Digitize Your Video Tapes, Photos, Film & More to Preserve Your Precious Memories Forever
Do you have a box in the basement, or a whole closet, full of old family photos, film reels, and video tapes? Most families do. Digitizing them yourself could take hundreds of hours, plus the cost of equipment and the work of getting everything onto your phone and computer.
This guide explains why those memories are at risk, what can be digitized, and how The Digitize Center’s mail-in service works.
Why old tapes, film, and photos won’t last
VHS and camcorder tapes, film, and photo prints all have a shelf life:
- Video tapes store pictures magnetically, and that signal weakens over time. Tapes also grow mold and get chewed up by aging players.
- Film fades, shrinks, and can turn brittle or develop a vinegar smell as it breaks down.
- Photos discolor, curl, and stick to album pages.
And because they’re physical, they can be lost to a flood, a fire, or a move. Digital copies can be backed up in more than one place and shared with everyone in the family.
What is The Digitize Center?
The Digitize Center is a digitizing service based in Chicago, Illinois. It converts home movies, photos, film, audio, and discs into digital files you can view and share on any device. Everything is digitized at its own facility by its own technicians, never outsourced or sent overseas. The company reports that it has digitized more than one million memories without losing or damaging a single one.
How it works
- Order a Digitize Kit. It’s a protective box that arrives with a welcome guide and a free prepaid return label.
- Pack and ship. Fill the box with your tapes, photos, film, and other items and send it back. Shipping is tracked both ways.
- Get updates. You receive an email when your items arrive and at each stage of the process.
- Receive your memories. Get your files in the cloud, on a USB thumb drive, or on a DVD set. Every original is returned to you.
What formats can be digitized?
- Video tapes: VHS, VHS-C, Betamax, 8mm, Hi8, Digital8, MiniDV, and MicroMV
- Photos: prints, slides, negatives, albums, and scrapbooks
- Film: 8mm, Super 8, Regular 8, and 16mm reels
- Audio: cassettes, micro-cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, and CDs
- Other: CDs, DVDs, memory cards, floppy disks, documents, and newspaper clippings
What sets it apart
- U.S.-based handling: every item is digitized in Chicago by trained technicians on equipment matched to its format.
- Watch anywhere: stream and share from the cloud, or plug in a USB drive or play a DVD.
- Upfront pricing: you pay per item, and one item is one tape, one reel, one disc, or 25 photos, slides, or negatives. Extra items are billed at a flat per-item price.
- Organized files: a tape labeled “Christmas 1999” comes back as a file with that name.
- Every original returned, backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Check the reviews yourself
Before trusting anyone with your memories, read what customers say. You can read The Digitize Center’s verified reviews on its reviews page, and we’d encourage you to check independent sites like Google and the Better Business Bureau too. For a comparison with Legacybox and iMemories, see Choosing the right digitizing company.