What comes through a window

Solar energy reaching your glass is roughly 3% ultraviolet (UV), 44% visible light and 53% infrared (IR). UV fades floors, furniture and art and damages skin. Visible light is what you see — and what causes glare. Infrared is the heat you feel on your arm in a sunny room. Clear glass lets most of all three through.

Sun control film: keep the light, lose the heat

Modern sun control films are not dark tint. 3M Prestige uses hundreds of microscopic optical layers to reflect infrared while passing visible light — up to 97% of IR rejected with a virtually clear look and no metal, so there’s no mirror effect and no Wi-Fi or cell interference. Ceramic films use nano-ceramic particles to absorb and reject heat with no visible change. Night Vision adds a light shade for glare while keeping interior reflectivity low, so the window doesn’t turn into a mirror at night. Affinity goes the other direction on purpose: a commercial-grade reflective finish for the maximum heat rejection and daytime privacy.

All of them block 99%+ of UV. Many utilities offer rebates; 3M is an ENERGY STAR partner and can contribute to LEED credits.

Safety and security film: keep the glass in the frame

Safety film is a thick, tear-resistant polyester or polyurethane film that holds broken glass together. Safety-glazing films (ANSI Z97.1) are used to bring existing glass in doors, sidelites and other hazardous locations up to code and to protect people from spontaneous breakage. Security films are thicker and tougher — micro-layered 3M Ultra S800 or 24-mil polyurethane 3M S2400 — and are rated for forced entry and blast. For those applications the film must also be attached to the frame with structural silicone; how that is done is the difference between a system and a sheet of plastic. No film is bulletproof.

Decorative and privacy film: control what people see

3M Fasara glass finishes give clear glass the look of etched, frosted, sandblasted or patterned glass. Frost diffuses light so a room stays bright but nothing inside is legible — conference rooms, glass offices, clinics, bathrooms. Gradients put privacy at seated eye level and keep the top and bottom clear. Logos, room names and stripes can be cut into the frost. Dichroic films shift color with the viewing angle for feature glass.

Architectural finishes: refinish the surface

3M DI-NOC is film for walls, not glass — a self-adhesive finish with the look and texture of wood, stone, metal or fabric, applied over existing walls, doors, columns and elevator cabs. It refinishes a lobby or a cab in days without demolition.

Which film do I need?

A hot room, high cooling bills, fading: Prestige, Ceramic or Night Vision. Affinity for maximum heat rejection where appearance is secondary.
Glare on screens: Night Vision.
Break-ins, storms, active-threat entries: S2400 or Ultra S800, attached with the Epic Method. Ultra Prestige or Ultra Night Vision if you also want sun control.
Privacy without blinds: Fasara.
A dated lobby or elevator cab: DI-NOC.

Every film has a spec card in the download library, and the simulator shows what each one does to a real scene.