Digitize 8mm Film. What Formats Can I Use?

Viewing old films today is the number one reason to digitize 8mm film. The entire point of creating a film is to view it again later. Family memories, documentaries, entertainment, and legal evidence are just a few types of films created because there is a desire or need to be seen later.

Whether gathered around the projector and screen in the living room or watching intently in a courtroom, the film, projector, and screen must all be in working order. One missing piece prevents viewing.

If the projector breaks down, then viewing the film is impossible. If the screen fails, film can be projected on a wall, but it loses the crispness of a screen made for the purpose. However, if the film breaks or becomes unplayable, there is no point for the projector or the screen.

Today, there are virtually no working film projectors, so there is also no use for a screen. 8mm film fills boxes in closets, attics, and basements, but what can be done with it?

Converting 8mm film to digital is almost common knowledge. To view the film without projectors and screens, the film must be converted into a form that can be viewed with today’s technology. That is the easy part. The are several questions to be answered, one of which is: What format do I convert 8mm film to?

Digital Video Format Choices

The factors to consider when choosing the format for your digitized 8mm film depend on several factors:

1. The desired platform(s) to play digitized videos.
2. The amount of storage available for storing the digitized videos
3. The requirement for sharing digitized videos with others.
4. The desired ease of editing the videos.

Desired Formats for Digitizing 8mm Film

If you desire digitized 8mm film with the need to do professional quality editing and projection, that is different than a format designed for the most universal compatibility among devices.

For example, many video cameras use the AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) format. This produces a high-quality video. The disadvantage is that it is not widely compatible with all platforms, and it produces large files. If you are using social media, sharing with several people who might play on different platforms, or have limited storage space, another choice might be better.

The most popular and most widely used format is mp4 because it has many options for resolution which make it usable for small and large platforms and almost every platform supports it. For example, a digital file might be desired so that it can be watched on large screen TV and then shared with a cousin in Africa on a smartphone. Mp4 can be played on both. One drawback to mp4 is that it uses video compression, meaning it is a ‘lossy’ format.

Professional Conversion Formats

 If you desire to save your video in a lossless format, you will choose a different format. Professionals often use some format of Apple ProRes 422 (mov files). Options include:

• ProRes 422 Proxy
• ProRes 422 LT
• ProRes 422
• ProRes 422 HQ
• ProRes 4444
• ProRes 4444 XQ

The quality of ProRes files varies from very high compression to no compression. Consequently, the file sizes vary by as much as one hundred times between the compression choices and mp4 options. There is no reason to choose the lower quality ProRes files over mp4 unless Apple is a required format, and the large formats would be for high level professional editing.

Other formats do not have any advantages that are worth overriding the Mov or mp4 formats unless your project has specifications that require them. Some are open source and have strong editing properties, but are not supported on most formats. Others are great formats, but have large file sizes.

Sharing Digital Film

Sharing videos quickly and easily through the internet is one of the great bonuses of digitized video. Using online video services like YouTube, videos can be uploaded for viewing or downloading worldwide. Most cloud services, like OneDrive and Dropbox, allow sharing for downloading.

Previously, copies of USB drives or DVDs had to be created and shipped to share video with friends and family.

Editing Converted 8mm Film

Both mp4 and mov (ProRes) files can be edited by most popular video editing software. The reason for choosing a mov file over mp4 is that very fine-tuned editing is possible. The larger file size is due to a larger amount of digital information per square inch of video. This enables a finer granularity for very precise editing.

Otherwise, the video will appear identical to the naked eye except for large screen displays.

Transfer from 8mm Film Capture Considerations

So far, the final video format has been discussed, but the capture format is also important. Even if the final video format is mp4, for example, the best transfers result from capturing in one of the ProRes formats. This generates the best color depth before compression compared to native mp4 capture.

The only other consideration for 8mm Film transfer is for those applications that still require DVD as the final storage format. In this case Mpeg-2 is the best format which can then be burned to DVD.

Formats for Digitized 8mm Film: Get Started

1. Call or text Jamey: 720 204-5464
2. Set an appointment (every project receives my attention)
3. Drop off your tapes (and records, cassettes, slides, or negatives, too)
4. In a week or less, pick up your new digitized video.