What is the difference between acid free photo paper and archival quality photo paper?
There are various standards for acid free paper, but in general, acid free means that the paper has a pH between 7 (neutral) to 14 (the highest number on the pH scale). Today, most commercially produced paper is acid free and when used in photographs, will last much longer than normal paper. Archival quality paper conforms to the rigid standards used by curators when they are handling very rare items and is rated to last at least 50 years without showing signs of aging. Archival quality paper will not help your photographs last longer than acid free paper since these only work to help preserve items when they are used with archival techniques, which include temperature controlled environments, controlled light levels, gloved handling and many other things that the average household simply does not have the ability to do.
