– storage in a small space – Because of its small size, microfiche can be archived in storage cabinets, saving floor space.

– stability of the format – Microfiche, like microfilm, is also a stable archival format. When kept in a temperature-controlled environment, it is rated to last 500 years — a crucial advantage in saving cultural documents.

– no special knowledge needed to read it. As long as a microfiche machine is available to magnify the print to readable size, anyone who can read the language can read a microfiche.

Thousands of government documents are archived on microfiche for this very reason.

disadvantages:

– requires a special reader to enlarge the type size. These machines are expensive.

– Microfiche also cannot be enlarged and copied on a photocopy machine. However, most microfiche machines can make copies from the film.

– once microfiche has been imprinted, it is unalterable. A digital information file can be changed or corrected, but microfiche cannot.

– Digital files are also usually easier to index. For instance, if a person is searching a digital record for a particular name, he can often run a search for that name among all the files and get a list of the files containing that name. Unless the microfiche is well-indexed, a person may find himself plowing through a lot of fiches, looking for one name.