Sustainability of Digital Formats: Planning for Library of Congress Collections

Format Descriptions >> Format Description Categories >> Browse Alphabetical List >> Format Descriptions as XML

Still Image • SVG_1_1 • TIFF_6 • All still image format descriptions	Sound • WAVE • MP3_FF • All sound format descriptions	Moving Image • MPEG-4_FF_2 • AVI • All moving image format descriptions
Textual • PDF/A_family • DOCX/OOXML_2012 • All text format descriptions	Web Archive • ARC_IA • WARC • All Web archive format descriptions	Datasets • DBF • HDF5 • All dataset format descriptions
Geospatial • ESRI_shape • GeoPackage_1_0 • All geospatial format descriptions	Email and PIM • MBOX • MSG • All email and PIM format descriptions	Design and 3D • STEP • X3D • All design and 3D format descriptions
Aggregate • RAR • ZIP • All aggregate format descriptions	Generic • ASF • RIFF • All generic format descriptions

About the format descriptions
The digital content format descriptions accessible here provide specific information about individual formats and their characteristics. Each description provides moderately detailed information and citations. Planned for inclusion are a wide variety of formats: file formats, file-format classes, bitstream structures and encodings, and the mechanisms used to compress files or bitstreams. Inclusion of a description for a format does not imply that the format is preferred or acceptable for Library of Congress collections. For more information, see the Recommended Formats Statement. Although presented here in HTML format, the descriptions are created in XML, and information about how to download the XML versions is presented here.

Descriptions are drafted and added to the site individually rather than on a scheduled basis. The compilers encourage persons with specialized knowledge to review and comment on the descriptions. Please use this contact form to provide comments.

These descriptions will not only serve as a resource for selection and acquisition at the Library but will also support the preservation of digital content as a resource for implementations of the Representation Network that is an element of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model.