Preservation Planning:
Monitoring the risk of file format
obsolescence in TIBs
AV holdings
Merle Friedrich,London, 24. October 2018
No Time to Wait! Rough Consensus and Running Archives

Agenda1. Obsolescence
2. Normalization – yes or no?

3. OAIS – Preservation Planning
4. Monitor the Risk of Obsolescence View Paths
5. Migration
References

“the phenomenon that occurs when
information stored in a particular fileformat is no longer accessible using
current technology.”
Ryan 2014, p. 2.

Page 3

“Obsolescence describes a state ofbecoming obsolete, rather than a state ofalready being obsolete.”
Pearson and Webb 2008, p. 93.

Page 4file format that is at risk to become
inaccessible by our designatedcommunity

Page 5

Normalization

AmountContainer
7384 MPEG-4
1062 WebM, Format : WebM
963 MPEG-PS
765 MPEG-4
706 MPEG-PS
557 MPEG-4

Video-Codec
AVC
VP8
MPEG Video, Version 2
AVC
MPEG Video, Version 1
MPEG-4 Visual

Audio-Codec
AAC, Version 4Vorbis
MPEG Audio, Version 1
AAC
MPEG Audio, Version 1
AAC, Version 4421 MPEG-4
210 WebM, Version 2
175 MPEG-TS

MPEG-4 Visual
VP8AVCVorbis
AC-3

97 MPEG-PS
93 AVI
46 MPEG-PS
44 Flash Video

MPEG Video, Version 2
AVC
MPEG Video, Version 2
VP637 MPEG-PS
33 Flash Video

MPEG Video, Version 2
VP631 MPEG-4

AVC

22 MPEG-PS
30 MPEG-4……

MPEG Video, Version 2
MPEG-4 Visual…

PCM
AC-3, Format : DVD-Video
MPEG Audio, Version 1
MPEG Audio, Version 1, Format : MPEG Audio,Version 1, Format : RLE
MPEG Audio, Version 2

MPEG Audio, Version 1, Format : DVD-Video
AAC…

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Normalization
Advantages
Limited set of formats in the archive• validation• preservation planning• less tools
Disadvantages• migration neccessary by producer• undocumented changes of material• delivering material is unattractive• or migration neccessary by archive• work load
• keeping original (authenticity!) -> more storage space neededSometimes we have to take everything we can get… just the way it isPage 7

Page 8OAIS – Preservation Planning

The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, 2012. Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System , p 4.14

Page 9WatchTechnology Watch
Community Watch
Preservation Watch

By Grand Canyon National Park - Grand Canyon National Park Cloud Inversion from Desert View: November 29, 2013 photo 0801,
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31221311

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Monitor the Risk of Obsolescence
Indicators for Obsolescence:
Ryan (2014): Who‘s afraid of file format
obsolescence?
• conducted and evaluated expert interviews• compared 21 indicators“the only factor that can be considered a directcause to file format endangerment isrendering software available. Secondary
factors to this are specifications available andcommunity/3rd party support”
Ryan (2014), p.210

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View Paths
View paths for the majority of file formats in TIBs AV holdings
FormatView PathContainer: MPEG-4

Intel® Core™ i7-8700 – Windows 10 – Windows Media Player Version 12

Video: AVC
Audio: AAC, Version 4Intel® Core™ i5-3470 – Windows 8.1 Pro – VLC Media Player Version 2.2.2

Container: WebM

Intel® Core™ i7-8700 – Windows 10 – MPC-HC Version 1.7.13

Video: VP8
Audio: Vorbis

Intel® Core™ i5-3470 – Windows 8.1 Pro – VLC Media Player Version 2.2.2

Container: MPEG-PS

Intel® Core™ i7-8700 – Windows 10 – Windows Media Player Version 12

Video: MPEG Video, Version 2
Audio: MPEG Audio, Version 1Intel® Core™ i5-3470 – Windows 8.1 Pro – VLC Media Player Version 2.2.2

Concept View Paths: Steenbakkers, Johan F. (2005): Digital Archiving in the Twenty-First Century:
Practice at the National Library of the Netherlands
Page 12View Paths

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Outlook - Migration
Migrate to a suitable format

AdoptionTransparency

Technologicaldependencies

Metadata
Support

Disclosure

According to Todd, Malcolm, 2009. File formats for preservation:
Technology Watch Report.

Page 14

Outlook - Migration
Preservation Planning with Rosetta• extract technical metadata upon ingest• automated risk report (based on view paths)• creating sets on the base of risk report (and additional technicalmetadata, collection, rights…)• define evaluation criteria• define tool for migration (internal or external)• run test and analyse results (automated or manual)• sign-off preservation plan (or refine)
Future work:
develop a migration plugin for our archival software (Rosetta)
to migrate to ffv1 / mkv (with ffmpeg)

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References
Pearson, David; Webb, Colin (2008): Defining File Format Obsolescence: A Risky Journey. InIJDC 3 (1), pp. 89–106. DOI: 10.2218/ijdc.v3i1.44.
Recommended Practice CCSDS 650.0-M-2, June 2012: Reference Model for an Open Archival
Information System (OAIS). Available online at https://public.ccsds.org/pubs/650x0m2.pdf.
Ryan, Heather M. (2014): Who's afraid of File Format Obsolescence? Evaluating File Format
Endangerment Levels and Factors for the Creation of a File Format Endangerment Index.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. School of Information and Library Science. Available
online at https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/record/uuid:86e05605-97e3-40de-927a-ce5f5a6fa4d0.
Steenbakkers, Johan F. (2005): Digital Archiving in the Twenty-First Century: Practice at theNational Library of the Netherlands. In Library Trends 54 (1), pp. 33–56. DOI:10.1353/lib.2006.0010.
Todd, Malcolm (2009): File formats for preservation. Technology Watch Report. Available
online at https://www.dpconline.org/component/docman/?task=doc_download&gid=375.

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MORE INFORMATION
www.tib.eu
Contact
Merle Friedrich
T +49 511 762-14274, merle.friedrich@tib.eu

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