Lost media are pieces of

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

that are nonexistent, missing, or unavailable to the general public. The term ''lost media'' primarily encompasses visual, audio, or

audiovisual Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions. Audiovisual service ...

media such as

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and radio broadcasts, music, and video games. Lost artworks and

lost literary work A lost work is a document, literary work, or piece of multimedia produced some time in the past, of which no surviving copies are known to exist. It can only be known through reference. This term most commonly applies to works from the classical ...

s may also fit into this umbrella term, although ''lost works'' is a more common expression in these cases. Since the advent of streaming media on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...

, use of the term ''lost media'' has concentrated on those pieces of mass media that have not surfaced on the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...

or streaming services. Such media—primarily recorded onto magnetic tape in the case of television and radio broadcast masters—may be entirely lost due to the industry practice of

wiping Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect. Common reasons for loss A significant prop ...

(broadcast media was often considered ephemeral and of little historical worth before the rise of

home media Home media refers to media used for recording, copying, delivery, and playback of various types of entertainment and information in the home. Forms of home media include: * Home video * Magnetic tape * Phonograph record A phonograph record ( ...

in the late 1970s). Others are known to exist but are hard to access outside of archives such as the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

of the United States and private collections. The Lost Media Wiki, a

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pub ...

site founded by Daniel "Dycaite" Wilson in 2012, has spearheaded the search for numerous pieces of lost media, primarily obscure or unaired television programs, but also commercials, music, books and video games.

References

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See also

References