ABSTRACT
This chapter considers general aspects of image storage and archival properties or life expectancy of different imaging media. Prior to digital photography the term archival was used to describe materials with a long life, which is now taken to mean a minimum of 100 years. With digital technologies a number of other considerations concerning the life expectancy of the digital image information have to be taken into account in addition to degradations of the storage medium itself. Ensuring image longevity presents various challenges. Some are common to both silver-based and digital media, whereas others are unique to one or the other. According to work published by the Image Permanence Institute of the Rochester Institute of Technology in the USA there are three categories of environmentally induced types of deterioration in photographic media. On the longevity of the photographic medium itself, generally fine-grain silver images are more susceptible to degradation than larger-grain images.
