Identifying Film with Sound
When we receive film transfer orders, one of the most common questions people have is how can they tell if their film has sound. Most of the time the film is very old, its contents have long been forgotten, and it is film that has been passed down from family members. So it’s typical that not much is known about what is actually on each reel.
But determining if your film has sound is actually quite simple, but the procedure varies depending on what type of film you have.
8mm and Super 8 film with sound
8mm and Super 8 film with sound both contain sound on a magnetic strip that runs along the edges of the film. Most of the time the magnetic strip is different in color from the rest of the film and will look discolored or brown. Below is a graphical representation of what 8mm and Super 8m film with magnetic strips look like.
Film with sound 8mm and Super 8
Determining if your 8mm film has sound is easy, really all you have to do is examine your film. If you have wider discolored areas that go down the edge of your film then more than likely your film does have sound.
16mm film with sound:
Now that we have gone over 8mm and Super 8mm film we will look at 16mm film with sound to see what the difference is. 16mm film can actually have two different types of sound depending on how it was captured. The first is a magnetic strip just like 8mm and Super 8. Again, with this version you will have magnetic strips that run along the edge of the film and just like the others will look different in color from the rest of the film.
However, 16mm film can also have optical sound. With optical sound the film itself has sound waves on the outer edges of the film. As you can see from the picture below the optical sound looks like a jagged wave that runs along the film.
You can see the optical sound on the far right of this 16mm film.
Even though there are two different versions of film with sound, magnetic and optical, both types can be seen just by looking at the film. If you have questions about if you have film with sound or not, the easy thing to do is unwind a little film, handle it delicately, use a magnifying glass if necessary, and inspect the edges of the film. Look for 1 of 2 things. Discolored strip along the side of them film or a jagged wavy line down the side.
For assistance on determining if your film has sound or if you are thinking about starting a digital preservation project visit our website at www.cintrexav.com or contact us at [email protected]
Image from Wikipedia.








