Kodachrome
- Cause of death
- Killed by a successor
- Made by
- Eastman Kodak
Digital sensors removed the reason to shoot film, and the K-14 process was too complex to keep alive for the remainder.
Kodachrome produced colour so distinctive that it defined how the twentieth century looks in photographs, and it required a development process so specialised that only a handful of labs on Earth could handle it. Kodak stopped manufacturing it in 2009. The last roll was processed at Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas on 30 December 2010, and there is now no way to develop any remaining stock. The dyes are exceptionally stable, so the images will outlast almost everything shot since.
Replaced by Digital photography.
Standing in the archive
Rank 17 of 127 by lifespan. Kodachrome outlasted 87% of everything else on file.
Cite this entry
"Kodachrome." How Long It Lasted, https://www.howlongitlasted.com/thing/kodachrome.
Died nearby
- Adobe Flash Playerabout 24 years · killed by a successor
- Amazon Dash Buttonabout 4 years · killed by a successor
- Apple AirPortabout 18 years · killed by a successor
- Betamaxabout 41 years · killed by a successor
- Blockbusterabout 28 years · killed by a successor
Sources
- Kodachrome's road ends at Kansas photo lab — NBC News (archived)
- Kodachrome — Wikipedia (archived)
Last checked by a human on 24 July 2026