There have been literally dozens of video tape formats used over the years, but by the far the most common ones for home video are:
- VHS: the most ubiquitous format for home TV recording
- VHS-C: the same format tape as VHS but in a smaller cassette, designed for camcorders.
- 8mm (Video8, Hi8 & Digital8): smaller, thinner tapes and much longer recording times than VHS-C. Digital8 is the same recording standard as Mini DV but on 8mm wide tape.
- Mini DV: by far the most popular digital tape format. Much smaller cassettes and camcorders than the 8mm format.
It's highly likely that if your footage was shot on videotape, it'll be on one of those formats and I'll be happy to convert it for you.
There’s an overview of each in this section just to help you identify what type of tape you have, in case you’re not sure.
It’s not meant to be a detailed history of any of the formats or of video recording in general. Two seconds on Wikipedia will very quickly take you as far down that particular rabbit hole as you are prepared to venture!
Also, although it's not a tape format, I've included a section on Mini DVD-R/RW. If you have a DVD or Blu-ray drive in your computer you can quite easily convert/transfer the files yourself, but I've included it for the increasing number of people whose device has no physical media drive.
If it so happens that you have something else, or you're not actually sure what you have, please get in contact, send me a few photos and I'll give you advice on how to proceed. Even if I can't convert your tape, there are services out there that for an appropriate fee will convert just about anything to anything else, no matter how obscure!
