Window Security Film Considerations

Expert advice on how to make the best use of applying security films to window glass, find out when it makes great sense to use, and when it will NOT help your security needs.

Window film (or the proper term, Window Security Film)
is a great companion solution to ballistic window shades

  • Security film is designed to inhibit people from getting in, it won't stop bullets.
  • Ballistic shades will stop bullets.

As an intruder deterrent (stopping someone trying to break through the window with blunt objects), window security films can be a very effective addition to your security plan.  But be aware that no major manufacturer will profess that these products can do anything other than slow the intruder down for a period of time. All will clearly state that with enough time and effort, they can all be breached; however, this can certainly be enough deterrent that it either buys critical time for the authorities to respond or becomes such a frustration that the attacker may give up in search of easier options.

But some suppliers claim that films can stop bullets, so why not just use film?

Is window film bulletproof?

No, and here's why you see conflicting answers...

Read what The Wall Street Journal had to say about bullet-resistant window film claims,
Schools Spend Millions on a Safety Measure to Stop Bullets. It Doesn’t Work.
Some key experts from the article*:
  • "The largest U.S. manufacturers of window film, including 3M, say it can’t stop bullets or intruders. But that hasn’t stopped some window-film dealers from cashing in on false or exaggerated claims of ballistic protection."
  • "...state officials watched the bullet strike the film-coated glass. “It just went right through,” he said. “It failed right in front of the whole group."
  • "...the demonstrations (showing bullet-resistance) might mislead school officials because it implies that “if you took a film and put it on the existing glass in your building, that you should expect the same sort of (bulletproof) performance..."
*Sara Randazzo and Zusha Elinson. "Schools Squander Millions to ‘Bulletproof’ Windows. It Doesn’t Work." The Wall Street Journal, 22 Dec. 2024, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/school-shootings-security-protection-failure-9cda35d1
IWFA Logo

The International Window Film Association (IWFA), supported by most of the major film manufacturers, made this statement regarding bullet-resistant films:

"...we firmly believe that an individual glazing (window glass) should be tested both with and without film installed on it for any comparison of improvement in total performance.  In some cases, we have seen demonstrations or claims that the use of film imparted some bullet resistant value when, in fact, the glazing itself without film had almost those same bullet resistant qualities.."

- IWFA Statement on Protection from and against Ballistics
Meaning - the glass used in the test was not standard commercial window glass and was already (or nearly already) bullet-resistant to begin with.
Both The WSJ and the IWFA came to the same conclusion - if the expectation is that applying films to the EXISTING building glass is that it will suddenly become bullet-resistant, that is not likely to be the case. Test results that seem to prove otherwise appear to have all been done with glass that is not typically used in commercial or residential construction.

More input from window film experts on the existence of ballistic window film