What's the Best Format for Archiving?

With so many storage formats available today, a question we are often asked at the Digital Cinema Society is which one we recommend to archive a filmmaker’s work? Which one will stand the test of time and be trusted to preserve the precious fruits of our filmmaking labor? I’m not sure I can give a definitive answer, but I can make a few points for you to consider.

So far, the most proven archival medium for entertainment assets is film; it’s been around in much the same form for well over a hundred years, while other formats have trouble surviving the decade. As a personal example, I can still project or telecine the school projects I shot on film. And although I hate to admit how long it’s been since I was in college, you can probably get some idea if I tell you that the video projects I did were recorded on B&W 1/2-inch reel-to-reel tapes. I was sadly disappointed recently, when after a nearly impossible search for a compatible VTR to play these back, the images were no longer on the tape; just snow. All I can say is "Rest in Peace" to those old tapes, "Ashes to Ashes," and in the case magnetic particle tape, "Rust to Rust."

Making Practical Choices

While a filmout would be one solution, it can also easily cost upward of $100K and is way out of the reach of most digital filmmakers. That’s why many of us need a more practical compromise. Tape formulations have advanced in recent years, but even under ideal conditions, manufacturers are only estimating a shelf life of about 25 years. Of course, with the rapid pace of technological change, you may be hard pressed down the road to find a VTR to play back any particular format.

Discs seem to have an edge in terms of physical longevity, with "replicated" DVDs (those manufactured from a glass master, like a large-scale studio release) having a distinct advantage compared to the "duplicated" disc we can burn in our own computers. Replication, however, usually only makes economic sense if you’re burning at least 1,000 discs and the data is also heavily compressed. For a single program, therefore, the most cost-effective protection would probably involve recording data files, rather than video, to your recordable DVDs. If you’re considering a high-definition DVD format, you’ll have to gamble on which one will win the format war, Blue-Ray or HD-DVD. Much like the VHS vs. Betamax battle of years ago, you could get stuck with the loser and have the Betamax of the 21st century.

Manufacturers quote life spans for discs of anywhere from 20 to 100 years, but the truth is that no one knows for sure, since they just haven’t been around that long. What we do know is that it helps to keep any of these media in the correct environments — cool, dry, out of direct sunlight and with a minimum amount of handling.

"For a single program, therefore, the most cost-effective protection would probably involve recording data files, rather than video, to your recordable DVDs.

Another option is to keep your program on hard drives, stored as pure digital information. This very well may be the most flexible, but it can be unnerving not to have a physical piece of media that you can have and hold, to label and put up on your shelf. Just remember that drives can also crash, and by the time you’re ready to access the data, you have to ask if the file format will still be understood and readable by the systems of the future?

I think the most commonsense approach in these times of such rapid technical evolution is to save your masters on more than one format. At least, that’s the approach I’m taking. If the budget and archival value don’t justify a filmout, I recommend you still store your important program data on a combination of at least two backups— on disc, tape or hard drive. Besides proper storage, it will also be critical to monitor these formats and make the necessary transfers to newer media before the older ones become totally obsolete. As I’m sure the loss of my film school video projects are no great tragedy for modern civilization, your projects are important to you, and may also have lasting archival value. You’ll someday be glad you took the care to properly preserve your work.

When it comes to archiving your valuable projects, which format will eventually stand the test of time?