History

• Microfilm was developed and commercially marketed in the early 20th century as a means to capture large documents and scale them down to the size of a film slide. In most of the 20th century, microfilm became the standard for preserving newspapers and other large documents, and preventing deterioration of those documents.
  
  

From Microfilm to Digital Imaging

• While microfilm is still used as a means of document preservation, it is in competition with the need to access digital files and the emergence of the Web. Microfilm conversion involves the scanning of these small, slide-sized images into digital formats that can be made accessible via computer and the Web. The conversion also saves physical space needed for storage of microfilm documents.
  
  

Uses for Microfilm

• Microfilm conversion is currently considered and used by libraries for archive preservation, banks for record preservation and businesses and organizations that need quick access to archived documents.