The absolute laser absorption was measured simultaneously with X-ray imaging during laser melting of Ti-6Al-4V solid metal. The data included here are the time-resolved absolute absorbed power and the Xray images acquired at the same time, along with timing data for synchronization. Also included is information about the experimental configuration including applied laser power, laser beam spatial profile, and the experimental setup. A text document is included that describes all files. There are datasets from two experimental configurations: 1) A stationary, 2.0 ms laser pulse and 2) a 700 mm/s scanned laser.