Your memories can vanish overnight: a crashed hard drive, a lost phone, a corrupted memory card, a deleted cloud account. Tape-riot is a VHS transfer service: we convert your digital home videos — wedding films, family archives, favorite recordings — onto real VHS tape you can hold forever. No one can delete or cancel it, and it'll still play in thirty years. Plus used & repaired VCRs to play it all on.
Streaming gave everyone everything — then took ownership away. Here's the case for putting your media on the shelf — in your hands.
A service loses a contract, a studio pulls a title, a platform deletes your uploads — and it's gone, legally and forever. You were renting it the whole time and never knew.
Brand-new VHS tapes, recorded on calibrated decks with Hi-Fi stereo audio. Analog that plays on any VCR — no app, no account, no internet required, ever.
Nobody opens a folder on a dead, dusty laptop. But a shelf with three tapes on it? That gets played. That gets passed down. That's the point.
I also sell used & repaired VCRs — cleaned, re-belted, tested end to end on real tapes — so your shelf of media stays alive for another thirty years.
It's genuinely ridiculous — in the best possible way — that you clicked on this tab and you're reading this at all. Thank you for that.
Tape Riot started as a lot of anger. I felt like creative spaces were slipping away: the art around me, and the physical media that comes out of them. Nothing made me angrier than the media everyone is told to consume every single day. I'd fall in love with a movie, then watch it vanish from streaming. Or have to hunt for it across six different services. Or buy a digital download and watch it disappear anyway. So long, money.
So I started making my own tapes. If I saw a movie I really liked, I went home and copied it onto a VHS tape — because I was done letting anybody else decide whether I got to keep the things I loved.
If you can't tell, this is a one-man show. What's up — I'm Clayton.
And Tape Riot, though it started as anger, has become my most earnest passion. It brings me real joy to know people take their memories and their art seriously. Those two have a lot of overlap, in case you hadn't noticed. You understand that. That's why you're here.
The honest part: the tape you get back may have imperfections. Sometimes I don't cut as straight as I'd like when I'm exacto-knifing the tape boxes. My cover designs might not land for everyone. The VCR's I bring back to life may have paint chipped in places. But I'm doing my best, and this is a labor of love.
I'm just glad you're here at all. Because the fact that you're here means you understand that there's a revival coming — and you're part of it now.
You don't really have a choice.
Thank you.
-Clayton
Four steps to put your home videos on VHS tape. No subscriptions. No account required. Just tape.
Tell me about your video and get an honest turnaround up front — about two weeks when the queue is quiet.
Open the upload folder you're linked to right after checkout and drop your video in — any size, any format, no account needed.
Your video is recorded to a brand-new VHS cassette, checked end to end, and wrapped in a one-of-a-kind cover hand-made for your tape.
The tape arrives ready to play — and it's yours, on your shelf, for the next thirty years. Nothing can cancel it.
Every unit here has been opened up, cleaned, re-belted where needed, and tested end to end on real tapes. When it's on the shelf, it's ready to play — first come, first served.
“I don't make much money off of these, but I think it's important to keep these guys in service. Their numbers are dwindling, so any that I can rescue and find a new home is a win.”
— Clayton, TAPE-RIOT
Got a deck that won't play? I repair & service VCRs too — email me.
A flat-rate VHS transfer service — one price for up to 4 hours of video, recorded to a brand-new tape with a handmade cover. No surprises.
per tape — + $6 flat shipping (US & Canada)
One flat price for any video up to 4 hours — no hourly add-ons, ever. Flat $6 shipping within the US & Canada — your address is collected securely at checkout.
Every cover uniquely designed and folded by hand, for your tape and no one else's. Send me a title, a few photos, and any details worth telling — the cover is as one-of-a-kind as the footage.
Every cover is designed and folded by hand from your title and photos. Here's the style to expect.
Two minutes, and you're on the shelf. No account, no subscription — just your video and a stamp.
I'll email you the moment a slot opens. First come, first served.
That's kind of the point. Obsolete means no one can take it away, no one can change it, and no one needs to give you permission to play it. It's permanent media you actually own — no account, no subscription, no one who can switch it off. It just plays.
You upload your video through the order flow, we record it onto a brand-new VHS cassette on calibrated decks with Hi-Fi stereo audio, hand-make your cover, and mail you the finished tape — a complete VHS transfer service, start to finish.
MP4 (H.264) is ideal, but most common formats work — MOV, MTS, AVI, MKV, and more. There's no practical size limit — the upload page handles long wedding films without breaking a sweat. If you're unsure about anything, just ask before ordering.
Upload speed is set by your internet connection — a 1 GB file is roughly 3–6 minutes on a typical home upload, and a long film can be several GB. The fastest fix: export your video as MP4 (H.264) before uploading (phones and editors all do it), which keeps quality while shrinking the file — about 1–2 GB per hour of video. The uploader resumes automatically if the connection drops, so once it's going you can leave the page open and walk away.
You'll see an honest turnaround estimate on the order form before you pay — about two weeks when the queue is quiet, and a few weeks more when it's busy. If the queue ever pushes past two months, new orders pause rather than keep you waiting, and you can join the waitlist.
Every tape gets a hand-made cover — your title on the front, photos or stills you send inside, a matching spine and label, in the style of a classic video-store release. No two covers are alike, and each one is made for your tape and no one else's.
Tapes are recorded in NTSC and play on standard North American and Japanese VCRs and combos. If your VCR is outside that region, check first before ordering.
It's covered by a 30-day guarantee — let me know and I'll re-record it free, no questions asked.
When you order, you confirm you own the footage or have the rights to share it (wedding films often belong to the couple, and that's fine — you're the couple, or you've asked them). A copy is kept only long enough to fulfill your order.
Tap the box below and choose your video file. MP4 (H.264) works best — it's what phones and editing apps export.
Add them in the same step — on your phone, tap and hold to select multiple files. JPEG or PNG.
Hit UPLOAD, wait for the bar to finish, then tap the button below so the shop knows to start on your tape.
Thanks for supporting a one-man shop. Every order is a small vote for physical media — for tapes you actually own, that play forever, and that no company can ever take away from you.
Your tape is in the queue. I'll email you the moment it ships — and if you ever need anything, just reply to your order email.
Got a tape from Tape-riot, or just love physical media? Say hi. Be nice — it's a small shop.
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