Significant Properties for Digital Video
Audio-Visual Working Group

The FADGI Audio-Visual Working Group has released a revised version of Significant Properties for Digital Video which simplifies and clarifies the first release from 2019.

Project background

Initially inspired by the Significant Significant Properties work presented at iPRES2018, FADGI sought to delve deeper into the area of significant properties for digital video to provide definitions for common terms and how changes in these typical criteria would impact the digital video content, technical parameters and display.

Scope and expectations

• The audience for this project is entry to mid-level practitioners and not expert engineers.
• The scope of this project follows the "80/20 rule" in which the criteria explores what is found in typical digital video - the 80% of cases - rather than special cases - the 20% of outliers. This project isn't meant to be comprehensive but instead, representative of common parameters.
• The value of this project is to provide both technical and summary (plain language) explanations as well as typical values/examples of how the data is presented to help practitioners identify the values in reports and systems.
• A key feature is an overview of the impact of change - what happens if the significant property is altered in some way over time or through migration.

Change Log

Note errata/updates for the 2024 version which will be included in the next updated: Errata/Updates for 2024 version

The 2024 version has several changes over the 2019 draft version:

• Mapping of the significant properties to use cases at three federal agencies (in the "Comparing Significant Properties in Use Cases" worksheet)
• Adjusting the criteria and definitions for clarity and readability
• Adding additional depth to the "Relevant Standards" column
• Removing the "How is this data represented through metadata in commonly used open source tools?" columns because this data falls out of sync with application updates and revisions. Users can typically identify the data points through the "Typical Values" column.
• Updating resources and references
• Removing the "In depth/More information" worksheet. Much of these data was incorporated into the main criteria page.
• Discontinuing the "FADGI Significant Properties for Digital Video - Context" page because it mostly contained disclaimers about the 2019 draft version and is no longer relevant.

Significant Properties for Digital Video (2024)

Note errata/updates for the 2024 version which will be included in the next updated: Errata/Updates for 2024 version

Download options:

• PDF with cover page, introduction and data components (416 KB). Note: Aside from cover page and introduction which are portrait Letter size paper (8.5" x 11"), the data component pages are formatted for landscape Tabloid size paper (11” x 17”)
• XLXS workbook with individual worksheets for each data component (165 KB)

Each package contains three components:

• Significant Properties for Digital Video Criteria and Definitions
• Comparing Significant Properties in Use Cases
• Resources and References

Comments welcome to [email protected]

DRAFT Significant Properties for Digital Video (2019)

• For more context and information, please see here
• For a direct link to the worksheet, please see here

Subgroup Members (in alphabetical order)

Library of Congress:
Curtis, Rachel
Davis, Laura
Hosale, Charlie
Morel, Morgan
Murray, Kate

National Archives and Records Administration:
Egan, Courtney
Sims, Jessie

Smithsonian Institution:
Chin, Chialin
Sanchez, Crystal

Working Groups

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.