The National Film and Sound Archive will receive $41.9 million over four years for a major program to preserve around 240,000 known at-risk audio-visual items currently in analogue format.

The material to be preserved digitally includes the Australian War Memorial's peacekeeping collection, the personal recordings and film of Sir Robert Menzies, and important cultural material held by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the funding will protect important elements of Australia's audio-visual history from being permanently lost due to material deterioration.

The National Library will receive $5.7 million over two years to enhance its Trove website, a free digital archive of Australian newspapers, maps, magazines and other written works.

Trove launched in 2009 and has since become one of Australia's most comprehensive cultural websites, with 30 million visits each year.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher says the funding will support Trove to June 30, 2023, and allow technical enhancements to be made to ensure the security and reliability of the website.

Australian Associated Press