Institutional Media Digitization, From a Single Reel to a Million Feet.
An archive that cannot be searched is an archive that cannot be used
Universities, libraries, municipalities, and film studios trust us to convert entire analog archives to preservation-grade digital files, every item handled in-house in Orange, California, and never sent overseas. Across more than a million reels, we have never lost one.
Request a ConsultationA dedicated department for institutions since 2001. One team, one facility, one chain of custody.
0 Lost
In over 1,000,000 reels and millions of items handled.
Since 2001
Hollywood 's Choice
In-House Processing
Expert Technicians
Chapman University Film School · San Diego Chargers · Anaheim Ducks · UC Irvine · Pasadena, Burbank & Santa Fe Springs Public Libraries · the Steven Spielberg documentary · Netflix's Lucy and Desi
Built for Institutions With Archives to Preserve
We run a dedicated department for organizations whose collections run from thousands to millions of feet of film, tape, and paper. Find the segment that fits you.
The Archive Challenge
Analog collections keep decaying whether or not anyone opens them, and they cannot be searched, shared, or retrieved on demand. Digitizing turns a shelf of aging reels and boxes into files that are preserved for the future, instantly retrievable, and usable with today's tools.
Film shrinks and grows brittle, tape sheds and demagnetizes, paper yellows. A preservation-grade digital master stops the clock.
Server-based files can be catalogued, searched, and pulled up in seconds instead of hunted for in a storage room.
Once digital, a game, a lecture, or a founding-era photo set can be shared with students, members, media, or the public.
A fire or flood can erase an irreplaceable physical archive. Digital masters, stored in multiple places, cannot be lost the same way.
Every Format Under One Roof
Mixed archives are our specialty. One vendor, one chain of custody, one combined delivery.
Why Institutions Choose Legacy Digital
Your collection is digitized by our own team in Orange, California. We never subcontract and never send an institution's archive out of the United States.
Items are logged in, tracked through the lab, and returned. Across more than a million reels handled, we have never lost an item.
Our film scanners use the same industrial equipment developed for the Motion Picture Academy, capturing frame by frame in HD or 2K.
We capture at far higher quality than warehouse conversion, monitored in real time rather than run unattended in racks.
Scott is personally involved in the work, and local institutions often meet him directly. You deal with people, not a ticket queue.
DVD, Blu-ray, or server-based media files, organized and catalogued so your team can actually use the archive.
Why Our Scans Look Better
A transfer is only worth doing once, so it has to be done at a quality the material deserves. This is where a careful lab and a warehouse operation part ways.
We capture film frame by frame in true HD 1080p or 2K on the same industrial equipment developed for the Motion Picture Academy, then assemble the frames to play back at the correct speed. Many other services scan at a lower 720p or 480p.
On our premium levels a technician performs scene-by-scene color correction and grain reduction, recovering clearer images and accurate, true-to-life color, often looking better than the original did.
Cold LED light means no heat and no bulb that can burn the film. Our scanners never touch the picture area, never use toothed sprockets that tear, and never a projector. Every reel is cleaned and lubricated first.
Standard MP4 for everyday viewing, or MOV, ProRes, image sequences, and uncompressed masters for editorial and preservation. You choose the resolution and format that fits the collection.
Three quality levels are available: HD as standard, HD with full color correction and grain reduction, and our highest 2K level with the same enhancements. We recommend the right level for your material and confirm it before the full run.
Trusted With Irreplaceable Collections
A sample of the institutions and productions that have chosen Legacy Digital.
When Sumner Redstone wanted part of his personal archive digitized, he chose Legacy Digital Productions.
How an Institutional Project Runs
Survey and inventory
We assess the collection, formats, and volume, then scope the work and provide a clear, itemized quote.
Pilot batch
For large archives we can start with a pilot so your team can approve quality and workflow before the full run.
Digitize with custody tracking
Items are logged, digitized in-house at preservation quality, and tracked through every step.
Deliver, catalogued
Files delivered on server media, drives, DVD, or Blu-ray, organized so the archive is searchable and usable.
Volume, Security, and Chain of Custody
Large archives demand more than a scanner. They demand accountability for every item, from intake to return.
Every reel, tape, and box is inventoried at intake and tracked through each step of the lab, so nothing is misplaced or mixed with another organization's media.
Your archive never leaves our Orange, California facility and is never sent overseas or subcontracted to a third party.
We routinely handle collections from thousands to millions of feet, batching the work so quality stays consistent across the entire archive.
Across more than a million reels handled, we have never lost an item. For an institution, that track record is the whole point.
Delivery Built for Access
A digitized archive is only useful if your team can find and use what is in it. We deliver in the format that fits how you work.
Digital masters delivered as organized files for your server or media system, so a game, a lecture, or a photo set is searchable and retrievable in seconds.
Files are named and grouped to match your collection's structure, so the digital archive mirrors the order your team already knows.
DVD or Blu-ray sets for viewing rooms, reading rooms, or distribution, alongside the file-based masters.
Keep high-quality masters for preservation and lighter files for everyday access and sharing, from the same digitization pass.
Future-Proof Your Archive
The quality you digitize at today decides what your collection can do tomorrow. High-resolution, lightly compressed files are not just better to watch, they are better source material for search, indexing, and the AI and machine-learning tools institutions are only beginning to apply to their archives.
We scan at low compression and high resolution, so a file holds far more true detail than a heavily compressed warehouse transfer. The more real detail the capture preserves, the more any downstream tool has to work with.
Beyond MP4 we deliver uncompressed, ProRes, and image-sequence masters. Keep a pristine copy for the record and derive lighter working copies whenever you need them.
A digitized, organized archive is instantly retrievable and sharable, the foundation any cataloguing, indexing, or analysis effort has to start from.
Handling irreplaceable originals repeatedly risks damage. Capture at archival quality one time, and the same files serve access, preservation, and whatever tools come next.
We digitize your collection at the highest quality the material supports. What you build on it, from a searchable catalog to future AI and machine-learning applications, stays entirely yours to decide.
Collections We Commonly Digitize
Every institution's archive is different, but the work tends to fall into a few familiar shapes.
Decades of game film, match video, and event tapes, converted so highlights can be searched, shared with alumni and fans, and preserved.
Local-history film, photographs, oral-history tapes, and documents, digitized for public access and long-term preservation.
Student and faculty reels and tapes converted at preservation quality, protecting a program's creative history.
Photographs, slides, documents, and even x-rays, brought into a searchable digital archive alongside film and video.
Getting Started Is Simple
We make it easy to move from a shelf of aging media to a plan you can budget and approve.
Tell us what you have
A rough inventory of formats and volume is enough to start. Not sure what is in the collection? We help you assess it.
We survey and quote
We assess the collection, scope the work, and give you a clear, itemized quote and timeline.
Approve a pilot
For large archives we can run a pilot batch so your team signs off on quality and workflow before the full run.
We digitize and deliver
Your media is converted in-house with full custody tracking and delivered organized for access.
The Cost of Waiting
Analog media does not pause while a budget cycle turns. Every season a collection sits undigitized, a little more of it is lost, and the cost to recover what remains only rises.
A faded frame, a shed tape, or a moldy reel cannot be brought back. Digitization captures what exists today; it cannot recover what decayed yesterday.
The more a collection degrades, the more careful, slower, and costly the eventual transfer becomes. Acting while media is stable is the least expensive path.
Every year an archive stays locked in analog is a year it cannot be searched, shared, taught with, or shown to the people it matters to.
Institutions that act treat digitization not as an expense but as insurance on an asset that cannot be replaced once it is gone.
The default choice for those who research the best option and refuse to gamble with irreplaceable media.In-house in Orange, California since 2001. Never subcontracted, never sent overseas, never lost.
Institutional Digitization Questions
How is institutional work priced?
Where is the work done?
Can you handle a mixed archive of film, tape, photos, and paper?
Can we start with a pilot before committing the whole collection?
What delivery formats do you provide?
Do you offer pickup for local institutions?
How do you keep our collection secure and confidential?
Can you match our file naming and catalog structure?
How long does an institutional project take?
Do you offer volume pricing for large archives?
Can you digitize documents, x-rays, and photographs too, not just film and video?
Do we get a dedicated point of contact?
Do you work with institutions outside Southern California?
Explore Our Services by Media Type
Your Collection Is Aging on the Shelf. Let Us Preserve It.
Request a consultation. We survey the archive, scope the work, and give you a clear plan and quote, with the track record to back it up.
Request a ConsultationOr call (888) 405-2685 · Orange, CA · In-house since 2001