What is the number on the back of the photo?

On the back of every Polaroid photo, you’ll find a 10-11 digit code. Film produced before 04.18 will have an 10 digit code while film produced after this date will have an 11 digit code.

Below is a legend to translate the film type code:

02: B&W film for SX-70
32: B&W film for 600, Image/Spectra, and 8x10
70/72/73/75: Color film for SX-70
80/82/83/85: Color film for 600, Image/Spectra, and 8x10
33: B&W film for i-Type
81/84/86: Color film for i-Type

 

This 10 digit code breaks down into 5 pieces. Each set of 2 digits gives you a specific piece of information:

• Numbers 1 & 2: Month of production
  
• Numbers 3 & 4: Year of production
  
• Numbers 5 & 6: Machine used for the production
  
• Numbers 7 & 8: Type of film
  
• Numbers 9 & 10: Day of production

• Numbers 1 & 2: Machine used for the production
• Numbers 3: Shift number (we're up to running two shifts a day now)
• Numbers 4 & 5: Day of production
• Numbers 6 & 7: Month of production
• Numbers 8 & 9: Year of production
• Numbers 10 & 11: Type of film

If you ever need to contact Polaroid Customer Support about a problem with your film, it’s very important to provide this number. Our production team keeps a record of defective film productions, so we can pinpoint any problems and make sure we avoid them in the future. It’s also much easier for our Customer Support team to identify potential issues if they know what film they’re dealing with, and when it was produced – you’d be amazed what they can figure out from just a few little numbers.