Digital Format Summary
The Digital Format Summary gives a brief description of the file types used during the digitization of original record materials at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The links in the “When is this Format Used?” column will take you to our Reformatting Approaches pages, which link to more detailed information about each product we create.
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Digital Media Type |
Description |
When is this Format Used? |
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Broadcast WAV (.wav) as defined by The European Broadcasting Union in document Tech 3285 Uncompressed Version: 1 The Sustainability of Digital Formats site at the Library of Congress contains information about the WAV file format NARA's WAV files are identified as PUID fmt/141 and fmt/142 in the PRONOM database |
This digital media type is produced as an Digital Output from Audio Source product This digital media type is produced as a Digital Output from Motion Picture Film Source product |
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DPX (Digital Picture Exchange) as defined by Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) 268M-1994, American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/SMPTE 268M-2003, SMPTE ST 268-1:2014, and/or SMPTE ST 268-2:2018 The Sustainability of Digital Formats site at the Library of Congress contains information about the DPX file format NARA's DPX files are identified as PUID fmt/193 in the PRONOM database |
This digital media type is produced as a Digital Output from Motion Picture Film Source product |
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AVI (Audio Video Interleaved) Container Uncompressed
NARA's AVI files are identified as PUID fmt/5 in the PRONOM database |
This digital media type is produced as a Digital Output from Motion Picture Film Source product This digital media type is produced as a Digital Output from Video Source product |
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MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (aka MP3) 128kbps (mono) or 256kbps (stereo) The Sustainability of Digital Formats site at the Library of Congress contains information about the MP3 file format NARA's MP3 files are identified as PUID fmt/134 in the PRONOM database |
This digital media type is produced as an Digital Output from Audio Source product This digital media type is produced as a Digital Output from Motion Picture Film Source product |
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The Sustainability of Digital Formats site at the Library of Congress contains information about the MPEG-2, 4:2:2 Profile Format
This MPEG-2 file is identified as PUID x-fmt/385 and x-fmt/386 in the PRONOM database |
This digital media type is produced as a Digital Output from Video Source product |
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H.264 and Advanced Video Codec (avc1) Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) The Sustainability of Digital Formats site at the Library of Congress contains information about the MPEG-4 File Format, Version 2 This MPEG-4 file is identified as PUID x-fmt/385 and fmt/199 in the PRONOM database |
This digital media type is produced as a Digital Output from Motion Picture Film Source product This digital media type is produced as a Digital Output from Video Source product |
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MOV Container
Apple ProRes 4444 format (ap4h)
The Sustainability of Digital Formats site at the Library of Congress contains information about the QuickTime File Format (MOV) and the Apple ProRes 4444 Codec Family
This MOV file is identified as PUID x-fmt/384 and fmt/797 in the PRONOM database |
This digital media type is produced as a Digital Output from Motion Picture Film Source product |
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JPEG2000 and Linear PCM wrapped in MXF
Lossless compression
Unencrypted
The Sustainability of Digital Formats site at the Library of Congress contains information about the Digital Cinema Package |
This digital media type is produced as a Digital Output from Motion Picture Film Source product |