How Much Does it Cost to Transfer VHS to DVD or Digital?

So you have a bunch of VHS or other tapes that you’d like transferred to DVD or digital format but aren’t sure of the cost? You are smart to investigate the cost because it can be confusing, and if you choose the wrong service it could cost you a bundle!

The average cost to transfer a single 2 hour VHS tape to DVD or digital is $22. The cost for mail-in services can be as low as $12 per tape as they offer many promo deals, and local drop-off locations can charge $30 or more. The overall cost will depend on how many tapes you need to be converted.

Prices vary by transfer service, as well as the transfer options besides DVDs such as USB and digital downloads from the cloud. So you need to choose which services is going to meet your needs and budget.

The pricing chart below of the top video transfer services is based on a 2-hour video transfer from standard videotape (VHS/Video8/MiniDV/etc). There are other formats tapes can be transferred to you should consider, the descriptions below in the article highlight each service.

Who converts VHS tapes to DVD or digital near me (you)?

There are several popular stores that convert VHS to DVD, as well as any other kind of video tape like Hi8, Video, Digital8, MiniDV and more. They can also transfer slides, movie reels, and even scan pictures for you.

Turns out most stores don’t do the transfer themselves but handle the order process for you. The tapes are generally packaged and shipped to one of the top 3 video transfer services.

Popular stores that convert VHS and other videotape formats to DVD and digital are Costco, Walmart, Walgreens, and CVS. These stores outsource the video transfer to one of the many popular video transfer services. There are also independent transfer services best found by searching Google Maps for your area.

We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of in-store and online video transfers services including their pricing for you below.

Local Video Transfer Services

Below is a list of local / chain retailers that offer video transfer services. None of them do the transfer themselves, most outsource the work to companies like iMemories or YesVideo.

Costco Video Transfer

Costco offers video transfer services for club members that give you the option of converting VHS to DVD, a USB thumb drive, or both.

The pricing and transfer options outlined below are not just for VHS, it is for all common videotape formats including VHS, SHVS, Betamax, VHS-C, S-VHS-C, Video8, Hi8, Digital8, and MiniDV.

Transfer to DVD

At Costco it costs $19.99 for the first 2 hours of video transfer to DVD, then $19.99 for each additional 2 hours. Each hour of video will get transferred to a new DVD disc.

Costco offers a variety of themes for the menus (such as baby, wedding, birthday), adding titles, and auto-generated chapters to make playback more enjoyable.

Transfer to USB

Video transfer to USB at Costco will cost $24.99 for the first 2 hours of video, then $16.99 for each additional 2 hours. All of your videos will get transferred to a single USB stick, there is no time limit.

The benefit of transferring to USB is that you can easily transfer these files to your computer as well as upload them to social media sites for sharing.

Transfer to DVD + USB

Transfer of videotape to both USB and DVD at Costco will cost $29.99 for the first 2 hours and $22.99 for each additional hour. This option is ideal for people that want to watch their videos on DVD but also want the videos stored on USB for easy transfer to a computer.

Costco Summary: Costco does not do the actual video transfer, they have partnered with YesVideo.com which is a very popular video transfer service. Costco will handle the shipping and order process for you, but YesVideo.com offers some great prices and promotions that may be cheaper than Costco.

Costco is one of the most affordable drop-off locations but you must be a Costco member in order to use their services.

For more info on Costco video transfer see: https://www.costcodvd.com/

Walmart Video Transfer

Walmart offers video transfer services either dropped off in the store or completely online where you get sent a box to ship your tapes for transfer. Sam’s Club also offers video transfer services but at a higher price than Walmart.

Pricing at Walmart is a bit different from others in that the main option offered is for an online copy of your video, with DVD disks and USB drives as additional addons or upsells.

They also charge by the 1st 30 minutes vs a full 2-hour tape, which can save money if it’s a short video but possibly cost more if it’s a full 2 hours long.

Transfer to Digital Download (the Cloud)

Walmart will transfer your video to the cloud charging $15.96 for the first 30 minutes of video transfer, and $5.46 for each additional 30 minutes. However, if the tape does have a full 2 hours of video on it then it will cost you $32.34.

Your video will get transferred to the cloud (basically a website that you can privately access to view and download your video from) at MemoryCloud and freely available for up to 60 days.

The great thing about this is you can share these links with your friends and family to see the video once its transferred, no need to host a DVD party.

Transfer to DVD

At Walmart transferring video to DVD is an add-on of $3.96 per disc to the base price of $15.96 for the first 30 minutes of video. A full 2-hour videotape would come for a total of 36.30 plus your footage is stored on the cloud for easy sharing.

You can choose different themes and styles for your DVD menus (like birthday, wedding, sports) to make them more appealing.

Transfer to USB

At Walmart transferring video to a USB drive is an add-on of $12.96 to the base price of $15.96 for the first 30 minutes of video. A full 2-hour videotape would come for a total of $45.30, plus your footage is stored on the cloud for easy sharing. There is only a single charge for the USB drive as there is no limit on the storage.

But since the transfer to your computer directly from the cloud is less appealing unless you want this as a backup – which is always smart with precious memories.

Walmart Summary: Walmart does offer convenient in-person drop-off or online video transfer, but Walmart doesn’t do the transfer themselves. They have partnered with YesVideo.com to handle the transfer.

YesVideo generally prices the same as Walmart so as not to compete directly with them, but they also offer promotions up to 70% off their normal price, which is a steep discount lowering the prices of a 2-hour videotape down to around $10 so its worth checking out YesVideo before placing any orders through Walmart.

For full details visit Walmart Video Transfer here: https://www.dvdwalmart.com/

Walgreens Video Transfer

Walgreens offers video transfer services through iMemories. You can drop your tapes off at most Walgreens stores and they will handle the process from there. You can find more on their prices and start your order here.

Walgreens can transfer any popular tape format, as well as film reels, photos, and slides with their service.

Transfer to Digital Download (the Cloud)

Walgreens charges $24.99 per videotape of transferred to the cloud at iMemories. Any portion of your tape that is empty will be edited out from the final video.

You will have free access to the video for 30 days at iMemories, which gives you plenty of time to download and share your videos with friends and family.

Transfer to DVD

In addition to having your video in the cloud, you can also transfer every 2 hours of video to DVD for $9.99, or Blu Ray for $14.99.

Transfer to USB

Walgreens does not offer a transfer to USB option. But you can easily buy your own USB drive and download your video files from iMemories to your computer or USB drive.

CVS Video Transfer

CVS offers video transfer services through YesVideo. You can drop your tapes off at most CVS stores and they will handle the process from there. For more info on the CVS transfer service including pricing and starting your order onlie click here.

You can transfer any popular tape format, as well as film reels, photos and slides with their service.

Transfer to Digital Download (the Cloud)

CVS charges $25.99 per video tape of transferred to the cloud at iMemories. Any portion of your tape that is empty will be edited out from the final video.

You will have free access to the video for 30 days at iMemories, which gives you plenty of time to download and share your videos with friends and family.

Transfer to DVD

CVS charges $25.99 to transfer your VHS or any video tape to DVD, and $25.99 for each additional 2 hours. DVDs can have themes and auto chapters added.

Transfer to USB

CVS charges $34.99 to transfer your VHS or any video tape to USB, and $9.99 to combine a 2nd tape

Transfer to Digital Download (the Cloud)

Every video transfer to DVD or USB with CVS comes with a MemoryCloud account with YesVideo for you to watch, share, and download your videos. This account is free for the first 60 days, and a great way to share your videos with others.

Local Video Transfer

Depending on where you live there may be several local video transfer services that do the actual transfer themselves and don’t ship your tapes to another service.

If the thought of packaging up your precious memories only to get them lost or damaged scares the living daylights out of you then you’re not alone. You may want to consider searching in Google Maps “Video transfer near me”

Hopefully you see some hits on the map like I did…

Going local feels good and helps the local economy, although there is always a chance that any service loses a tape. Best to write your name and phone number on each tape, or simply transfer your VHS to DVD yourself.

Online Video Transfer Services

There are several video transfer services that most of the big box stores ship your tapes to as they don’t deal with the video transfer service themselves. But you can usually get a far better deal by shipping the tapes as many of these services have deals and coupon codes if you order directly from them.

YesVideo Video Transfer

YesVideo is the transfer service that both Costco and Walmart outsource the video transfer work to, they don’t do the transfers themselves. So if you go to Costco and Walmart for video transfer then its YesVideo that is doing the actual work.

If you use YesVideo directly they frequently offer discounts up to 70% off what you would pay normally. Plus they transfer reel to reel film, pictures and more.

Transfer to DVD

YesVideo will transfer your VHS or any other video tape up to 2 hours to DVD for the base price of $33.98 per tape. At the time of writing YesVideo was offering a 70% off promotion which drops the price down to $10.19 per tape.

Additional DVD copies will cost you $4.99 per copy, a great option if other family members would like a DVD for themselves.

This price also includes cloud transfer, so your video we available for you to view or download for 60 days online. This is a great way to share video and back the files up to your computer. It also makes it easy to back up your video and photos to Google Photo.

Transfer to USB

YesVideo will transfer your VHS or any other video tape up to 2 hours to USB for the base price of $38.98 per tape. At the time of writing YesVideo was offering a 70% off promotion which drops the price down to $11.69 per tape. There is no time limit on the USB storage.

This price also includes same cloud transfer service described above, great for transferring to Google Photos or back up your files.

As long as the promotional deals are still around you can save a good deal of money sending your tapes directly to YesVideo vs using Costco or Walmart.

LegacyBox Video Transfer

LegacyBox is a popular transfer services that can handle all of your needs no matter what type of media you want to transfer.

They send you the “LegacyBox” for you to pack and label whatever you want transferred from video tapes, reel to reel film, slides, photos and more. Also included is barcode stickers to put on your items to clearly identify them as yours.

Then you send the box to them for transfer, turnaround time is 6-8 weeks. And when done all of your original tapes and other media will get sent back you.

Transfer to DVD

The “base” package at LegacyBox is for transferring 2 items, which in the case of video tapes their regular price is $53.99 to transfer the video to digital format.

Then you can choose your return format of digital download, DVD, or USB drive. In the case of DVD it will cost an additional $5.99.

If this sounds pricey don’t worry, at the time of writing LegacyBox offered a 50% deal which would bring the total cost of transferring 2 tapes to DVD to $38.98, or $19.49 per tape.

Transfer to USB.

Video transfer to USB at LegacyBox will cost the same as transfer to DVD or online download.

The initial transfer cost of 2 tapes (there’s a 2 item minimum at LegacyBox) is $53.99 then $5.99 for the USB drive, but the frequent 50% off sale will bring this rice down to $38.98, or $19.49 per tape.

Transfer to Digital Download (the Cloud)

Video transfer to the cloud / digital download at LegacyBox will cost the same as transfer to DVD or USB download.

The initial transfer cost of 2 tapes (there’s a 2 item minimum at LegacyBox) is $53.99 then $5.99 for the online storage, but the frequent 50% off sale will bring this rice down to $38.98, or $19.49 per tape.

This option is great for people that want to keep the videos safe online and send links to their friends and family so they can also enjoy the video.

LegacyBox Summary

Pricing at LegacyBox is competitive once the discounts are taken into consideration. And if you only have 1 video tape then for the 2nd item to transfer that’s included in the price you can add a stack of photos, slides, reel to reel film or just about anything.

And they have larger Legacy box packages to fit your needs, the 2 item minimum is just the base package.

iMemories Video Transfer

iMemories is one of the most popular transfer services for video tapes, slides, pictures, and reel to reel film.

Their “base” price covers the cost of conversion, then you need to choose and purchase what type of media you want it stored on which can be cloud storage, DVDs, USB like most of the other transfer services.

Transfer to DVD

iMemories will transfer your VHS or any other video tape up to 2 hours for the base price of $14.99 per tape. Then to have the video stored on DVD will cost $9.99 per DVD disc for a total of 24.98.

They do frequently offer deals and coupons for the initial transfer cost, during writing this post they had another 20% dropping the transfer charge down to 11.99.

You can choose to pack and mail iMemories your tapes yourself, or they have a protective box they will ship you for an additional $14.99 that is a crush-proof box with waterproof bags and protective packing material along with a paid shipping FedEx label, probably not a bad deal.

They also have a Blu Ray option for DVDs for $14.99 per disc which would only make sense if you were transferring MiniDV or some digitil format that would benefit from the higher resolution.

Transfer to USB

iMemories will transfer your VHS or any other video tape up to 2 hours for the base price of $14.99 per tape. Then to have the video stored on USB will cost $19.99 per USB drive up to 8GB storage for a total of $34.98.

The same 20% off deal applies for USB transfer at the time of writing, which would cost $11.99 per tape. So transferring 1 tape to USB would cost $31.98, price for 2 tapes would be 2 x 11.99 + 19.99 for the USB = 43.97.

If you choose to transfer multiple tapes that all fit on the same USB drive then there is no additional cost for USB, only the transfer itself.

Does Best Buy convert VHS tapes to DVD?

Best Buy does not offer video transfer service in their stores. They do some equipment if you’d like to transfer video yourself.

How Much to Convert Video At Home

If you already have a working VCR or camcorder depending on the type of tape you have) then transferring video at home generally requires a USB capture device and some room on a hard drive.

The USB capture devices can be found bare-bones for around $10 or higher end with full capture software for $70 or more.

The real question is how many tapes do you need to transfer?

Depending on your budget and the amount of tapes to transfer you may consider doing it yourself, or not dealing with the effort and simply paying someone to do it.

If you can’t afford to pay one of these services and aren’t technically inclined then reach out to friends/family (these teenagers are very tech-savy) and see if they want to help you out.