Microfiche and microfilm protected your records for decades — but reading them now means hunting for a working reader. We convert fiche, roll film and aperture cards into clean, searchable digital files, so your archive is usable again in seconds, from any screen.
Microfiche readers are increasingly hard to source and maintain, and every retrieval means physically handling fragile film. Digitising removes both problems at once: records become instantly searchable, shareable and safe from further wear — while the original film can be preserved or securely destroyed, as you prefer.
We digitise heritage collections and business archives alike, indexed to your references and delivered straight into your systems or our secure cloud portal.
Standard and jacketed fiche, including COM fiche, digitised frame-by-frame with indexing preserved.
Roll microfilm captured and split into individual, named records ready for retrieval.
Engineering drawings and plans on aperture cards converted to high-resolution, searchable images.
Historic newspaper runs and register films digitised for research access without handling the film.
Jackets, microcards and unusual or degraded film assessed and captured wherever technically possible.
Where the source allows, output is OCR'd so the text inside your records becomes fully searchable.
One flat shot of a whole fiche loses detail. We locate every frame first, then capture each one individually, so every page comes out sharp.
Every fiche is cleaned before scanning, then loaded by gloved hands into an anti-static hopper. Static attracts dust, which degrades images and makes fiche stick together, so removing it first means no rescans.
Each fiche moves automatically into a pneumatic holder under a glass lid, so it lies flat and stays in focus. An LED-lit overview shot then locates every frame on the sheet, so mixed batches run without changing carriers or job settings.
A high-resolution camera captures each frame on its own, in around half a second, as the platform positions it beneath the lens. Every detail is visible, far sharper than a reader-printer copy.
Each image is checked for detection, cropping and straightening, and each fiche is named to your references. The software won't let an operator move on until every frame is ticked as checked or the fiche is flagged.
Fiche from the same file are grouped into one digital file and output as archival PDF/A-1b (ISO 19005-1), or the format your system needs.
Collected by our own staff with a full chain of custody, and returned by secure portal, SFTP or encrypted media.
We've re-scanned fiche that other bureaux had already digitised and returned clearer, more legible images. Send us a few of your problem fiche and compare the results side by side, free.
Clean, accurate, properly indexed digital records — produced inside our accredited, audited environment.
Searchable PDF, archival PDF/A-1b, TIFF or JPEG — to match your EDRM or records system.
Records named and indexed to your references, so they're found the way your team searches.
Scanned to BS 10008 to support legal admissibility, inside our ISO 27001-certified facilities.
Secure cloud portal, SFTP or encrypted media — with originals returned or destroyed.
Searchable digital copies of your existing film for instant, everyday access — this service.
Need a permanent, technology-proof master? We also create archival preservation film.
Explore preservation microfilming →Send us a sample of your fiche or film and we'll confirm exactly what we can recover — then quote your full conversion.
We'll be in touch, usually the same working day. Anything urgent? Call free on 0800 281857.
Standard and jacketed microfiche (including COM fiche), 16mm and 35mm roll microfilm, and aperture cards — plus newspapers and registers on film. Every common format, and the awkward ones too.
Yes — records are delivered as clean, searchable digital files with OCR, indexed to your references and delivered into your systems or our secure cloud portal.
Entirely. Your film is digitised inside our own ISO 27001-accredited UK facilities by our own staff — never subcontracted or sent offshore.
Your choice: the original film can be returned, preserved in secure storage, or securely destroyed once you've verified the digital copies.
Microfiche and microfilm scanning is priced by format and volume, plus any indexing and delivery requirements. We provide a firm quote from a free sample conversion, so you can check the quality before the full project runs.
Yes. We deliver clean, OCR'd, searchable PDFs — or your preferred format — indexed to your references and loaded into your systems or our secure UK cloud portal.
Yes. We regularly digitise microfiche and microfilm for local authorities, the NHS and other public bodies — planning records, registers and medical film — all handled in-house to ISO 27001 by our own vetted staff.
Yes. Every fiche gets an overview shot that locates each frame automatically, so mixed layouts run together without pre-sorting or changing carriers or job settings.
Often, yes. Because we capture each frame individually rather than the whole fiche in one pass, we've re-scanned other bureaux's fiche and returned clearer, more legible images. Send us a sample and compare.
Every image is quality-checked for detection, cropping and straightening. The software won't let an operator move on to the next fiche until every frame is ticked as checked or the fiche is flagged for attention.
Our digitiser loads up to 1,000 fiche per unattended run, and we've digitised millions of fiche and film frames over the years, from a single box to entire archives.