Deluxe's audio group (formerly known as Chace Audio) has been migrating optical and magnetic film sound elements for nearly 30 years and has developed unique and proprietary technologies to do so. Successful digitization of these elements for archival / post-archival purposes requires an in-depth understanding of the various types of physical damage and deterioration commonly found in them. These conditions can affect the stability of transfer machines and, consequently, the quality of the resulting digital audio recordings. This paper will showcase examples of physical damage and deterioration that adversely affect digitization along with the solutions developed to overcome them.