The preservation and storage of digital assets must be an integral component in the overall digitisation project. Long-term provisions should be made to allow for continued access to digital resources.

The resolution of the images, along with the colour depth, is a significant factor in determining image quality and image storage requirements. The higher the quality selected, the greater the storage requirements. High quality images such as digital master images, require substantial amounts of computer storage. Surrogate images created from master images generally require much less storage space.

As the master images are generally stored offline and are accessed infrequently, offline or semi-online storage formats are generally used. CD-ROM, though a common storage medium, is limited in capacity. Digital Versatile Discs (DVD) far exceed CD-ROM in storage capacity and are becoming quite popular.

Another format used primarily for large storage requirements such as digital images is tape, although it has the drawback relatively slow access. Common formats are the Digital Audio Tape (DAT) and Digital Linear Tape (DLT). Large-capacity jukeboxes are available for each of these formats, allowing access to the image archives.

Magnetic tape is relatively impermanent owing to its inherent instability, which leads to chemical deterioration and physical wear from use. Optical discs can fail because of warping, corrosion or cracking in the reflective layer, dye deterioration, or delamination.

Storage conditions are important in preservating digital images. Cooler and dryer storage conditions will extend life expectancy. The recommended conditions for storage are a temperature of between 10 and 20 degrees Centigrade, and a relative humidity of between 20 percent and 50 percent.