There are many risks to your audio and visual media. Some media can deteriorate simply sitting on the shelf. Generally keeping media in a cool but not humid environment would be the best storage conditions. Mold is probably the biggest issue with media that we see in our office. Mold will eat the emulsion (the picture) of film, negatives, photos, etc. Mold is also dangerous to handle without proper handling procedures. Once mold has eaten the emulsion, nothing can restore the image. However, we can arrest further damage, kill the mold, and salvage the remaining image. Many times this can mean salvaging more than 90% of the media. Mechanical damage to your media is the next major issue. We see damage such as torn film, missing pieces of photos, wrinkles, etc. Our equipment and expertise can handle many of these issues and in many cases digitize most if not all of the image. Wear and tear is probably the issue that is most difficult to resolve. Video tapes with wrinkled video or worse is almost impossible to fix. Many other issues with wear and tear, such as film scratches can be minimized using special equipment, software, and techniques. Contact us, your archival media specialists, and we can help assess your collection.