Federal Agencies
Digital Guidelines Initiative

About This Initiative

FADGI is a collaborative effort started in 2007 by federal agencies to articulate common sustainable practices and guidelines for digitized and born digital historical, archival and cultural content. Two working groups study issues specific to two major areas, Still Image and Audio-Visual.

Summary chart of FADGI's impact within the Library of Congress and the wider community. Updated March 29, 2023.

Learn more about the initiative

Still Image
Working Group

This group is involved in a cooperative effort to develop common digitization guidelines for still image materials.

Audio-Visual
Working Group

This group works collaboratively on common and sustainable technical guidelines, methods, and practices for digitized and born digital sound recordings and moving images.

The Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) does not review, certify, or endorse commercial products, and does not maintain lists or other information about commercial products that claim FADGI conformance.

Digitization Guidelines

    The tools and guidelines linked below are the most widely used FADGI resources. For additional guidelines please click the link above.

  • Software Accessibility for Open Source Digital Preservation Applications
    Draft Under Review by Working Group  | October 2023

    The FADGI AV Working Group project seeks to provide broadly applicable recommendations on accessibility best practices for open-source software. Deliverables include a final report and recommendations.

  • Technical Guidelines for the Still Image Digitization of Cultural Heritage Materials (3rd Edition)
    Approved by Working Group | May 10, 2023

    The FADGI Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Cultural Heritage Materials have been revised by the Still Image working group. These Guidelines represent shared best practices for digitizing still image materials (e.g., textual content, maps, and photographic prints and negatives) followed by FADGI agencies, and is used by cultural heritage institutions worldwide.

  • Guidelines for Imaged Audio
    New Exploratory Project  | 2023

    Joint project of the FADGI AV and Still Images Working Groups to define, for the digital preservation community, standard output packages for imaged audio created by non-contact scanning. FADGI will, where possible, map to existing standards and specifications and where gaps exist, FADGI will develop guidelines to fill those gaps.

  • Exploring Accessibility for AV Collections Content
    Approved by Working Group  | Autumn 2022

    The FADGI AV Working Group is working on accessibility needs for digital audiovisual collections content acquired through collection development scope and policies. Recent projects include Definitions for Key Accessibility Features for Archival Audiovisual Content and Survey Results: The Current State of Accessibility Features for Audiovisual Collections Content in Five FADGI Institutions.

  • Mapping FFV1 to MXF: SMPTE RDD 48 Amendment and Sample Files
    Approved by Working Group | Spring, 2022

    SMPTE has published RDD 48 MXF Archive and Preservation Format Application Specification – Amendment 1 which provides metadata and registered Universal Labels for the FFV1 encoding in the MXF wrapper.  New sample files are also available in both NTSC and PAL.

  • OpenDICE and AutoSFR Open Source Software
    Updated by Working Group | October 27, 2021

    OpenDICE software measures DICE device level imaging target files for conformance with the FADGI imaging guidelines. AutoSFR software measures physical structures in an image file to determine the effective resolution of the image, useful to help determine the appropriate scanning resolution for best results.

  • ADCTest open source software for testing audio ADC performance over time
    Updated by Working Group |  September 2021

    ADCTest is a free Windows-based open source software application designed to facilitate performance testing of analog-to-digital converters (ADC) against FADGI’s 2017 Audio Analog-to-Digital Converter Performance Specification and Test Method Guideline (Low Cost). The new version added the option for a built-in signal generator to support users who wish to test the performance of ADCs that are not immediately accessible to them, especially in outsourced digitization.

  • embARC open source software for embedded metadata
    Updated by Working Group | August 2021

    embARC (metadata embedded for archival content) is a free, open source application that enables users to manage (i.e., audit, validate and correct) embedded metadata in Digital Picture Exchange (DPX)files as individual files or an entire DPX sequence as well as RDD 48 compliant Material Exchange Format (MXF) files, while not impacting the image data. GUI versions for Windows and Mac as well as CLI are available for download.

  • Updated Guidelines for Embedded Metadata in BWF Files
    Approved by Working Group | April 26, 2021

    The FADGI Audio-Visual Working Group is pleased to release version 3 of Guidelines for Embedding Metadata in Broadcast WAVE Files with support for use of Associated Data List Chunk to accompany use of Cue Chunk and Cue Points, expanded options for CodingHistory values and more. These updates are reflected in the open source BWF MetaEdit application.

    • All FADGI Guidelines

Last Updated: 11/16/2023