This paper presents the main results of the third international PIV Challenge which took place in Pasadena (USA) on the 19th and 20th of September 2005. This workshop was linked to the PIV05 International Symposium held at the same place the same week. The present contribution states the objectives of the challenge, describes the test cases and the algorithms used by the participants, and presents the main results together with some discussion and conclusions on the accuracy and robustness of various PIV and PTV algorithms. As the entire amount of results obtained cannot be detailed, this contribution is written as a guide for the use of the full database of images and results which is available at http://www.pivChallenge.org.