Sources Consulted
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has relied on many different sources for background information about the formats included in the Products and Services website. If you would like to learn more about formats and their specifications, we recommend reviewing these sources.
Sources Consulted for Audio Products
Brown, Adrian. Digital Preservation Guidance Note 1: Selecting File Formats for Long Term Preservation. The National Archives UK. August 2008. Available online July 28, 2010.
NDIIPP. Sustainability of Digital Formats: Planning for Library of Congress Collections. Menu of Description Documents for Digital Sound Formats. Updated May 5, 2009. Available online March 31, 2010.
NINCH. Guide to Good Practice in the Digital Representation and Management of Cultural Heritage Materials. 2003. Available online March 31, 2010.
EBU. BWF: A Format for Audio Data Files in Broadcasting. Tech 3285. Version 2. July 2001. Available online March 31, 2010. Version 2 available May 2011.
ARSC Technical Committee. Preservation of Archival Sound Recordings. Version 1. April 2009. Available online March 31, 2010
Casey, Mike and Bruce Gordon. Sound Directions: Best Practices for Audio Preservation. 2007. Available online March 31, 2010.
Grammy Foundation. Basic Methodology for Preservation, Conversion and Archiving Recorded Media. May 2008. Available online March 31, 2010.
IASA Technical Committee. Standards, Recommended Practices and Strategies: IASA-TC 03 The Safeguarding of the Audio Heritage: Ethics, Principles and Preservation Strategy. Version 3. December 2005. Available online March 31, 2010.
IASA Technical Committee. Standards, Recommended Practices and Strategies: IASA-TC 04. Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects. August 2004.
Michigan State University. Digitizing Speech Recordings for Archival Purposes. Available online March 31, 2010.
Schüller, Dietrich. TAPE (Training for Audiovisual Preservation in Europe): Audio and Video Carriers. Available online March 31, 2010.
Weig, Eric, and Kopana Terry, and Kathryn Limburger. Large Scale Digitization of Oral History: A Case Study. D-Lib Magazine, 13: 5/6. May 2007. Available online March 31, 2010.
Sources Consulted for Digital Motion Picture Products
Brown, Adrian. Digital Preservation Guidance Note 1: Selecting File Formats for Long-Term Preservation. The National Archives (UK). June 2003. Available online January 6, 2023.
Byrne, Robert, Caroline Fournier, Anne Gant, and Ulrich Ruedel for FIAF. The Digital Statement Part III: Image Restoration, Manipulation, Treatment, and Ethics. Available online January 6, 2023.
McLellan, Evelyn Peters. Selecting file formats for long-term preservation: InterPARES2 project general study report. March 2007. Available January 6, 2023 from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
NDIIPP. Sustainability of Digital Formats: Planning for Library of Congress Collections. Updated January 1, 2022. Available online January 6, 2023.
NINCH. Guide to Good Practice in the Digital Representation of Cultural Heritage Materials. 2003. Available online January 6, 2023.
EBU. Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) User Guide. Updated 2007. Available January 6, 2023 from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
EBU. BWF: A Format for Audio Data Files in Broadcasting. Tech 3285. Version 1. July 2001. Available January 6, 2023 from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
Industry and peer institution survey on moving image codecs. NARA. Conducted June 2010. Private correspondence.
ISO. 13818-1:2000: Information technology -- Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems. 2nd edition. December 2000.
Lacinak, Chris. A Primer on Codecs for Moving Image and Sound Archives: 10 Recommendations for Codec Selection and Management. April 2010. Available online January 6, 2023.
SMPTE. SMPTE 268M-2003. File Format for Digital Moving-Picture Exchange (DPX), Version 2.0. May 5, 2003.
Sources Consulted for Film-Based Motion Picture Products
There are few cultural heritage institutions with comprehensive film preservation programs with in-house laboratory services. However, the Motion Picture Preservation Lab solicited informal feedback and general workflow and process outlines from several organizations with similar goals, including:
Smithsonian Human Studies Film Archives
George Eastman Museum
UCLA Film and Television Archives
Academy Film Archive
Library of Congress Film Preservation Laboratory
Like NARA, these organizations use a combination of in-house and vendor services to meet their needs.
Sources Consulted for Video Products
IASA Technical Committee. Standards, Recommended Practices and Strategies: IASA TC-06 Guidelines for the Preservation of Video Recordings. Available online April, 2022.
Brown, Adrian. Digital Preservation Guidance Note 1: Selecting File Formats for Long Term Preservation. The National Archives UK. August 2008. Available online July 28, 2010.
NDIIPP. Sustainability of Digital Formats: Planning for Library of Congress Collections. Menu of description documents for digital video formats. Updated May 5, 2009. Available online March 31, 2010.
NINCH. Guide to Good Practice in the Digital Representation of Cultural Heritage Materials. 2003. Available online March 31, 2010.
RUcore Media Standards Working Group. Video and Moving Image Objects: Recommended Minimum Standards For Archival and Presentation Datastreams. Revision 5, 2015.
Industry and peer institution survey on moving image codecs. NARA. Conducted June 2010. Private correspondence.
ISO. Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems. ISO/IEC 13818-1. 2nd edition. December 2000.
ISO. Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Video. ISO/IEC 13818-2. 2nd edition. December 2000
ITU. Interfaces For Digital Component Video Signals In 525-Line And 625-Line Television Systems Operating At The 4:2:2 Level Of Recommendation ITU-R Bt.601 (Part A). Recommendation ITU-R BT.656-4. 1998.
ITU. Studio Encoding Parameters of Digital Television For Standard 4:3 And Wide-Screen 16:9 Aspect Ratios. Recommendation ITU-R BT.601-5. 1995.
ITU. Parameter values for the HDTV standards for production and international programme exchange. Recommendation ITU-R BT.709-6. 2015.
Lacinak, Chris. A Primer on Codecs for Moving Image and Sound Archives: 10 Recommendations for Codec Selection and Management. April 2010. Available online July 28, 2010
Rice, Dave. Sustaining Consistent Video Presentation. Available online April 12, 2022.