AC 09.2025
Date: November 6, 2024
Memorandum to Federal Records Management Contacts: Update to File Formats Guidance for Digital Moving Images, Seismic Data Formats, OCR Technology, PDF Collections
I am pleased to announce that NARA has updated Appendix A: Table of File Formats of NARA Bulletin 2014-04, Format Guidance for the Transfer of Permanent Electronic Records.
We have:
- Updated the Digital Moving Images section to include the AV1 Image File Format (AVIF) as a preferred format for the transfer of digital video records; updated the link to NARA’s Products and Services page; and updated the entry for the Digital Moving Picture Exchange Bitmap (DPX) format to reference the latest version of its standard.
- Added Seismic Data as a category of records with support for the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) SEG-Y format.
- Added support for PDF Collections (Portfolios) for agencies transferring case files or mixed-media files.
- Included instructions for acceptable use of optical character recognition (OCR) technology with digitized permanent records.
If you have any questions regarding these updates to file formats for permanent electronic records, please contact rmstandards@nara.gov.
William Fischer
Chief Records Officer
for the U.S. Government (Acting)