If you want to know how to preserve tickets from a gig, a match or a first flight, start with this: many of them weren't printed with ink at all. Tickets printed on the spot, at a box office, a ticket machine or an airport check-in desk, are often on thermal paper. It's printed with heat, and it carries on reacting to heat, light and some everyday chemicals long after you've left the venue. Nothing makes thermal print permanent, but you can slow the fading down and make sure you never lose what's on the ticket. Here's how, with sources at the end.
Why tickets fade: thermal paper in plain English
Thermal paper has a coating on one side containing a colourless dye and a developer. A thermal printer heats tiny dots on that coating, the chemicals melt together and react, and the heated dots turn dark. That's your text and barcode: no ink, no toner.
But the chemistry doesn't stop when the printer does:
- Heat can set off the same reaction across the whole surface, turning the coating grey and eventually black.
- Light, especially ultraviolet, yellows paper and lowers the contrast between the print and the background.
- Humidity, together with heat, speeds up darkening.
- Chemicals such as the plasticisers in soft PVC, solvents like alcohol, and cosmetics like hand cream can attack the image and make it fade.
How fast it happens depends on the paper and how it's kept (there are figures in the FAQs below), so treat any thermal ticket you love as temporary.
How to tell if your ticket is thermal paper
- Where was it printed? If it came out of a small till-style printer at a box office, kiosk, ticket machine or check-in desk, it's quite likely thermal. Tickets you printed at home on an inkjet or laser printer are not.
- Compare both sides. Thermal paper usually has a smooth, slightly plasticky printed side and a lighter, plainer back.
- Look closely at the print. Thermal text tends to be grey-black, slightly soft at the edges and lower in contrast, and it seems to sit on the surface rather than soak into the paper.
- The scratch test, with care. Zebra, which makes label printers, describes dragging a fingernail firmly and quickly across the printed side: a black mark means it's thermal. The mark is permanent, so only try it on a blank corner, or skip it.
How to preserve tickets: 7 ways to stop them fading
None of these makes thermal print permanent, but together they slow fading right down.
Keep them out of direct sunlight
A sunny windowsill or a pin board opposite a south-facing window is the quickest way to lose a ticket. A&D Company's storage guidelines say to keep printed thermal paper somewhere cool and dark, below 25°C: an envelope, a box or a drawer will do. If a ticket is going on display, choose a wall that never gets direct sun.
Keep them away from heat (radiators, cars, laminators)
Heat printed the ticket, and heat can finish it off. Keep tickets off radiators and the shelves above them, away from woodburners and open fires, and out of conservatories and cars. In 2012 the ACO, organiser of the Le Mans 24 Hours, told fans not to leave tickets in their vehicles or show them behind the windscreen, after tickets printed on defective thermal paper turned black in heat and sun. And never put a thermal ticket through a hot laminator.
Keep them dry and out of steamy rooms
Bathrooms, utility rooms and the wall beside the kettle all get steamy. Metrohm's thermal paper data sheet says relative humidity above 75% must be avoided, so a bedroom, hallway or living room is a better home. Don't get tickets wet, and don't wipe them with anything damp.
Avoid PVC sleeves; choose polypropylene or polyester
Cheap clear pockets and some older photo albums are made from soft PVC, and its plasticisers are exactly what thermal paper makers warn against. The Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) recommends polyester (sold as Melinex or Mylar), polypropylene and polyethylene for storage enclosures, and says to avoid PVC. If the packet doesn't name the plastic, don't assume it's safe.
No sticky tape or glue on the printed side
A&D's guidance lists adhesive tape, correction fluid, organic solvents and erasers among the things printed thermal paper shouldn't touch. If you want a ticket in a scrapbook, slip its corners into photo corners rather than taping or gluing it down. Better still, keep it loose in a sleeve or envelope.
Handle with clean, dry hands
Hand cream, hand sanitiser and damp or sweaty fingers all leave chemicals or moisture on the surface. Wash and dry your hands first, hold tickets by the edges, and don't rub the printed side or carry tickets loose in a pocket with keys.
Make a copy: scan or photograph it now
This is the only step that guarantees you keep what's on the ticket. Scan it, or photograph it flat in even light (not direct sun), and save the file somewhere backed up. A&D recommends copying important thermal documents, and the University of Illinois Preservation Self-Assessment Program (PSAP) advises using facsimiles for display whenever possible. Put the copy on show and keep the original in the dark.
Do and don't table
| Do | Don't |
|---|---|
| Store tickets somewhere cool, dark and dry | Leave them on a windowsill, dashboard or radiator shelf |
| Use polypropylene or polyester sleeves | Use soft PVC pockets or unlabelled plastics |
| Hold them by the edges with clean, dry hands | Handle them straight after hand cream or sanitiser |
| Use photo corners if you need to mount them | Put sticky tape or glue across the print |
| Scan or photograph them now | Put them through a hot laminator |
| Display a copy of anything irreplaceable | Hang originals in full sun or a steamy bathroom |
| Cover the barcode before posting a boarding pass online | Bin unwanted boarding passes whole |
Concert tickets, boarding passes and train tickets: specific tips
Concert tickets. Box office tickets are often thermal, so keeping concert tickets from fading means following every step above. Tickets printed with ink on card don't share thermal paper's sensitivity to heat, though any print can fade in strong sun. If you only had a mobile ticket, screenshot it and print a copy. For display ideas, see how to display concert tickets.
Boarding passes. Passes printed at an airport desk or kiosk are often thermal, so the same habits keep boarding passes from fading; home-printed ones aren't. Before you share a photo, cover or blur the barcode: as Krebs on Security has reported, it can hold your name, booking reference and frequent flyer number. Shred the ones you don't keep. More ideas in how to display boarding passes.
Train tickets. Card tickets from station machines and ticket offices can fade too, especially after weeks in a warm wallet or phone case. Take the ones you want to keep out of your wallet as soon as you're home.
Can you restore a faded ticket?
Not on the paper itself. Once the print has faded or the whole ticket has darkened, there's no reliable way back, and heating it only darkens the coating further.
What you can sometimes rescue is the information. Scan it at high resolution and raise the contrast in a photo editor, and faint text may become readable again. Print the result and keep it with the original.
Displaying tickets safely in a memory box
Archivists are blunt: the PSAP's guidance is that thermal prints of any kind shouldn't be displayed, and collections use copies instead. At home most of us want the real thing on the wall, so it's a trade-off you can tip in your favour.
- Choose the spot first. A wall that doesn't get direct sun, not above a radiator, woodburner or open fire, and not in a bathroom. Don't rely on any clear front to block sunlight; where you hang it matters most.
- Skip the tape. In our Memory Box, tickets drop in through the slot in the top edge and sit loose behind the clear acrylic front, so nothing is stuck to the print.
- Swap when you like. The back opens with release tabs, so you can put an ink-printed copy on show and keep a precious original in an envelope, or rotate tickets now and then.
- Mind the neighbours. If the box also holds soft plastic items, such as a vinyl wristband, keep them from pressing flat against thermal tickets for years on end.
Not sure which size suits your collection? Our memory box size guide compares the 20cm and 30cm boxes.
FAQs
How long does thermal paper last before it fades?
It varies with the paper and how it's kept. The University of Illinois PSAP says thermal prints begin darkening and fading within five years, and the coating can yellow even in dark storage. A&D, quoting its paper manufacturer, gives up to ten years in cool, dark storage, but warns it may be less. Heat, sunlight and humidity shorten it, so scan anything important now.
Can you laminate concert tickets?
Not with a hot laminator if the ticket is thermal paper: the heat can turn the whole ticket black. Cold, self-adhesive pouches avoid heat, but they press adhesive against the print, which thermal paper guidance warns against, and lamination can't be undone. A polypropylene or polyester sleeve is a safer, reversible option.
Why has my ticket turned black?
Thermal paper prints by turning dark wherever it's heated. If the whole ticket has been warm, on a dashboard, a radiator or a sunny windowsill, the coating can react across the entire surface and go grey or black. It can't be reversed, though a high-contrast scan may recover some detail.
Do plastic sleeves stop tickets fading?
They help with fingerprints, dust and spills, but not with light or heat, so placement still matters. The plastic matters too. Soft PVC contains plasticisers that can fade thermal print, so choose sleeves clearly labelled polypropylene, polyethylene or polyester, and keep sleeved tickets somewhere cool and dark.
Sources
- A&D Company: Storage Guidelines for Thermal Paper (October 2025)
- Metrohm: Thermal paper data sheet 8.108.8020ML
- University of Illinois Preservation Self-Assessment Program: Thermal Print / Thermofax
- CCAHA: Selecting Materials for Storage and Display
- FIA WEC: Note from the ACO, tickets damaged by light and heat (2012)
- Zebra: Performing a media scratch test
- Krebs on Security: What's in a boarding pass barcode? A lot (2015)
Keep them safe and on show
Scan them, keep them cool, dark and dry, and never tape them down. When you're ready to put your favourites on the wall, the Wandersake Memory Box lets you post them in through the top and open the back whenever you want to change the line-up.