French company Pathé Frères introduced the 9.5mm film format in the 20s, hoping to establish an affordable vehicle to distribute copies of commercially produced films intended for at-home viewing.

The system, which included a line of projectors and cameras were developed and sold under the Pathescope brand name. The format found success reproducing several notable films including entries from the Mickey Mouse series, and select works of Alfred Hitchock.

Uniquely designed with perforations that run centered, between frames, along the length of the film, the 9.5 mm offered superior image area (comparable to the 16 mm) to the 8mm film, which featured sprocket holes positioned along the edge of the available space.

Despite it’s technical superiority over the 8mm, the format would eventually succumb to the Kodachrome’s 8mm, which offered an economically advantageous, lower cost, development process, and was favoured by commercial sponsors.