Whether you’re a record collector with rare records or you simply want to properly care for the few readily available vinyl records you own, investing in the best inner sleeves for your records is a wise choice.
What are the best inner sleeves for vinyl records? The best inner sleeves for vinyl records are Diskeeper, MoFi, Big Fudge, and Vinyl Storage Solutions.
In today’s article, I’ll introduce you to my top picks for vinyl record inner sleeves, reviewing each one. I’ll also discuss why inner sleeves are such an integral part of vinyl record care, so make sure you keep reading!
The 4 Best Inner Sleeves for Vinyl Records
An inner sleeve is a pocket made of cardboard, paper, or antistatic material. You slide the vinyl record into the inner sleeve and store it. You can also put a record in an inner sleeve back in its original jacket, but this is unnecessary.
Per the intro, let’s look at my preferred picks for vinyl record inner sleeves.
Diskeeper 2.0 Antistatic Record Sleeves
Starting the list is the Diskeeper 2.0 antistatic record sleeves, an optimal solution for maintaining the pristine condition of your vinyl records while combating static.
The liner is made of high-density polyethylene or HDPE, a type of thermoplastic polymer that’s sourced from petroleum.
HDPE is an incredibly versatile material, as it’s used in everything from food and beverage containers to snowboards, shampoo bottles, and even in facial and skeletal reconstructive surgeries.
The top traits of HDPE are its high melting point, its excellent impact resistance, and its fantastic strength-to-density ratio.
The Diskeeper 2.0 antistatic sleeves are named 2.0 since that’s the thickness (in millimeters) of each sleeve. These record sleeves won’t tear easily, that’s for certain!
The sleeve is translucent so you can clearly decipher which record is which in your collection. Plus, the sleeve lacks a center hole that would allow contaminants to enter.
For under $20, you get 50 record sleeves in a pack, which is a great value.
MoFi Original Master Record Inner Sleeves
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab or MoFi for short is a record label for audiophiles. How else can you explain their exceptional Original Master Record inner sleeves?
MoFi calls its inner sleeves “the industry standard for vinyl LP protection and storage.”
There’s a reason for that, and it’s not just for MoFi to toot its own horn, either. These antistatic inner sleeves feature three-ply construction.
The sleeves are mostly comprised of highly durable HDPE plastic with a paper layer between the dual HDPE layers.
Then the front is finished with more HDPE for awesome stability.
Although you would think that with so much HDPE plastic the sleeves would feel thick and bulky, they’re anything but. MoFi likens its Original Master Record inner sleeves to rice paper.
That’s right, rice paper! Rice paper is only about 0.15 millimeters thick, so you won’t have to worry about these MoFi antistatic sleeves making your records too chunky.
The sleeves also remain translucent even with the multiple HDPE layers so you can always find just the record you’re looking for.
You can shop the MoFi Original Master Record inner sleeves in packs of 50 for under $25.
Big Fudge Vinyl Record Acid-Free Paper Inner Sleeves
Another major name in vinyl record protection is Big Fudge, which manufactures media storage solutions, vinyl record cleaning supplies, and vinyl sleeves.
Although you can’t go wrong with any Big Fudge product, I like their acid-free paper inner sleeves especially.
You might be wary about considering paper sleeves when there are HDPE sleeves on the market, but Big Fudge doesn’t produce anything less than high quality.
The heavyweight paper is alkaline and acid-free.
Why does that matter? Alkaline and acid in a paper sleeve could slowly degrade the integrity of a record over time, which is not what you want!
Big Fudge says its inner sleeves are “designed by collectors for collectors.” That’s why the premium sleeves have exterior seams.
Interior seams are the norm, but they can make it hard to insert your record into the paper sleeve. The seams can potentially scratch your vinyl record, and interior seams tend to wear down the sleeve faster.
Exterior seams will ensure the long-term quality of your Big Fudge inner sleeve and protect the record as well.
Each sleeve has rounded edges rather than square-shaped ones. Now, no matter which album you try to slide into the inner sleeve, it should fit without accumulating static or risking scuffs.
You can choose from two inner sleeve sizes from Big Fudge, seven inches or 12 inches. You can buy 50 sleeves for under $20 or 100 sleeves for under $25, which is a great deal either way!
Vinyl Storage Solutions Paper Inner Sleeves
The last set of inner sleeves I recommend for vinyl record collectors comes from Vinyl Storage Solutions, another renowned name in vinyl record products.
Vinyl Storage Solutions’ paper inner sleeves are premium-quality, measuring 12 inches and three millimeters thick.
These sleeves don’t just feel like rice paper – they are rice paper!
Vinyl Storage Solutions promises that its sleeves are “almost crumple-proof,” calling them “the rice paper sleeve you have dreamed about.”
Antistatic and available in standard square sizes, the paper sleeves feature a layer of translucent HDPE film on the front so you can rifle through your records and find the one you want without pulling every record out of its sleeve.
Vinyl Storage Solutions uses virgin resin only for the HDPE film layer.
The paper inner sleeves are promised to be three times as thick as the competition and 50 percent thicker than standard two-millimeter rice paper sleeves.
You can buy 25 paper sleeves for under $20, which is a steal!
Where Can I Buy Inner Sleeves for My Records?
I just reviewed four of the best inner sleeves for vinyl records, and I recommend you check out those paper sleeve manufacturers’ websites first.
Otherwise, you can buy vinyl record inner sleeves in all sorts of materials from these places.
Amazon
Everything is on Amazon these days, and that goes for vinyl record inner sleeves too. You can shop around for the products on the list above on Amazon and possibly enjoy free shipping too.
Walmart
Walmart is an Amazon competitor, so of course, its site is stocked with many of the same products.
This is highly beneficial for you, the consumer, as you can shop on Walmart’s website and pick up vinyl record inner sleeves.
Could you find inner sleeves in a Walmart store? Possibly, but that would depend on how extensive its tech section is and how much of the tech section is dedicated to vinyl records and record players.
Your Local Record Store
If you want to guaranteed find inner sleeves for vinyl records in a bricks-and-mortar store, then head to your local record shop.
When you buy local, you’re supporting the one-of-a-kind record store in your city or town. Buying your inner sleeves at your local record store is also a great excuse to make another trip to the record store 🙂
Is It Necessary to Keep Vinyl Records in the Inner Sleeve?
Although none of the inner sleeves I reviewed for you today were necessarily that expensive, you still wonder if it’s worth it to spend money on inner sleeves.
Your record comes in a perfectly good sleeve that didn’t cost you any extra money, after all.
Or so you think the sleeve is perfectly good.
Those outer vinyl record sleeves are of poor quality, using low-grade paper that may contain acid. Dust and dirt can easily work their way into the sleeve too.
Sure, the outer sleeve is decorative and nice to look at, but that’s where it ends. The sleeve offers very little in terms of protection and could be actively damaging your record.
Inner sleeves do the opposite. They prevent issues such as scuffing, scratching, dust and dirt accumulation, and the buildup of static.
You can trust that a vinyl record inner sleeve is acid-free, especially if it’s HDPE plastic.
As the last section shows, high-quality paper sleeves are acid-free as well and act as an alternative to HDPE.
Inner sleeves are designed to be softer and cause less damage so your vinyl record can remain unscathed each time you listen to it.
Since they’re so low-cost, why not try investing in a few inner sleeves and see how you like them? Once you try them, you might not want to go back to keeping your records in their original sleeves!