Guidelines: File Format Comparison Projects
Still Image and Audio-Visual Working Groups
The FADGI Still Image and Audio-Visual Working Groups are exploring file formats for still images and video. Two explorations are focused on reformatting, e.g., digitizing documents, books, maps, and photographs as still images, and digitizing videotapes (mostly analog, sometimes digital) as file-based video. These two comparisons employ similar, matrix-based tools to make comparisons relevant to preservation planning. The matrixes compare a limited number of formats in terms of roughly forty factors, grouped under the following general headings:
- Sustainability Factors
- Cost Factors
- System Implementation Factors (Full Lifecycle)
- Settings and Capabilities (Quality and Functionality Factors)
Raster Still Images for Digitization: A Comparison of File Formats
Digital File Formats for Videotape Reformatting
Meanwhile, a third exploration examines born digital video. The report from this effort employs case histories rather than matrix-based comparisons, reflecting the still-evolving state of relevant preservation practices. The subgroup felt that it would be premature to draft a uniform guideline and, in addition, the separate narratives highlight significant agency to agency variation in the types of material to be preserved, and in the use cases related to them.
Last Updated: 12/2/2014