Video Preservation Web Site

This site is produced for archivists, librarians, curators and conservators who want to identify the videotapes in their collections. Since video recording became a viable technology in 1956, there have been over 50 different formats created. Most of these formats are represented in this chronology.

Clicking the date ranges at the left will load thumbnail images of the prominent videotape formats and a short essay on the formats for the particular time period. As obsolescence of video media and hardware is of prime concern, this chronology labels each format with one of the following designations:

Extinct
Critically endangered
Endangered
Threatened
Vulnerable
Lower risk

Complete definitions of Obsolesce Rating, a concept developed by Andrew Robb, are found at rating_definitions.html.