A custom, ultra-low frequency, dynamic mechanical analyzer (ULDMA) has been developed to study the correlated effects of temperature and frequency on the viscoelastic behavior of magnetic tapes. It has been used to acquire data needed for the development of future magnetic tapes that require an archival life of up to 100 years. A range of elevated temperatures is used to simulate real-world storage environments, which enables the investigation of how the viscoelastic characteristics of tape samples influence the extent to which the tape deforms. The experiments and subsequent analysis examine the influence of the molecular structure on the viscoelasticity of magnetic tapes. Experiments were performed on a variety of magnetic tapes, including poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN), metalized PET (M-PET), and metalized Spaltan (M-SPA). Additional experiments examined PEN and PET substrates by removing the front and back magnetic layers from the tape sample. Because of the viscoelastic behavior of the tapes, a time delay was present between the strain and stress signals, which was determined using a Fourier transform program. The elastic modulus (E), storage modulus (E'), loss modulus (E ''), and loss tangent (tan delta) were obtained from the time delay for each of the ULDMA experiments at 25, 50, and 70 degrees C over the frequency range of 0.0100-0.0667 Hz. Plots of these mechanical characteristics demonstrate the ability of frequency and temperature to affect trends associated with mechanical and thermal properties. Finally, some samples displayed an initial relaxation during the ULDMA experiments, which, when modeled using Maxwell's viscoelastic model, provided an insight into the relaxation characteristics of the samples. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 127: 3124-3146, 2013