How to Store Vinyl Records 

It's always nervous when clicking onto these videos as a beginner vinyl record collector because you don't know if you have been mistreating your records for the entire time

My fears: Bugs, killers, the darkness The Vinyl Geek's greatest fear: *LITTLE ROCKS*

Where are all these rocks coming from?! Is that why it's called Rock & Roll?

I put my records into the sleeve sideways too, but for a very different reason. My very first vinyl record ever, the record slipped right out! Thankfully it landed on my bed and not a pile of little rocks!

I got into collecting vinyl records.After watching the movie “Warm Bodies”.Where the guy had a turntable and a Guns’n Roses Use your illusion album.That’s what got me started collecting records.

Super helpful, wow. Your my new favorite channel and I mean that. The environment of your videos, your style, your easy to listen to, to the point... Perfect! Thank you for putting all this effort into your channel, it shows.

Loved this video! I've been looking for a proper way to store my records, and researching about inner/outer sleeves, and wow, this video covered everything in-depth! Thank you so much :D

Thanks for such a thorough explanation of not only how, but why, and the correct products to use! Very nice video!!

Very good advice about products to use to save record collections. Remember to keep records up straight as possible and not to tight against one another. I've collected records for 45 years and have always kept my records inside the covers without any splitting of the covers. I mail them inside the covers without anyone ever complaining about splits in the covers.

Gr8 video. I have recently ordered rice paper inner sleeves to protect vinyls that came in paper sleeves n thick outer sleeves to hold double LPs. I also double LPs within the gatefold now to avoid warps from the thick spine. Thanks I will now put the vinyls on the side to avoid dust getting in as you do. Helpful video!! Cheers from Australia

I am a totally newbie and have heard everyone talk about all these sleeves. The thing I always wondered is how you put everything together! Awesome video man thanks!

This is why CDs' and digital music was invented.... haha just kidding. Very great tips, man! Nice.

Excellent and the best guidance to record storage I’ve ever seen !

Eric, this video was a great primer and you covered everything wonderfully. One thing I always tell people is to replace the inners after you clean your record - that way you know you did it; if you see a record without the sleeve you always use, you know you still need to clean it.

Hey, I recently subscribed to your channel. I must share that I enjoy it very much. You actually are responsible for getting me and my 26 year old daughter back into collecting albums. Thank you kjj

Love Bags Unlimited. They seem to have everything I need and great quality.

I've only been collecting vinyl for a little over a year, and I used to just have them in a boxso I could flip through them and easily use them, but now I put most of them in cubbies I got from Ikea, as well as the victrola record storage cases. The storage cases are only for specific records atm. I have one case for my favorites, and another case specifically for my Beatles records.

I must stop keeping my records next to piles of rubble. Them little rocks play havoc!

One of the most informative videos I've seen on RU-vid. Been collecting for years and I've NEVER heard of someone storing their records like this. Kudos.

Sweet! Nice to know that you store your lps in plastic inner n outter sleeves avoiding paper... I to feel that its the best way to store lps by putting record and inner sleeve behind the record cover and outter sleeve. Easy access without damaging cover or creating ring wear.

I don't know why I keep watching this video, I just love it so much

Sorry we're so late to the party on this one. Great video. Very informative! Glad you appreciate our stuff!

Nice vid! thinking of buying some storage boxes, they look very usable and efficient for moving around

This is great information. Just picked up Yesterday & Today 2nd state Butcher Cover and want to make sure it lasts another 50 years.

Great video! You definitely know what you're talking about and it's refreshing. Other channels such as Vinyl Eyezz, I have seen some wrong info. Anyway, I store my records as you do with the sleeves in a 2.5mm clear polypro outer sleeve and the LP itself in the MoFi inners. Then keep the LPs behind the sleeve jackets and not in them. I want to eliminate any risk of extra pressure or ring wear on the sleeves.

Many craft stores (I use Michaels) sell plastic boxes used to keep scrapbooks protected. Some of them fill albums perfectly. I keep all of my collections in these protective boxes.

This video just makes me want to buy these products and clean my whole collection, which isn’t very big so that’s probably why lol but I want the best for em! Great video, subscribed!

I store them the same way. Nice to know i'm not the only one.

Thanks. This video was great help for me.

Really excellent and informative vid. Thanks very much!

Thank you! Great tips. I'm glad that I'm on the right path, but I'm looking for those plastic recommendations. :D

You forgot to add that you also have to bury the boxes deep underground.

Great video! You should make one on turntables too! Storage, needles, having solid/sturdy bases that avoid vibrations, etc.

Thank you for all the important information.

I really like the idea of storing the vinyl next to the cover inside an outer sleeve. I'm going to look into doing that. I don't want the cover getting wrecked by the record.

I have started storing my records the same way you do. I have found it easier.

Great video thanks, got some rice paper sleeves as a result. Some bands do you a favour and give you really good quality inner sleeves, but yeah you get a lot of those cheap paper ones that I've never felt that comfortable with.

Thank you. Love your channel.

I very much like storing mine the way u do. With all the innerstuff outside of the actual jacket, but kept inside the outer sleeve. When I do this with my favorite records, I can’t help but wonder if them sitting more directly on the hard shelf promotes warping or anything? Im sure u would take this down if you found that to be the case, but I had to ask. I love your videos. I would say that The Needle Drop, TMR, and Vinyl Rewind pushed me into MANY new musical interests as well into buying the rt81 and vinyl in general. Ya’ll helped me to find a real passion of mine and it’s changed my life. I haven’t had a physical collection since multiple Cd collection were stolen from me over the course of a few years 15 years ago. I never once bought a digital album. As a musician and a poet and writer, I appreciate beauty and tactile, tangible things. I knew digital music was just me throwing my money in the trash. 3 months ago, I didn’t own a record. My first vinyl purchase was a DOOM(thank u Anthony) xmas album thru Qrates, which I am yet to receive. I have about 100 vinyls (lol) now. About 30 I bought either sealed or “new” and the rest I was lucky enough to get thru asking my in laws. All classic rock, soul and some funk. Jackpot! Im still cleaning and cataloging the last 20 or so. I just really wanted to say thank you to you guys and the VC. Thank you for the time and love that you put into these videos.

2:23 those are the ones I use. I like them best. They keep your records safe and clean and it's easier to take them in and out than the ones that have no paper on the outside.

When I get a new record I clean it, put it in a new rice paper inner sleeve, then put it back in the jacket, then put the jacket in a 2 mil. thick outer sleeve. Can you review Nektar - Remember The Future?

AWESOME video. Very informative and useful. Love the aesthetic. I’ve already learned a lot of this, but very useful to hear about inner and outer sleeves in-depth. Thanks!

With my big old Peaches record crates I take 12" square blocks of styrofoam (varying thickness) as fillers and stick them in the loose open spaces between my albums so that they're all standing up straight and comfortable. As I add more albums to the crate I just adjust the size of the fillers.

I have an Ikea Kallax shelf that I store my records in and then I only use inner sleeves, not outer sleeves. If a record has just a standard blank paper inner sleeve I just toss that onto my pile of empty sleeves in case I get a bargain bin find with no inner sleeve, but if the record has a special printed inner sleeve like some new ones have thinner cardboard sleeves with graphics on both sides then I put the record into a high quality sleeve and then put that inside the designed inner sleeve. And I keep the opening at the top like in this video because I also don't want dust / dog hair / etc. to get in and I feel like if it's just open at the side then that makes it really easy for debris to get into the sleeve which makes this all feel like a waste.

still surprised that you don't have more subscribers haha. Great videos man

I do almost the same but I buy paper inner sleeves and use them outside. So I put the jacket in the outer sleeve with all extra material inside , then an empty paper inner sleeve, after that the record sideways in a mofi inner sleeve and finally a second empty paper inner sleeve. By the way, I am with you man... my greatest fears regarding vinyl are dust and little rocks 😬

I keep my favourite ones in plastic sleeves on a cabby (like you showed at 8:34) and my less favourite in a record case piling on top of the other, which, thanks for the tip, I should find a more suitable space for them. I keep some of my 7" with the record outside the cover but together in a plastic sleeve as you did for LPs, and I have to say, you really inspired me with this video, I will follow your suggestions :)

Im very lucky with how I store my records. As my bedroom was my dads old office before he moved out... and while he was in there he built an embedded shelving system into the wall designed especially for records.

Nice video. Very helpful

Great video, love this channel!

I'm paranoid about dust but I want convenience, so I don't like flap outer sleeves. Thankfully a company called Really Useful Boxes makes a full sealed plastic box for records. You can get the small and medium 12" boxes at The Container Store. You undo the handle clasps on the sides, pop off the lid and flip away. When closed, the records go up into the lid, so basically when you take it off, it's got that milk crate browsing feel. Also a good place for my sleeves and supplies...oh, and there's room enough for dividers too.

Great video - I store my LP's the same way!

This is really good!

I put all the records I really care about in MoFi sleeves, they are expensive but definitely worth it. Ever have a dual LP gatefold record and its impossible to close the gatefold with both records in the sleeves unless they are sticking out the end a bit? Get MoFi.

Great video. Fantastic presentation, and you covered almost everything. What I've been having a hard time finding, are videos that explain how to store your vinyl in shelving units like Ikea's Kallax units. What I mean is that most reviewers don't go over how many records are ideal, whether it's okay to have some records that don't sit entirely vertical, and most importantly, how to begin the process of adding records to the units themselves. For example, I've been having a hard time getting the records to stay vertical without a bunch of them leaning to one side, especially when you're being mindful as to not cramming a bunch of records into a cubicle which in turn causes pressure, ring wear, and warping. However, when you don't fill a cubicle with records, they end up leaning to a particular side, especially with the current pressings that feature gatefold sleeves (which aren't symmetrical and even like single LP,s in non gatefold sleeves. A video going over this would be greatly appreciated as they simply don't exist. Other than that, please keep up the fantastic work as you are a huge asset to the vinyl community.

I'm really standard when it comes to storage. Polypropylene sleeves, paper and record inside the sleeve, stored in boxes, shelves, and on my wall, and I only really clean the sleeves when I buy them in old shape at a flea market and there's dust EVERYWHERE, especially in gatefolds.

All my records are stored in an inner sleeve, behind the cover.. but with the opening the same direction as the outer sleeve's opening (up). Now you've got me paranoid too :/

Thank you for the fyi! I saw you have the Stripper too, so I subscribed! Just kidding! I found this video very valuable!

I'm subscribing because you look just like my dad back in the 50's. Seriously. It's uncanny. If I showed this to my mom I know she'd think it was him. I have to go through all his vinyl, thousands of 78's, 45's and everything else which i know goes back to the late 1800's (from his dad too) - so I think I'll get a lot of helpful info from your channel. Just seeing this video - and then knowing all his old shellac records are sitting piled horizontally in a cement crawlspace under the house - ouch.... Better act fast!

i always put a hard cardboard before the the first record that leans on the side. so at least it's leaning straight on a flat angled surface . cos if you don't, your first record will take all the pressure and weight from the rest of the records that are leaning on it.

Great channel.

Great video!

When I was a kid we had a wire rack, you throw away the paper sleeve and slip the bare 45 into the wire rack. Beatles singles, Beach Boys, Little Eva, Yardbirds, Monkees, you name it.

This was so helpful thank you!!!

My new records go in a metal locking storage box made for 12" vinyls. My used records go in plastic crates I got at Target for $4 and those crates fit into a $30 steel work cart i got from Harbor Freight.

Another good tip is not to cram the records in each storage spot but to leave a nice gap. You should be able to get your whole hand in the space to allow for sorting and flipping. This prevents ring wear and also still provides enough support to prevent warpage from too much lean on the records. Good tips, thanks.

Man, I love your channel and I really think that you should have your own show!!! Every new record and cover get a proper cleaning. I keep my records in MOFI inner sleeves and place them in the back of the record like that I can see the labels. I do not tilt the inner sleeve 45 degrees as I only use re-sealable outer sleeves so the dust will never get in. I do though keep the original sleeve inside the record cover as I do not like the package being too bulky. This only applies to used records as the new ones from MFSL, AP, MM, APEX, Speakers Corner are 180 and 200 grams and I am afraid that such thick records might create a ring-ware overtime. Hence the new reissues I keep inside the cover.

Very good video, congratulations! I still have 2 questions, though: 1) Which outer sleeve would be better: Mylar (Polyester) 4mil or Polyethylene 6 mil? 2) I plan on doing a long-term storage for the LPs. I'd like to store them on those cabinets you mentioned, but I wouldn't like to use a storage box along with it. Is it still recommended, or should I go for the boxes?

I use the small boxes you can buy from Walmart. They only cost a few dollars, ad they're the perfect size to store up to about 75 records. The medium and large boxes are too tall for easy vinyl storage; but the small box is (as Goldilocks would say) just right.

Those chairs are totally open legs. Nice.

Rocks everywhere! Rocks n roll!

That's a really cool Eraserhead LP! I love that movie, and everything that David Lynch does. Also, do you know where I could get an outer sleeve for a box set?

Learned a lot...!!

I love your videos thank you

I store my Vinyl Records in Odyssey CLP 200. It is an air tight storage box. Most dj uses it.

I tend to replace the inner sleeves if they are paper ones but I haven't yet started looking at outer sleeves. At the moment I've been using lined paper sleeves, I don't know what sort of lining they use but they seem to be the same sleeves that the Beatles Mono re-issues use. I've been thinking about getting some MoFi sleeves to try though since they might slide in and out of some of the tighter record sleeves easier. The Archive version of Ram is quite a hassle to take in and out at times and it looks like Exile on Main Street is the same as well as a few others. I might get a better bookshelf kinda box for them but for now the little cabinet has a nice place for them and I've put some plastic on the floor to keep it from scratching the sleeves and that should do until I can afford better. I've got a plastic box but you can't really see what the records are before you pull them out so I have my mom's old collection in it, they used to be stacked one on top of each other so I moved them to be stored properly.

I do the same with records. Nothing stays inside the album sleeve, record gets a poly sleeve and goes in behind, along with any lyrics sheets or booklets. The opening of the inner sleeve lines up with the opening of the album sleeve, to keep any dust or debris from getting in. It'd be easier to line up the opening on both inner, outer, and album sleeve, but the vinyl record might easily fall out and be left behind when removing the album from the shelf.

Glad to see the sideways loading/unloading of the record is "normal" (because I'm convinced slipping the record directly out of the polyethylene-lined paper sleeves from inside the record cover is a bad idea.) But that information is not as abundantly clear when googling...

Amazing production values, great writing, fantastic info and enthusiasm! Why in the living fuck does this wonderful channel not have 500k subs at least? Jeepers! I just don't get it.

Awesome "Eraserhead" record

I just put the sleeve in the bin and the jacket in the bin, just leave the records out on the carpets, sofa and just stick them through the dishwasher once a year to get rid of the dust! And of course, use a Crosley cruiser for playing them... I actually prefer to keep mine in the plastic lined paper inner sleeve, and keep the records in their jackets. I find it kind of dampens the experience if I'm keeping the record outside the jacket. I also store them on an old record rack made from chrome plated steel, this way they are more portable and obviously keep them out of the sun.

You mentioned cleaning the outer sleeves for the record, how do you recommend doing that?

I have a lot of 90s DIY hardcore records that contain many inserts including small booklets or posters. If they are small and a little thick i take them out and place them elsewhere for fear of the vinyl warping

If you’re storing the records outside of the cover, does the vinyl have a chance of being warped? Won’t the covers get squished if nothing is inside? I do it both ways, I don’t know what’s better. Big fan, keep up the good work!

great work

Another great episode, Eric! im kinda behind, and catching up with many subscriptions, and other fun stuff. We had a major intrusion of life getting in the way over the last year, and finally now, i am getting back to regularly scheduled television....this video does give me cause for concern for you. You seem to have a problem i've never encountered. Rocks getting into LP sleeves. do you live at the base of a cliff dwelling? Tell the residents above to dispose of their disused rocks in a proper manner This is indeed confounding. I've seen dust, dirt, low grade nuclear waste...but never one rock-except the Tunes, man...they ROCKED!!! ok...i have to stop with that...so silly. be well. :o)

So how would I go about cleaning the covers?

Preaching to the converted. Pretty much already doing the same

Cool signed copy of "Even Worse".

The rice paper is the way to go, best way to protect your vinyl investments!

What if the lp has two records instead of one? Then where do you put the two newly sleeved records.

You could use white thumbtacks into corner moldings edge

As a kid back in 1980 I bought over a dozen new fancy plastic audiophile grade record sleeves at 15 cents each with the iconic Kelly's Stereo Mart logo (a popular record store of the day) used them on my favorite LP's for 35+ years, until recently when I discovered they were literally falling apart turning into dusty flakes with the slightest pull or bend. At least the records themselves were not affected. I did replace them with new rice paper based sleeves with plastic looking similar to the older, now deteriorated ones. my advice would be that plastic sleeves of any type should be replaced every 25 to 30 years.

you should totally do the clash (self titled album) UK vs Us

Do you put the plastic cover opening same with the opening of the record sleeve? or is it better to put the opening of the plastic on the top of the record ? which would mean you have to take the record cover out of the protector first in order to take the vinyl out.

As shown at the 8:02 mark, do you place the LPs in the back of the sleeve even if it's a double LP vinyl set?

Love the Weird al record

Great information! Glad I found your channel and will also follow you on Instagram!

Just got a turn table for Christmas I pulled out my collection that I haven't looked at in 25years to find out that when we moved Someone must have put them near a heat source Im assuming it was our wood stove at my old house Yes they were Melted including my original Woodstock and Jimmy Hendrix albums that I bought in 1970 ,I replaced them but its just not the same if you know what I mean

When we moved to TX we got a house with a metal roof and a huge attic. I put boxes of Christmas stuff up there as well as my vinyl records and other stuff. It was October at the time and by Christmas everything still looked fine. But by late spring I went up there and my vinyl records were warped and some even melted. NEVER store your vinyl in an attic!!!!