World Day for Audiovisual Heritage (October 27): Why It Matters

Old films, radio broadcasts, home videos, music recordings and TV news are the memory of the 20th and 21st centuries. But they are also fragile. The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, observed by UNESCO every year on October 27, raises awareness of the need to preserve these recordings before they are lost forever.

Key facts
Date	October 27 every year
Proclaimed by	UNESCO General Conference, 2005
Marks	Adoption of the 1980 UNESCO Recommendation on safeguarding moving images (October 27, 1980)
Organised with	The Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA)
Hashtags	#AudiovisualHeritage #WDAH

Why Audiovisual Heritage Is in Danger

Threat	What happens
Chemical decay	Early nitrate film is highly flammable; acetate film suffers “vinegar syndrome”
Magnetic tape breakdown	Audio and video tapes lose their signal and become sticky over time
Obsolete players	Machines to play formats like U-matic, Betamax or DAT are disappearing
Heat, humidity and floods	Poor storage destroys archives quickly
Neglect and lack of funding	Many archives cannot afford digitisation
Digital loss	Files can be corrupted, deleted or left in unreadable formats

Archivists have warned for years that much of the world’s tape-based heritage must be digitised quickly, because both the tapes and the machines needed to play them are reaching the end of their life.

Lost and Saved: Examples

• Film historians estimate that most American silent feature films no longer survive.
• Many early television episodes were wiped because videotape was expensive and reused.
• UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register protects outstanding recordings, including early films and historic music collections.
• Community archives around the world are digitising family films and local radio to save everyday history.

How to Save Your Own Family Recordings

1. Digitise old family videos and cassettes before the tapes fail — use a professional service if you do not have the equipment.
2. Store originals in a cool, dry, dark place.
3. Follow the 3-2-1 rule for digital files: three copies, on two types of storage, with one copy kept elsewhere.
4. Label and describe each recording: names, places, dates.
5. Donate historically valuable recordings to a national or local archive.

👉 Culture and heritage days: Explore culture & heritage observances

👉 Plan ahead: All October holidays

Famous Archives That Protect Our Audiovisual Memory

Archive	Country	What it preserves
Library of Congress — National Audio-Visual Conservation Center	USA	Millions of films, TV programmes and sound recordings
BFI National Archive	United Kingdom	One of the largest film and TV collections in the world
INA (Institut national de l’audiovisuel)	France	French radio and television history
Cinémathèque française	France	Classic cinema, cameras and film memorabilia
National Film Archive of India	India	Indian cinema since the silent era
Bangladesh Film Archive	Bangladesh	Bangladeshi films, posters and documentaries, including Liberation War footage

These institutions restore damaged reels frame by frame, transfer fragile tapes to digital formats and store originals in climate-controlled vaults. Many of them now publish restored material online, so students and researchers anywhere can watch history as it happened.

Why It Matters for Everyone

• History: news footage and radio broadcasts are primary sources for major events, from independence speeches to moon landings.
• Culture: films, folk music recordings and oral histories preserve languages and traditions that may disappear.
• Identity: family videos and community recordings connect future generations with their roots.
• Justice: archived recordings can serve as evidence of human rights violations.

Each year UNESCO and the CCAAA choose a theme — from “Your Window to the World” to the role of archives in fighting misinformation — and hold screenings, open days and talks in archives worldwide. Many archives also open their doors to the public on October 27, making it a great day to visit one near you.

FAQs