Cellulose acetate film

Cellulose acetate film, or safety film, is used in photography as a base material for photographic emulsions. It was introduced in the early 20th century by film manufacturers and intended as a safe film base replacement for unstable and highly flammable nitrate film.

Cellulose diacetate film was first employed commercially for photographic film in 1909. Cellulose acetate propionate and cellulose acetate butyrate were introduced in the 1930s, and cellulose triacetate in the late 1940s. Acetate films were later replaced by polyester bases.

The motion picture industry continued to use cellulose nitrate supports until the introduction of cellulose triacetate in 1948, which met the rigorous safety and performance standards set by the cinematographic industry.^[1] The chemical instability of cellulose acetate material, unrecognized at the time of its introduction, has since become a major problem for film archives and collections. Digitization is now the best way to preserve the contents of cellulose acetate film.