The following is a guide to formats that are accepted for registration.
Recommended formats
Recommended formats are all covered in the standard fees with no extra cost:
- CD/DVD/USB Flash Drive, up to 1GB (1024MB) of data.
- Floppy disc - (1.44mb, 3½inch), up to 4 floppy discs allowed per registration.
- Paper documents, photographs, transparencies, fabrics or prints up to 20 pages of A4/Letter/Foolscap size.
Wherever possible, single side printing, unbound documents are preferred.
Formats requiring an additional processing fee
These formats incur an extra fee to cover additional data back-up cost and administration time:
A £5 processing fee will apply for:
Paper documents between 21 & 100 pages.
DVD/CD disc(s) or USB Flash drive, over 1GB and up to 4GB.
A £15 processing fee will apply for:
DVD/CD disc(s) or USB Flash Drive, over 4GB and up to 8GB.
Paper documents between 101 & 250 pages.
Cassette tapes.
A £25 processing fee will apply for:
VHS video.
Paper documents between 251 & 500 pages.
Larger works should be treated as 2 or more registrations.
The preferred formats for postal submissions are CD or DVD.
Not accepted
The following formats are not accepted.
- SECAM or PALm (Brazil) Video tapes,
- DAT tapes (any format),
- Paper documents larger than A4/Letter/Foolscap,
- Zip or Jaz drive,
- Negatives or film reels,
- Mini-Disc,
- Vinyl.
What format to choose?
Copyright exists in your work regardless of format, so the format that you use to register the work will not make a difference to copyright, it will only impact registration fees and personal convenience.
CD or DVD format is preferred where possible.
CD or DVD is normally the best format for registration as it provides generous storage for most works, is a light and compact format, (and therefore cheaper to post), and as it is the most convenient format for our administrators to work with it will also speed up the processing of your application.
If you have any questions or are unsure how to register your item, please consult our page dealing with formats that are known to cause confusion, which has further information on registration formats and how to contact our advisors.
