How to look after vinyl records and their sleeves

A vinyl record is one of the most stable things in a music collection. The ARSC Guide to Audio Preservation, published with the Library of Congress, says vinyl discs "can last 100 years in a controlled environment" (ARSC Guide). What shortens that is heat, pressure, dirt and the wrong sleeve.

The short answer: shelve records upright with firm dividers every 4 to 6 inches, somewhere cool, fairly dry and steady, never in an attic, garage or damp basement. Put each record in a polyethylene inner sleeve, never PVC. Hold it by the edge and the label. Clean off dust with a soft touch, and wet clean only when it needs it.

Store them upright

Every source we read says records stand on edge. The Library of Congress says to "store all formats upright", and the US National Archives says to shelve LPs, 45s and 78s vertically and "do not stack discs on top of one another" (Library of Congress, National Archives).

Upright is not enough on its own. The University of Illinois Library's preservation guide warns that discs "can exert pressure and warp if too many discs are shelved together at an angle without dividers" (University of Illinois).

• Dividers every 4 to 6 inches. The Library of Congress asks for "sturdy, immovable dividers every 4-6 inches that support the entire face of the disc".
• A strong shelf. Records are heavy: the same page puts grooved discs at "35+ pounds per shelf-foot", with the weight on the middle of the shelf.
• Keep sizes apart. Don't file 7-inch singles among LPs; smaller records get lost or damaged, and larger ones get uneven pressure (National Library of Canada, on Conservation OnLine).
• Nothing on top. Never stack records or put heavy things on them.
• A cracked record lies flat. It is the one exception: the ARSC guide says a cracked or broken disc "should be stored lying flat to prevent further damage".

Somewhere cool, dry and steady

Heat is what warps a record. Vinyl is a thermoplastic: it "softens and flows when exposed to excessive heat, which deforms the grooves", and heat with pressure can warp the whole disc (ARSC Guide). Swings in temperature do damage too. A National Library of Canada paper explains that each cycle of warming and cooling "results in a small irreversible deformation, and these deformations are cumulative" (National Library of Canada).

For a home collection, the Library of Congress advises "a cool (room temperature or below), relatively dry (about 35-40% relative humidity or RH), clean, and stable environment" (Library of Congress). The National Archives gives a wider range, 55 to 70°F and 30 to 55 percent humidity, held steady (National Archives). Both ask for the conditions to stay steady, as the ARSC guide does: "a consistent environment with as few fluctuations as possible" (ARSC Guide).

• Not the attic, garage or basement. The Library of Congress says not to keep anything of value there, because of "poor temperature and relative humidity control and higher risk of leaks and floods", and that a plastic bin in a humid place "increases mold risk" (Library of Congress FAQ). The National Archives suggests a closet or an unused room.
• Away from the sun and the radiator. Keep records out of direct light and away from radiators and vents (Library of Congress).
• Let cold records warm up. Records brought in from a cool room should reach room temperature before you play them.

Inner sleeves

The inner sleeve is what touches the grooves.

• Polyethylene, not paper. Old paper inner sleeves are "typically acidic" and shed "paper flour", dust, fibres and flakes, onto the record (University of Illinois). The Library of Congress recommends replacing them with high-density polyethylene sleeves (Library of Congress).
• Never PVC. The Canadian Conservation Institute warns that PVC sleeves "will stain or damage media due to the migration of plasticizer out of the plastic as it degrades" (CCI). The Library of Congress lists polyethylene, polypropylene and polyester as stable plastics and says to avoid PVC and "other unknown plastics" (Library of Congress FAQ).
• Telling them apart. The University of Illinois guide's rule of thumb: "bad" plastic sleeves "are clear and have a sticky or tacky feel"; "good" ones "are frosted in appearance and have a slippery feel".

Keep the original sleeve

A printed inner sleeve is part of the record. The Canadian Conservation Institute keeps old records in polyethylene sleeves "away from their original sleeves", but says to keep the original, as it "is an important part of the historic record". Some thin polyethylene sleeves fit inside an original paper one (Library of Congress, University of Illinois), and the ARSC guide gives a reason to use one: it stops the original sleeve's print transferring onto the record.

When the Library of Congress rehoused its own LPs in 2000, it put each one in a polyethylene sleeve, then into its original sleeve and original cover, and the cover into a polyester outer sleeve (Library of Congress Information Bulletin, 2000).

Jackets and shrink-wrap

• Shrink-wrap keeps shrinking. The National Library of Canada paper says to remove shrink-wrap on LPs completely, because it "can continue to shrink, thus warping the disc"; the University of Illinois guide adds that it can harm the jacket too. The Canadian Conservation Institute puts records back in their jackets "with the cellophane wrap removed". If you keep a sealed copy sealed for its own sake, that is your call; know what the archives advise.
• No rubber bands or tight packaging. The ARSC guide says to remove anything restrictive, as it breaks down at a different rate from the record and its cover.
• Inserts. To keep a poster or lyric sheet with its record, the ARSC guide suggests a sheet of acid-free card, tissue or an antistatic sleeve between the record and the paper.
• Write on sleeves with the record out. Pen pressure "may imprint onto the audio underneath", says the ARSC guide, and labels should never cover artwork.

Wear to the jacket counts when a record is graded. In the Goldmine grading scale, a near mint jacket has "no creases, folds, seam splits", and ring wear is a defect of lower grades (Jazz Collector, quoting the Goldmine guide, a collector reference). Our guide to pricing merch to sell or trade explains how grade sets price.

We found no archive or library source for the popular habit of keeping the record outside its jacket to save the seams, so we don't say it does.

Handling

Hold a record by the edge and the label only, and don't touch the playing surface; wash and dry your hands first (Library of Congress). Oils from fingers "can cause distortion and surface noise" and can feed mould (ARSC Guide).

• Taking it out. Bow the jacket open against your body and draw the record out by a corner of its inner sleeve. Don't press down on it: "any dust caught between the sleeve and the disc will be pressed into the grooves" (National Library of Canada).
• Put it back. Return a record to its sleeve as soon as you finish playing it (University of Illinois).
• Gloves. The sources disagree. The Library of Congress recommends clean, dry hands and careful handling "over wearing cotton, nitrile, or other gloves" for most items (Library of Congress FAQ); some archives prefer lint-free gloves. Clean hands on the edge and label is the common ground.

Cleaning

Clean less than you think. The Canadian Conservation Institute warns that "frequent or improper cleaning" can cause "more problems than if the media were left alone" (CCI). The ARSC guide's test for any method: it should not be abrasive, should not react with the record, and should leave it dry with no residue.

1. Start dry. The Library of Congress's own advice for dust on records is canned air (Library of Congress). A report it published with the Council on Library and Information Resources says to "start dry: Use dusting and vacuuming", then move on only if needed, to antistatic brushing, deionised water, and then pure, fragrance-free liquid soap (CLIR and Library of Congress, 2006).
2. Wet clean gently. The ARSC guide's method: a soft brush and a very dilute mild cleaning solution, keep the label dry, scrub lightly along the grooves, wipe or vacuum it off, then repeat with deionised water to rinse. A record-cleaning machine dries better, but by hand "can also produce acceptable results".
3. Rinse off every trace of soap. Leftover detergent is residue in the grooves (National Library of Canada).
4. No alcohol. The 2006 report says alcohol "should not be used to clean any disc records" except two specialist cases. On shellac 78s it can dissolve the record itself (ARSC Guide, University of Illinois).
5. Skip the folklore. The ARSC guide names household glass cleaner and playing records wet as methods used "without scientific studies to back them up".

78s are different

Shellac 78s are rigid and brittle and break easily; vinyl flexes (University of Illinois). You can tell them apart in the hand: shellac's playing surface is "dull or matte" and doesn't flex, while vinyl "will flex slightly when held by the outer edges" and looks glossy (ARSC Guide). Never use alcohol on shellac, and dry clean a cracked one only, as water can make the crack spread. Some 45s were pressed in polystyrene rather than vinyl, and those crack more easily too.

Checklist

1. Shelve records upright, with firm dividers every 4 to 6 inches, LPs and singles apart.
2. Keep them in a cool, steady room: not the attic, garage or a damp basement, not by a window or radiator.
3. Put every record in a frosted polyethylene inner sleeve; replace clear, sticky plastic ones and any you know are PVC.
4. Keep printed original sleeves, around a thin polyethylene sleeve or stored beside the record.
5. Take off old shrink-wrap and rubber bands, unless you are keeping a sealed copy sealed.
6. Hold records by the edge and label, with clean, dry hands.
7. Dust first; wet clean only when needed, with no alcohol, and rinse.
8. Lay a cracked record flat, and clean a cracked 78 dry only.

Building a record collection on MerchVice? Vinyl on Explore shows what members own, and records open to trade shows what they would swap.

Sources

Libraries, archives and conservation institutes:

• Library of Congress: Care, Handling, and Storage of Audio Visual Materials, Audio/Visual Materials FAQ, Ask a Librarian: How do I clean my grooved discs? and Information Bulletin, Conservation Corner: A Sound Future for Recordings, 2000
• Association for Recorded Sound Collections, CLIR and the Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Board: ARSC Guide to Audio Preservation, 2015
• Council on Library and Information Resources and the Library of Congress: Capturing Analog Sound for Digital Preservation, 2006
• US National Archives: Audio: Storage of Materials
• Canadian Conservation Institute: Caring for audio, video and data recording media
• Gilles St-Laurent, National Library of Canada: The Care and Handling of Recorded Sound Materials, 1996, on Conservation OnLine
• University of Illinois Library, Preservation Self-Assessment Program: Phonograph Record

A collector reference, for the Goldmine grading scale:

• Jazz Collector: Grading Records

Every page was read on 25 October 2026. Some of these sources name sleeves and cleaning machines by brand; we name no product to buy.