Top 10 Audio/Visual File Formats Established In The Aughts

10. www.fileinfo.com lists 202 video file formats.

9. They also list 337 audio file formats.

8. These numbers do not take into consideration the different release versions of each format.

7. Nor do they begin to approach the number of variable applications of codexes, settings, and other options.

6. An archivist may run into any one of these permutations some day, and will have to deal with the common, the obscure, and the obsolete equally to figure out how to make them accessible and maintain that accessibility.

5. There is no great joy for the archivist in the continual establishment of new file formats.

4. But you needn’t be caught flat-footed.

3. Having a plan in place for the ingest, monitoring, and migration of digital collections will help you control the process rather than feeling controlled by virtual strings.

2. Be prepared to address What Was? What Now? What Next?

1. And there are great resources to help you establish best practices and manage your digital collection:

• Library of Congress Sustainability of Digital Formats & NDIIPP
• Preserving Access to Digital Information (PADI)
• AES Technical Committee on Archiving, Restoration and Digital Libraries
• And more in our Links page and throughout avpreserve.com.

— Joshua Ranger