Recommended Preservation Formats: WAV, BWF, FLAC, AIFF 

Description:  Waveform Audio (WAV) and Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) are uncompressed and developed by Microsoft and Apple, respectively. However, the are supported by both proprietary (commercial) and open source software. On the other hand, Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) is an open source codec that offers lossless compression. Broadcast WAVE (BWF) is the format recommended by the International Association of Sound and Audio Visual Archives (IASA) for archival purposes but may not be as widely adopted as WAV. 

Formats accepted by Decker: BWF or WAV

Deep dive: Association for Recorded Sound Collections Guide to Audio Preservation, Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects 

Recommended Preservation Format:  DXF, DWG,  and PDF/A, PDF/E or PDF-3D (viewing purposes only) 

Description:  Due to the proprietary nature of Drawing Exchange Format (DXF) and DWG, they sometimes lack the interoperability characteristics recommended for preservation file formats. However, since DWG and DXG are the most common formats used for CAD applications, they are also recommended as preservation formats. It is also recommended to save your CAD data in its native form as well as the preservation format as another step in preserving all the properties of the work. Lastly, you should create a PDF/E version along with the chosen preservation format to allow for exchange across different programs. 

Formats Accepted by Decker Library:  PDF/A, PDF-3D, PDF/E

Please get in touch directly with digitaldecker@mica.edu if you plan on submitting CAD files as part of your thesis submission packet. 

Deep Dive: CAD: A Guide to Good Practice ,  Digital Dilemma: Preserving Computer Aided Design (CAD) Files  

Recommended Preservation Format:  GML (for vector data), GeoTIFF (for raster data)

Description: Geographic Markup Language is an XML-based format with open standards and is a common format accepted by archival repositories. Geo-reference TIFF (.tif) that embeds geographical information with the image data. As with all complex media (i.e. CAD files) also preserve files in their native formats along with the preservation format in order to keep all properties. 

Formats Accepted by Decker Library: JPG World (.jpg & jgw)* 

Please get in touch directly with digitaldecker@mica.edu if you plan on submitting GIS files as part of your thesis submission packet. 

Deep Dive:  Archiving GIS Datasets 

Recommended Preservation Formats: A combination of QuickTime/ v210 encoding; MXF/ Jpeg2000 (lossless compression) encoding, or MKV/ FF Video Codec 1 (FFV1) encoding. 

Description: While some of the formats recommended for preservation are proprietary, such as QuickTime (MOV), they are widely used and supported by media players and editing software. Theoretically, uncompressed codecs are optimal for preservation, however a combination of Media Exchange Format (MXF), Matroska (MKV), or QuickTime (MOV) formats and both lossless compression  or uncompressed codecs, such as  v210 or FFV1, are appropriate and widely implemented options for preserving archival masters. The decision whether to save compressed or uncompressed files will depend on the amount of storage capacity you have at your disposal and the type of formats and codecs supported by the software in use. 

Formats Accepted by Decker: MPEG-4 AVC (H.264 codec) in MPEG-4 container* 

Deep Dive: A Short Guide to Choosing a Digital Format for Video Archiving Masters ; Creating and Archiving Born Digital Video; Association of Moving Image Archivists , A Primer On Codecs For Moving Image And Sound Archives

Recommended Preservation Formats: PDF/A

Description:  While most presentation softwares allow you to import external presentation formats, changes affecting the visual nature of the presentation, such as layout or fonts, are often clearly visible when imported to a non-native software for viewing. Thus, it is recommended to use PDF/A as a preservation format because it is both standardized format used for optimal archival preservation as well as accessible through open access software with minimal risk of changes to the look of the presentation. In the case of interactive presentations such as those commonly produced on Prezi, you can record the presentation as a video using screen recording software if animation is an important characteristic of the presentation .  

Formats Accepted by Decker: PDF/A

Recommended Preservation Formats: Uncompressed TIFF, JPEG2000 (lossless compression), GIF.  

Description: Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) is a widely accepted preservation format for still images. While JPEG2000 is an alternative to uncompressed TIFF files, it is still not widely used. Thus, it is recommended to use TIFF files as preservation masters when possible. Files in Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) may be preserved in their native format. 

Formats accepted by Decker Library:  JPEG* optimized for web access, GIF

Deep Dive: Archiving Digital Photographs, The Complete Guide to Personal Digital Archiving

Recommended Preservation Formats:  A combination of PDF/A and an established word processing format such as DOC (Microsoft Word Binary File Format).

Description: A open and standardized version of Portable Document Format (PDF) used for optimal archival preservation of text documents. However, since PDF/A often requires proprietary software to edit, we recommended saving a copy in its original format (i.e. .doc or .docx) along with the PDF/A file. 

Format accepted by Decker Library: PDF/A (Click here to learn how to create a PDF/A file)

Deep Dive: Documents and Digital Text: A Guide to Good Practice, Word-processing Files Need Love, Too   

Recommended Preservation Formats: SVG, PDF/A

Description: As with 3D images, choosing a format will depend on the you deem necessary to preserve. PDF/A is a platform-independent way of sharing documents and is widely used for preservation purposes, however, it may not be appropriate for all types of content and will only serve for viewing purposes. On the other hand, SVG is more widely used as a preservation format for vector images. If the image is derived from CAD or GIS files, save these files as well (See CAD and GIS guidelines).  

Formats Accepted by Decker: PDF/A*

Deep Dive: Vector Images: A Guide to Good Practice 

Recommended Preservation Format: WARC 

Description: Web ARChive (WARC) format consists of an aggregate for several WARC records and is used to archive the final form of web accessible content (i.e. a website or a webpage). 

Formats Accepted by Decker Library: WARC 

Deep Dive: Library of Congress Web Archive File Format ; Library of Congress Web Archiving Program ; Webrecorder ; Internet Archive Wayback Machine 

Recommended Preservation Format: X3D, COLLADA (.dae), OBJ

Description: Format selection for 3D projects (often used in product design and Virtual Reality)  will depend on the type of properties you need to preserve (ex. geometry, appearance, animation). Checkout this graph to see a comparison of recommended formats and their properties. In addition to storing 3D preservation formats, you should take still or video captures as a secondary record of what the work looks and feels like. 

Formats Accepted by Decker: PDF-3D*

Please get in touch directly with digitaldecker@mica.edu if you plan on submitting 3D files as part of your thesis submission packet. 

Deep Dive: Archiving 3D Data, VR Preservation Project