
Antidilutive stock options, RSUs and PUs, excluded from the calculation (in shares) | shares	2,701,129	1,594,475	2,597,692	2,208,135
Income Taxes:
Effective tax rates (as a percent)	18.10%		16.20%	32.00%
Income (Loss) From Continuing Operations Before Income Taxes, Minority Interest, and (Gain) Loss on Disposition of Real Estate	$ 99,594	$ (3,881)	$ 167,658	$ 71,060
Provision (Benefit) for Income Taxes	$ 18,009	10,839	$ 27,229	$ 22,739
Federal statutory tax rate (as a percent)	35.00%		35.00%	35.00%
Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation, Change in Deferred Tax Assets Valuation Allowance, Amount			$ 7,511
Concentrations of Credit Risk
Number of global banks with cash, cash equivalent and restricted cash held on deposit | bank	7		7		6
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 291,019	$ 236,989	$ 291,019	$ 236,989	$ 236,484	$ 128,381
Money market funds and time deposits	$ 43,792		$ 43,792		$ 22,240