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Lost media
Lost media is any piece of media thought to no longer exist in any format, or for which no copies can be located. The term primarily encompasses visual, audio, or audiovisual media, such as films, television, radio broadcasts, music, and video games.
Many television and radio broadcast masters, recorded onto magnetic tape, may be lost due to the industry practice of wiping. Motion picture studios also often destroyed their original nitrate film elements, as film and broadcast material was often considered ephemeral and of little historical worth after they had made their revenue. Some media considered lost may exist in studio or public archives, but may not be available to most people due to copyright or donor restriction rules, or for the most part, complete disinterest by anyone in an outdated program or subject matter. Due to the unstable nature of any format, films, tapes, phonograph records, optical discs like CDs and DVDs, and digital data stored on hard drives all naturally degrade over time, especially if not kept in correct storage conditions.
Preservation efforts attempt to avoid the loss of works; this is usually done by storing them in archives.
A large portion of silent films made in the United States are now considered lost. A 2013 report made by the United States Library of Congress estimates that 70 percent of silent films made in the United States have been completely lost.
Most lost television broadcasts are early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives or in personal archives. A majority of lost television broadcasts are lost due to deliberate destruction (such as a technique used in the early days of television called wiping) or neglect.
The Library of Congress estimates that a large portion of the earliest musical recordings, from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, have been lost. For example, only two percent of the over 3000 wax cylinders produced by the North American Phonograph Company between 1889 and 1894 are part of the National Recording Preservation Board's sound recording library as of 2024[update].
A concept related to lost music is "lostwave", a term coined on the Internet for extant recordings of music for which little to no information about its authors or origin exists. Some examples of lostwave, such as "Subways of Your Mind" and "Ulterior Motives", both of which were eventually identified in 2024, have been the subjects of online crowdsourced research.
Video games, including digital downloads, often fade from existence when digital game stores close, as demonstrated by the Wii Shop Channel, Xbox Live Arcade, V Cast Network, and the Nintendo eShop. P.T., a teaser to the unreleased Silent Hill game Silent Hills, became unable to be redownloaded after its removal from the PlayStation Network within a year. The Wii U and Nintendo 3DS digital download games Dodge Club Party and Dodge Club Pocket were removed from Nintendo eShop in 2019 and 2022 and became publicly unavailable due to reasons beyond Nintendo's control.
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Lost media AI simulator
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Lost media
Lost media is any piece of media thought to no longer exist in any format, or for which no copies can be located. The term primarily encompasses visual, audio, or audiovisual media, such as films, television, radio broadcasts, music, and video games.
Many television and radio broadcast masters, recorded onto magnetic tape, may be lost due to the industry practice of wiping. Motion picture studios also often destroyed their original nitrate film elements, as film and broadcast material was often considered ephemeral and of little historical worth after they had made their revenue. Some media considered lost may exist in studio or public archives, but may not be available to most people due to copyright or donor restriction rules, or for the most part, complete disinterest by anyone in an outdated program or subject matter. Due to the unstable nature of any format, films, tapes, phonograph records, optical discs like CDs and DVDs, and digital data stored on hard drives all naturally degrade over time, especially if not kept in correct storage conditions.
Preservation efforts attempt to avoid the loss of works; this is usually done by storing them in archives.
A large portion of silent films made in the United States are now considered lost. A 2013 report made by the United States Library of Congress estimates that 70 percent of silent films made in the United States have been completely lost.
Most lost television broadcasts are early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives or in personal archives. A majority of lost television broadcasts are lost due to deliberate destruction (such as a technique used in the early days of television called wiping) or neglect.
The Library of Congress estimates that a large portion of the earliest musical recordings, from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, have been lost. For example, only two percent of the over 3000 wax cylinders produced by the North American Phonograph Company between 1889 and 1894 are part of the National Recording Preservation Board's sound recording library as of 2024[update].
A concept related to lost music is "lostwave", a term coined on the Internet for extant recordings of music for which little to no information about its authors or origin exists. Some examples of lostwave, such as "Subways of Your Mind" and "Ulterior Motives", both of which were eventually identified in 2024, have been the subjects of online crowdsourced research.
Video games, including digital downloads, often fade from existence when digital game stores close, as demonstrated by the Wii Shop Channel, Xbox Live Arcade, V Cast Network, and the Nintendo eShop. P.T., a teaser to the unreleased Silent Hill game Silent Hills, became unable to be redownloaded after its removal from the PlayStation Network within a year. The Wii U and Nintendo 3DS digital download games Dodge Club Party and Dodge Club Pocket were removed from Nintendo eShop in 2019 and 2022 and became publicly unavailable due to reasons beyond Nintendo's control.