Still Image Formats for Preservation and Delivery Copies
Only the still image formats fully supported by the DRS are listed here. Acceptable file formats are listed in order of preference:
| Preference | Format |
|---|---|
| 1 | - TIFF uncompressed in any color space supported by TIFF TIFF 6.0 has been commonly used at Harvard for digital master images, and is considered an archival format suitable for long-term preservation. For more information about the TIFF format see Adobe's TIFF resources. |
| 2 | - JPEG 2000 JP2 profile with lossless compression Some projects depositing content into the DRS have chosen to use JPEG 2000 for digital master images instead of TIFF. JPEG 2000 can offer storage savings - file sizes tend to be smaller and there is an opportunity to use the same file as the preservation and use copy. While JPEG 2000 is becoming more acceptable in the library community as a preservation format, there are still advantages to TIFF over JPEG 2000 for preservation. TIFF uncompressed is a simpler format internally and has more general tool support. For more information about JPEG 2000 see the JPEG 2000 website. |
| 3 | - TIFF with CCITT T.6 (Group 4) compression |
| 4 | - JPEG 2000 JP2 profile with lossy compression |
| 5 | - JPEG JFIF - TIFF with associated alpha component - TIFF with PackBits (lossless), LZW (lossless), Modified Huffman or Group 3 Fax compression |
| 6 | - GIF |
Less desirable image file formats (but still accepted into the DRS):
| File Format | Suggested Alternative |
|---|---|
| JPEG (non-JFIF) | - TIFF uncompressed - JPEG 2000 JP2 profile with lossless compression |
| TIFF with JPEG (lossy) compression | - TIFF uncompressed - JPEG 2000 JP2 profile with lossless compression |
Video Formats for Preservation and Delivery Copies
| Usage | Codec Format | Wrappers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preferred for Archival format | JPEG 2000* | QuickTime, MXF (MXF OP1a, OP1b operational patterns or AS-07) | Recommend lossless compression |
| Uncompressed* | QuickTime | 8 bit or 10 bit | |
| DV* | QuickTime | For digitized DV tape | |
| MPEG-2 | QuickTime | ||
| Preferred for Delivery format | H.264* | QuickTime | Any of the 21 different profiles |
| Accepted for Archival format | Avid DNxHD* | QuickTime, MXF (MXF OP1a, OP1b operational patterns or AS-07) | |
| Apple ProRes* | QuickTime |
* Harvard Library Media Preservation Services will provide reformatting services to produce these formats
Disk Image Formats for Preservation
| Format | Notes |
|---|---|
| RAW(IMG,DD) | Often disk image formats are split into smaller files that are stitched together in sequence, often in 2GB chunks. When this occurs, many systems use sequential file extension numbering to delineate the relationships, e.g., myimage.001, myimage.002, myimage.003; or yourimage.e01, yourimage.e02, yourimage.e03. When this occurs, it is imperative that original filenames AND extensions be preserved so that they can be re-instantiated upon delivery to an end user (otherwise it will not be possible to put the sequence back together in the proper order). |
| ISO | There are possibilities that some ISO files are merely RAW files that contain ISO file systems within them. Some ISO files may be pure copies of ISO file systems. |
| BIN/CUE | Often disk image formats are split into smaller files that are stitched together in sequence, often in 2GB chunks. When this occurs, many systems use sequential file extension numbering to delineate the relationships, e.g., myimage.001, myimage.002, myimage.003; or yourimage.e01, yourimage.e02, yourimage.e03. When this occurs, it is imperitave that original filenames AND extensions be preserved so that they can be re-instantiated upon delivery to an end user (otherwise it will not be possible to put the sequence back together in the proper order). Only .BIN files (and sometimes .ISO files) include sidecare .CUE files. The .CUE files serve as metadata for understanding the type and composition of data stored in the .BIN (or .ISO) file. |
| EWF-E01 (EWCF-ASR02) | Often disk image formats are split into smaller files that are stitched together in sequence, often in 2GB chunks. When this occurs, many systems use sequential file extension numbering to delineate the relationships, e.g., myimage.001, myimage.002, myimage.003; or yourimage.e01, yourimage.e02, yourimage.e03. When this occurs, it is imperitave that original filenames AND extensions be preserved so that they can be re-instantiated upon delivery to an end user (otherwise it will not be possible to put the sequence back together in the proper order). |
CAD Formats for Preservation and Delivery Copies
Deposit the native CAD file together with a derivative PDF and make both deliverable. The PDF provides an alternative “fixed” preservation copy, providing mitigation for future obsolescence/rendering risks; while the native CAD file provides a truer version of the original, for users who are able to still read the format.
| Type of CAD Drawing | Supported Formats |
|---|---|
| 2D CAD Drawing | per CAD file, one of the following:
|
| 3D CAD Drawing | per CAD file, one of the following:
|
Formats for Delivery Copies
| Harvard Library Delivery Service | Supported Formats |
|---|---|
| File Delivery Service (FDS) | Technically any format. Initially FDS will only deliver the following formats until additional access/use policy and metadata is developed and implemented: ICC, PDF, Plain Text, SGML, XML, ZIP. |
| Full-text Search Service (FTS) | Plain text in ASCII or UTF-8 character encoding |
| Image Delivery Service (IDS) | JPEG, GIF, JPEG2000 JP2, TIFF |
| Page Delivery Service (PDS) | Page images: JPEG2000 JP2, JPEG, GIF, TIFF (bitonal, CCITT Group 4 Fax compression) Page text: Plain text in ASCII or UTF-8 character encoding |
| Streaming Delivery Service (SDS) | MP3 RealAudio, SMIL with sequential links to RealAudio files |