Btw.. since my teen years my background has been in audio and photography.
It was ingrained in me to create the highest possible quality negative, transparency, recording...

Then from that starting point, I could manipulate and purposely degrade, and experiment with copies
as much as I wanted, or was required for a finished product.

But as i continue to stress, the originals were safely stored in pristine full quality, for whenever they might be needed to be worked with again.