A framework for understanding file format conversions

Authors:
Peter Bajcsy;Rob Kooper;Luigi Marini;Kenton McHenry;Michal Ondrejcek
Affiliations:
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD;University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC);University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC);University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC);University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
Venue:
Proceedings of the 2010 Roadmap for Digital Preservation Interoperability Framework Workshop
Year:
2010

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Abstract

This paper addresses the workshop question: "Can data generated from the infancy of the digital age be ingestible by software today?" We have prototyped a set of e-services that serve as a framework for understanding content preservation, automation and computational requirements on preservation of electronic records. The framework consists of e-services for (a) finding file format conversion software, (b) executing file format conversions using available software, and (c) evaluating information loss across conversions. While the target audience for the technology is the US National Archives, these basic e-services are of interest to any manager of electronic records and to all citizens trying to keep their files current with the rapidly changing information technology. The novelty of the framework is in organizing the information about file format conversions, providing services about file format conversion paths, in prototyping a general architecture for reusing existing third-party software with import/export capabilities, and in evaluating information loss due to file format conversions. The impact of these e-services is in the widely accessible conversion software registry (CSR), conversion engine (Polyglot) and comparison engine (Versus) which can increase the productivity of the digital preservation community and other users of digital files.