Quick Answer
Microfilm to Digital Conversion Providers (US): 2026 Guide
The short answer
For microfilm, choose the vendor by project size and the output you need, then insist on a paid sample from your own reels. As of October 20, 2026:
- BMI Imaging — large public-sector and records-heavy projects; over sixty years in microfilm, conversion to PDF/TIFF, import into your document management system, or its hosted Digital ReeL viewer that keeps the reel layout.
- Creekside Digital — the clearest published price for small jobs: $60 / $55 / $50 per 100-foot roll (1–10, 11–20, 21–50 rolls), +$10 per roll for OCR, 300 dpi grayscale to PDF or JPEG.
- SecureScan — paper and film in one contract, with SOC 2 Type II, NAID and HIPAA/HITECH certification; cites around $85 per roll.
- Microfacs — 16mm, 35mm and 105mm film to TIFF, JPEG, PDF or OCR-searchable PDF.
This page is the microfilm spoke of our best OCR companies for large-scale backfile conversion.
Price ranges
Published by the vendors on their own pages, read October 20, 2026.
| Media | Typical price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 16mm / 35mm roll, 100 ft | $20–$40 per roll | BMI Imaging |
| 16mm / 35mm roll, 215 ft | Up to double the 100-ft price | BMI Imaging |
| Roll, small flat-rate order | $60 (1–10) · $55 (11–20) · $50 (21–50) per roll; OCR +$10/roll | Creekside Digital |
| Roll, typical | Around $85, depending on images per roll | SecureScan |
| Jacket microfiche (16mm/35mm) | $0.75–$1.25 per sheet | BMI Imaging, SecureScan |
| COM fiche (250–300 images) | $3–$5 per sheet | BMI Imaging, SecureScan |
| Aperture cards | $0.25–$0.75 per card | BMI Imaging |
Indexing, blip or document-level splitting, duplex film, damaged film and rush schedules all add cost. A 16mm roll can hold thousands of images, so per-roll pricing is far cheaper per page than paper scanning.
Picks by job
- County, court or land records with public access: BMI Imaging, especially if staff are used to navigating reels — Digital ReeL avoids re-indexing every frame.
- Under 50 standard reels, no indexing: Creekside Digital’s flat-rate order form.
- Healthcare or insurance film plus paper: SecureScan for one compliance regime across both.
- 105mm fiche or engineering film: Microfacs or BMI; confirm the scanner handles your reduction ratio.
What to put in the statement of work
- Inventory: reel count, length (100 ft or 215 ft), 16 or 35mm, simplex or duplex, fiche type, condition.
- Image spec: resolution (300 dpi grayscale is the common floor), bit depth, file format, single- or multi-page files.
- Document breaks and indexing: whether each frame, document or reel becomes a file, and which index fields are captured.
- OCR and accuracy target: searchable PDF, with accuracy measured on a sample; handwriting usually needs human indexing instead.
- QA: what share of images is inspected, rescans at no charge, and a batch report. NARA’s paper-digitization rule — inspect at least 10 records or 10% of each batch, whichever is larger — is a sensible benchmark even though Subpart E itself excludes microfilm.
- Chain of custody and return or destruction of the film.
How to scope and price the sample run is covered in backfile conversion pilot project: sample pricing.
Last verified: October 20, 2026.