Why Netflix sends 'Orange is the New Black' to the Library of Congress on videotape (And why the library hopes that's going to change)

After companies shut down and collectors lose interest, the Library of Congress is supposed to keep our cultural history intact. But digital media has turned our understanding of preservation on its head.

It’s no longer enough to just get "a copy" of something. The Library's processes are, by the standards of 21st century media consumption, antiquated. Netflix has to print special VHS copies of their streaming hits like Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards for copyright consideration. Writers, musicians, filmmakers, and other artists regularly register their work with the US Copyright Office in order to make it easier to sue for infringement, and as part of the process, they send a copy -- for video, a physical copy -- that’s examined by registrars and then stored by the Library of Congress. It’s in studios’ interest to do it as quickly as possible, in whatever format is available, well before a show is pressed to Blu-ray and put on store shelves -- whether we’re talking about Netflix or traditional producers. These physical copies aren’t the final storage method -- they’re a way to get the file to the library, which then uploads them to its database.