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Easier to erase a digital file than physical media.

If anything, digital data is much easier to back up than physical media. It can be copied, data from aging formats and storage media can be transferred to newer ones, multiple copies can be distributed to different locations for better archiving. The biggest risk to digital media are the restrictive copyright laws surrounding digital data, technologies like DRM and the corporations that don't give a damn about preserving their media, but that's not a problem with the media itself.

I doubt humanity will long enough for that to be a problem

This match and gasoline disagree. (vanishes in time machine)

I get what you’re saying, though it is easier to make digital files

Unless you’re talking about something like a worst case scenario Solar flare, I don’t think we’ll lose access to our digital stuff due to the fact it’s always being backed up and stored somewhere.

Its already happening in some ways:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/08/the-internet-is-not-forever-after-all-cnet-deletes-old-articles-to-game-google/

The old internet is dead. I know that has seemed very obvious up 'til this point but now it really is quite literally dying off. And while I'm really not as biased towards it as a lot of other people are (I'm not even familiar with CNET), this development does still have me genuinely saddened to a bit of an extent.

Just want to piggyback off of this and say space can be an issue for physical media, even if there's a desire to preserve.
My brother used to work at a library and once told me it's a big problem for libraries.

The likelihood of something both existing and being in a reasonable condition is much higher for digital. Because even if organizations don't care or can't, all it takes is one copy and a dude with a computer.

What I think is actually one of the biggest threats to preservation is current copyright laws. The USA being the juggernaut and technological hub it is, the USA's copyright laws are effectively the entire planet's intellectual property laws. Canada recently was forced to increase it from Life+50 to Life+70 and the USA keeps on trying to push for fewer exceptions for acceptable usage.

Copyright practically lasts two consecutive human lifetimes. Assuming they made it at 20 and live for 50 more years, that's 120 years; 5 whole human generations.

Sony and a bunch of other music labels are suing the Internet Archive for digitizing 78 RPM discs, despite the fact that production of 78 RPM vinyl has been dead since 1948! And you know that these companies will never release certain versions of these songs, or will eventually sunset them because profitability dropped.

I left a comment on the Scooby-Doo Springtrapped entry, and what I basically said was that I'm not as worried about how AI will make it harder for artists to make money directly, but instead, media conglomerates will use it as an excuse to clamp down even further on copyright, like how Adobe is proposing that there be legislation to make it illegal to copy someone's art style

we propose Congress establish a new federal anti-impersonation right that would give artists a right to enforce against someone intentionally attempting to impersonate their style or likeness

So we absolutely need laws like Section 29.21 of the Copyright Act of Canada that explicitly allows non-commercial fanart, and even more protections that will protect smaller artists. Copyright laws are already bad as they are, but I've got an awful feeling they're about to get a LOT worse.

Countless YTPs and fan projects have been wiped from existence, and plenty of fully original content too, simply because everyday people do not have the financial resources to defend themselves, or are in a morally fine, but legally-grey or illegal area. Streaming has made this problem even worse, with how despite it being trivial to host it, they remove content due to greed or licensing issues.