Heirloom

Media digitizing is the process of converting physical formats — VHS tapes, camcorder cassettes, 8mm and 16mm film reels, slides, negatives, and printed photos — into digital files you can play, share, and back up on any device.

The physical media itself is unchanged. A technician plays the tape or scans the photo, captures it frame by frame, and saves the result as a digital file (typically MP4 for video, JPEG or TIFF for images). You keep the originals; you just no longer depend on them.

Because analog media has an expiration date. Magnetic tape loses signal quality every year it sits in a box, and most VHS and camcorder tapes recorded in the 80s and 90s are now past the point where the picture starts to visibly break down. Film fades, warps, and grows mold. Photos yellow and stick together.

Digitizing stops the decay at whatever quality you have left today. It also means one house fire, one flood, or one broken VCR no longer costs you the only copy that exists. Once the files are digital, you can back them up, share them with family, and actually watch them again.

We charge per item, so the minimum cost is whatever price is listed to digitize one of those items.

Some popular formats include:

From $23.99 per tape for VHS and camcorder formats.
From $19.99 for 8mm and Super8 film.
$29.99 per 100 photos and $49.99 per 100 slides.

No hidden fees, no order minimums.

Yes. Heirloom is partnered with the UPS Store, which means your box is scanned into tracking the moment it leaves your hands.

If you're shipping to our facility with your own materials, we advise wrapping your media in a waterproof bag and add cushioning/stuffing for extra protection. For those extra cautious, we have a Shipping Kit with quality materials and protection.

Every shipment is tracked end to end. When your media arrives, it's logged, inspected, and itemized before any work begins — so you know exactly what we received. Nothing is stored loose or unlabeled, and your originals come back to you when the transfer is done.

The digitizing technician will have access during the digitizing process. Once the process is complete, your files are stored in a private, access-controlled vault — not a shared drive, not a public cloud folder, and not anything anyone at Heirloom can browse casually.

We do not sell or distribute your data.

Most digitizing companies ship your media overseas and run it through automated equipment. We do everything in-house, and the same standards we use for government and institutional archives apply to your family's tapes.

• In-house digitizing | your media doesn't leave the facility
• No minimum order quantity required | send one tape or a thousand
• Preservation-quality transfers | not all digitizers are equal
• Free repair attempts on damaged or moldy media | no extra charge
• Your data is never shared or sold | ever
• Talk to a real person | call us anytime 9-5 or leave a message

Veteran-owned & operated.

100% of Heirloom digitizing happens right here in the USA — at our facility in Mount Pleasant, SC.

Your media never crosses a border, never changes hands with a third party, and never sits in an unmarked warehouse. Shorter shipping distance also means less time in transit and less chance of loss or damage.

Heirloom digitizes virtually every type of legacy media. If it holds memories or data, Heirloom is built to rescue it and preserve it securely in the cloud.

Video: VHS, VHS-C, S-VHS, Betamax, Hi8, Video8, Digital8, MiniDV, and most camcorder cassettes
Film: 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm reels
Photos: Loose photographs, photo albums, slides, and negatives
Audio: Cassettes and reel-to-reel
Data Drives: CDs, Memory Cards, Floppy Disks, External drives, and more

Not sure what you have? Send it anyway. We identify and itemize every item during inspection.

• Digitized memory files accessible from the Cloud.
• FREE 90 days of Cloud storage (new customers).
• Old analog media shipped back.
• *Optional*  USB hard drive backup copy of your digitized order.

INSTANTLY view, stream, download, and share memories from your personal Cloud account we give you. You can enjoy them on our platform or locally on your device after downloading.

Most orders are completed within a few days of invoice approval, and every order is guaranteed done within 2 weeks unless repairs are needed. If your media shows damage, we let you know right away and take the time to digitize it with the utmost care.

You'll get an email the moment your files are ready, and you can view and download them instantly once payment is complete.

Working against a deadline like a memorial, an anniversary, or an ill family member?
Tell us and we'll rush your order at no charge.