Registry of USG 

Recommended Biometric 

Standards 

Version 2.0

August 10, 2009

NSTC Subcommittee on

Biometrics and Identity Management
. 

2

1. Introduction

This Registry of USG Recommended Biometric Standards (Registry) supplements the NSTC Policy for Enabling the 

Development, Adoption and Use of Biometric Standards, which was developed through a collaborative, interagency process 

within the Subcommittee on Biometrics and Identity Management and approved by the NSTC Committee on Technology. 

This Registry is based upon interagency consensus on biometric standards required to enable the interoperability of various 

Federal biometric applications, and to guide Federal agencies as they develop and implement related biometric programs.

The Subcommittee’s standards and conformity assessment working group is tasked to develop and update the Registry as 

necessary. The Subcommittee will continuously review the content of this document, and release updated versions as 

required to assist agencies in the implementation and reinforcement process of biometric standards to meet agencyspecific mission needs. The latest version of this document is available on the Federal government's web site for biometric 

activities at www.biometrics.gov/standards1

― Supplemental Information in Support of the NSTC Policy for Enabling the Development, Adoption and Use of Biometric 

Standards ; 

. 

The maintenance of this Registry is supported by agencies providing appropriate personnel and resources to the 

Subcommittee’s standards and conformity assessment working group. Federal agencies identifying issues with this Registry 

should notify their representatives to the Subcommittee’s standards and conformity assessment working group. 

Two other documents support this Registry and the NSTC Policy for Enabling the Development, Adoption and Use of 

Biometric Standards: 

― Catalog of USG Biometric Product Testing Programs [DRAFT]. 

In support of specific cross agency biometric data interoperability requirements, this Registry is cited by NATIONAL 

SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/NSPD -- 59/ HOMELAND SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/HSPD -- 24, Biometrics for 

Identification and Screening to Enhance National Security.

For comments or to obtain additional information about this document, send e-mail to standards@biometrics.gov. 

2. Scope 

This Registry lists recommended biometric standards for USG-wide use. Only standards finalized and approved by a 

standards developing organization are eligible for analysis by the Subcommittee. Inclusion of a standard in this Registry 

requires consensus agreement of USG agencies through the Subcommittee’s deliberative process. For dated references to 

standards, only the edition cited applies. For undated references to standards, the latest edition of the referenced standard

(including any amendments) applies.

These recommendations take into account: 

― the differences in how criminal identification and civil biometric authentication systems operate; 

― the need to accommodate current implementations as well as new implementations; 

 

1 The latest version of this Registry is also available at www.standards.gov/biometrics.
. 

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― the movement to international versions of these national standards. 

Therefore, along with recommended biometric standards, some high level guidance is often provided with respect to

implementation, migration, and grandfathering of existing implementations. Further guidance may be found in the 

Supplemental document.

This Registry is divided into sub-registries of standards or profiles for: 

― biometric data collection, storage, and exchange standards; 

― biometric transmission profiles; 

― biometric identity credentialing profiles; 

― biometric technical interface standards; 

― biometric conformance testing methodology standards; 

― biometric performance testing methodology standards. 

Additional biometric standards will be added to this Registry as other standards in the above categories (e.g., other 

modalities, such as DNA) or additional categories (e.g., biometric quality measurement standards) are approved by the 

standards developers and evaluated by the USG for USG-wide use. 

This Registry may have supplements intended for use within specific communities of the USG. For information on the 

status of any such supplements, send email to standards@biometrics.gov. 

3. Verbal forms for the expression of provisions

The following terms are used in this document to indicate mandatory, optional, or permissible requirements:

― the terms “shall” and “shall not” indicate requirements strictly to be followed in order to conform to this document 

and from which no deviation is permitted;

― the terms “should” and “should not” indicate that among several possibilities one is recommended as particularly 

suitable, without mentioning or excluding others, or that a certain course of action is preferred but not necessarily 

required, or that (in the negative form) a certain possibility or course of action is deprecated but not prohibited;

― the terms “may” and “need not” indicate a course of action permissible within the limits of this document.

4. Terms and definitions

For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply. The terms are grouped according by 

conceptual area, not alphabetic order.

― standard - document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and 

repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the 

optimum degree of order in a given context. [ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004] 

― base standard - a fundamental standard with elements that contain options

NOTE Base standards can be used in diverse applications, for each of which it may be useful to fix the optional 

elements in a standardized profile with the aim of achieving interoperability between instances of the specific 

application. [ISO/IEC 24713-1] 
. 

4

― biometric profile - conforming subsets or combinations of base standards used to effect specific biometric functions

NOTE Biometric profiles define specific values or conditions from the range of options described in the relevant 

base standards, with the aim of supporting the interchange of data between applications and the interoperability of 

systems. [ISO/IEC 24713-1] 

― standards developing organization - an organization that develops and approves consensus standards

NOTE Such organizations may be: accredited, such as ANSI accredited INCITS and ANSI accredited NIST ITL; or 

international treaty based, such as ICAO; or international private sector based, such as ISO/IEC; or a consortium, such 

as RTIC; or a government agency, such as the DoD, DHS, FBI, and NIST.

― certification - third-party attestation related to products, processes, systems or persons [ISO/IEC 17000:2004, 

Conformity assessment — Vocabulary and general principles] 

NOTE 1 Certification of a management system is sometimes also called registration.

NOTE 2 Certification is applicable to all objects of conformity assessment except for conformity assessment 

bodies themselves, to which accreditation is applicable.

― test - technical operation that consists of the determination of one or more characteristics of a given product, process 

or service according to a specified procedure [ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004]

― testing - action of carrying out one or more tests [ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004]

― conformance testing - process of checking, via test assertions, whether an implementation faithfully implements the 

standard or profile

― performance testing - measures the performance characteristics of an implementation such as system error rates, 

throughput, or responsiveness, under various conditions

― sample - raw data representing a biometric characteristic, which is captured and processed by the biometric system or 

the digital representation of a biometric characteristic used internally by a biometric system

― template - encoded representation of features extracted from a sample suitable for direct comparison

― sample quality – properties of a biometric sample associated with its fidelity to its source and its expected 

performance in a verification or identification system

― signal - one dimensional time series data or spatial data

EXAMPLE 1 A speech recording

EXAMPLE 2 The coordinates and pressure of a pen in a handwriting recognition system, is an example of a

multivariate signal (i.e. x and y and pressure).

― image - two or three dimensional spatial data

EXAMPLE 1 A fingerprint image

EXAMPLE 2 A three dimensional facial image (i.e. including shape information)

― proprietary image - image format defined in a privately controlled biometric data format specification

― proprietary signal - signal format defined in a privately controlled biometric data format specification

― basic interoperability - ability of a generator to create samples that can be processed by other suppliers' comparison 

subsystems, and the ability of a supplier's comparison subsystem to process input samples from other suppliers' 

generators [ISO/IEC 19795-4:2008 Interoperability Performance Testing] 

― interoperable performance - performance associated with the use of generator and comparison subsystems from 

different suppliers
. 

5

― native performance - performance associated with the use of generator and comparison subsystems from a single 

supplier

― performance interoperability - measure of the adequacy of interoperable performance

― scenario test - the online evaluation of end-to-end system performance in a prototype or simulated application in 

which samples collected from test subjects are processed in real time. [ISO/IEC 19795-2:2005 Testing Methodologies 

for Technology and Scenario Evaluation]

NOTE Scenario tests are intended for measurement of performance in modeled environments, inclusive of test 

subject-system interactions. Scenario Testing assesses biometric technologies in a manner representative of the 

operational application while maintaining control of performance variables. 

― technology test - the offline evaluation of one or more algorithms for the same biometric modality using a pre-existing 

or specially-collected corpus of samples

5. Acronyms and Abbreviations

ABIS Automated Biometric Identification System

ANSI American National Standards Institute

APB Advisory Policy Board

BDB Biometric Data Block

BIAS Biometric Identity Assurance Services

BioAPI Biometric Application Programming Interface

BIR Biometric Information Record

BSP Biometric Service Provider

CBEFF Common Biometric Exchange Formats Framework

CJIS Criminal Justice Information Services

CTS Conformance Test Suite

DHS Department of Homeland Security

DoD Department of Defense

EBTS Electronic Biometric Transmission Specification

EFTS Electronic Fingerprint Transmission Specification

FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation

FDIS Final Draft International Standard

FIPS Federal Information Processing Standard

HSPD Homeland Security Presidential Directive

IAFIS Integrated Automatic Fingerprint Identification System

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization

IDENT Automatic Biometric Identification System

IDMS Identity management system

IEC International Electrotechnical Commission

INCITS InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards

INT-I Interpol Implementation of the ANSI/NIST ITL 1-2000 Standard

ISO International Organization for Standardization

ITL Information Technology Laboratory

IXM IDENT Exchange Messages

JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group

LDS Logical Data Structure
. 

6

MINEX Minutiae Interoperability Exchange Test

MRTD Machine Readable Travel Document

NGI Next Generation Identification

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology

NSTC National Science and Technology Council

PIV Personal Identity Verification

PNG Portable Network Graphics

RT Registered Traveler

RTIC Registered Traveler Interoperability Consortium

SAP Subject Acquisition Profile

SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol

TWIC Transportation Workers Identification Credential

TWPDES Terrorist Watchlist Person Data Exchange Standard

USG United States Government

US-VISIT United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology

WSQ Wavelet Scalar Quantization

XML Extensible Markup Language

6. Registry concepts and standards nomenclature

The meanings for the headings of the columns in the following tables are as follows:

Validity Period: This column shall be updated periodically as new or improved standards are developed. This may result in 

the retirement or deprecation of a standard. In such cases, a migration strategy to facilitate backward compatibility will be 

needed because standardized data will likely exist in databases or on identity credentials. Agencies engaged in the design 

of biometrically enabled applications shall adhere to the standards called out below, and shall heed the "validity period" 

value.

Biometric Data2

Conceptually a general biometric system

: This column is organized around the kind of data that is being stored. This derives from the particular 

biometric modalities chosen for an operation. In some cases, feature based data is stored, and thus the column identifies 

the captured or processed representation of the sample.

Domain of Applicability: The functions of a generic biometric application include an enrollment phase, and a subsequent 

identification or verification phase. The enrollment phase embeds capture of an initial sample. The capture may be from a 

cooperative, non-cooperative or uncooperative subject. Enrollment itself is usually an attended operation. These factors 

influence the selection of an appropriate data interchange standard because conformance to a standard might be 

unattainable (e.g., non-cooperative imaging will not always yield a frontal face, for example).

3

― data capture;

might execute:

― transmission;

― image or signal processing;

― data storage;

― matching;

 2 This column appears only for the Biometric Data Collection, Storage, and Exchange Standards.

3 This description of biometric systems is expanded upon in ISO/IEC 24713-1:2008, Biometric Profiles for Interoperability and Data 

Interchange – Part 1: Overview of Biometric Systems and Biometric Profiles
. 

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― decision; 

― administration; 

― interface. 

Recommended standards: This column enumerates those standards. The intent is that all biometric samples captured, or 

otherwise instantiated during the validity period, in a domain of applicability shall be encoded in formal conformity with the 

identified standards. In cases where two or more standards are specified, either or both may be used. In cases where the 

standards contain high level options or branches, values are mandated as needed.

Notes: This column provides implementation guidance and caveats on use and non-use of this and other standards. When 

the column includes guidance and refinements on the use of the standard (e.g., on compression) the use of the word shall

is normative. That is, when users adopt one of the recommended standards, the guidance is required.

Standards nomenclature: The ISO standards identified in the following sections carry specific nomenclature. The example 

in the Table below explains the fields. The base standard, as originally developed in the international body, is shown in 

bold. The details of any subsequent US adoption which enclose this are shown in normal type.

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-6:2005[2007]

INCITS ISO/IEC 19794 -6 2005 2007 

This is the name of 

the body in the U.S. 

that adopts the 

international standard

The parent 

standards 

development 

body

ISO/IEC 19794 is 

a multipart data 

interchange 

standard 

The dash six denotes 

Part 6 which 

standardizes exchange 

of iris imagery 

This is the year that the 

standard was published. 

Development was generally 

completed a few months prior.

This identifies the 

year the standard 

was adopted by 

the adopter.

For standards that have published amendments, the amendment itself is identified with the following syntax:

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19784-1:2006/Amdt. 1 -2007[2008] 

7. Biometric data collection, storage, and exchange standards 

The biometric standards listed in Table 1 shall be used in all USG applications for which biometric data: 

― are copied or moved between systems within an agency; 

― are copied or moved to or by agencies; 

― persist beyond the interaction of a subject with a sensor or system. 

The biometric standards listed below cover:

― fingerprint images; 

― latent fingerprint images; 

― palm print images; 

― fingerprint minutia records; 

― facial images; 

― iris images. 
. 

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Standards for other modalities have been approved by the various standards developers. They are not listed here because 

the imperative for development of this Registry was ongoing or anticipated multi-agency or USG-wide applications. For 

parties seeking to collect, store and exchange data from modalities not covered by this Registry, they have the option of 

using standards approved by national or international standards developers4

It is assumed that parent applications can properly embed or wrap biometric data formatted according to the standards 

enumerated below (e.g., EBTS transactions embedding Type 14 fingerprint records). Data records or sets of data records 

shall not be wrapped in a proprietary wrapper that requires a specific provider’s software to decode or encode. 

. 

While Table 1 addresses collection, storage and exchange of biometric data, existing transmission profiles such as the FBI's 

EBTS (see Table 2) might further modify or restrict the recommended standards of Table 1. 

 4 The DoD tracks the development of biometric standards. For a copy of the DoD's “BTF Standards Development Status Update” contact 

standards@biometrics.gov .
Table 1 - Registry of Biometric Data Collection, Storage, and Exchange Standards 

# Validity 

period

Biometric data Domain of 

applicability

Recommended 

standards

Notes Implementation Guidance

Finger and Palm Recognition

1. October 

2007 – 

current

Plain or rolled 

fingerprint 

images. 

For latent 

fingerprint 

images, see row 

2.

 

Capture, 

storage and 

exchange

of data (e.g., 

enrollment or 

registration)

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007, Type 14

PIV (FIPS 201-1, 2006) requires the use of 

INCITS 381:2004 for the retention of images.

Other standards, or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

used as a substitute for the required standard; 

they may be used only in addition:

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007, Type 3, 5 or 6;

INCITS 381:2004; INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-

4:2005[2007]. 

Capture and storage with 

resolution ≥ 19.69 pixels/mm. 

When images are captured at 

19.69 pixels/mm and 

compressed with WSQ, the 

compression ratio shall not 

exceed 15:1.

When images are captured at 

39.37 pixels/mm and 

compressed using JPEG 2000, 

the compression ratio shall not 

exceed 15:1.

NOTE: While ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007 Type 4 remains the 

predominant format for 

transmission of rolled fingerprint 

information, the Type 14 record 

is recommended because it is: 

• used for plain impression

transactions including 

segmentation coordinates; 

• supporting use of high 

resolution images; 

• a more flexible format for

additional metadata. 

However, users should check 

with receiving agencies that they 

are capable of accepting Type 14 

data.

1XML December 

2008 – 

current

Plain or rolled 

fingerprint 

images 

Capture, 

storage and 

exchange of 

data (e.g., 

enrollment or 

registration)

in XML 

format. 

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-

2008, Type 14

The following XML standards, or standardized 

records, shall not be used:

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008, Type 3, 5 or 6. This 

requirement deprecates the use of these legacy 

types in new applications even though 

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 included them by default.

NOTE: Implementers migrating to ANSI/NIST-ITL 

2-2008 should also migrate to Type 14 from Type 

4.

2. October 

2007 - 

Latent 

fingerprints or 

Storage and 

exchange

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007, Type 13

Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

The latent image shall be 

acquired with a native resolution 
. 

10

# Validity 

period

Biometric data Domain of 

applicability

Recommended 

standards

Notes Implementation Guidance

current latent palm 

print images

of data (e.g., 

enrollment or 

registration)

used as a substitute for the required standard; 

they may be used only in addition:

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007, Type 7; INCITS 381:2004; 

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-4:2005[2007]. 

Other standards, including those enumerated 

below shall not be used:

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008, Types 3, 4, 5, 6, 14, 15, 16 

and 99. 

When latent minutia are extracted from a latent 

image and encoded in, for example, an 

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007, Type 9, the parent image 

shall be retained.

of 394 pixels/cm or greater.

Latent images should be 

uncompressed. If losslessly 

compressed, images shall be 

stored in conformance to the 

ISO/IEC 15948 format (PNG). 

Images shall not be compressed 

using a lossy compression 

algorithm

If reduced resolution versions 

are prepared (e.g., for 

transmission) the parent high 

resolution image shall be 

retained.

2XML December 

2008 - 

current

Latent 

fingerprints or 

latent palm 

print images

Storage and 

exchange

of data (e.g., 

enrollment or 

registration) 

in XML format

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-

2008, Type 13

Other standards, including those enumerated 

below shall not be used:

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008, Types 3, 4, 5, 6, 14, 15, 16 

and 99. 

When latent minutia are extracted from a latent 

image and encoded in, for example, an 

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008, Type 9, the parent image 

shall be retained.

3. October 

2007 – 

current

Palm prints 

(excluding 

latent palm 

prints)

Storage and 

exchange

of data (e.g., 

enrollment or 

registration)

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007, Type 15 Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

used as a substitute for the required standard; 

they may be used only in addition:

INCITS 381:2004; INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-

4:2005[2007].

Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

used:

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007, Types 3, 4, 5, 6, 13, 14, 16 

and 99. 

Capture and storage with 

resolution ≥ 197 pixels/cm.

When images are captured at 

197 pixels / cm and compressed 

with WSQ, the compression ratio 

shall not exceed 15:1. This may 

be achieved by invoking the 

WSQ compressor with a target 

bit rate parameter greater than 

or equal to 8/15 bits per pixel.

When images are captured at 

394 pixels/cm and compressed 

using JPEG 2000 the 

3XML December 

2008 – 

Palm prints 

(excluding 

Storage and 

exchange

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-

2008, Type 15

Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 
. 

11

# Validity 

period

Biometric data Domain of 

applicability

Recommended 

standards

Notes Implementation Guidance

current latent palm 

prints)

of data (e.g., 

enrollment or 

registration)

in XML format

used:

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008, Types 3, 4, 5, 6, 13, 14, 16 

and, 99. 

compression ratio shall not 

exceed15:1. This may be 

achieved by invoking the JPEG 

2000 compressor with a target 

bit rate greater than or equal to 

8/10 bits per pixel.

If images scanned at 1000 ppi 

and compressed using JPEG 2000 

are to be converted to images at 

500 ppi and compressed using 

WSQ, then the MITRE 

procedures [MITRE1000] shall be 

followed.

4. October 

2007 – 

current

Fingerprint 

minutiae,

not latent 

minutiae

For minutiae 

encoded in 

latent images, 

see row 7.

Storage and 

exchange 

outside and 

unrelated to 

personal 

identity 

credentials

INCITS 378:2004

or

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007 Type 9, 

Fields 1-4 and 

13-23

or

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007 Type 9,

Fields 1-4 and 

126-150

Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

used as a substitute for the required standard; 

they may be used only in addition: 

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-2:2005[2008]. 

If ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 Type 9 is used, vendor 

blocks (i.e. fields 31 - 125 and 151-175) shall not 

be used.

Verification applications (e.g., 

access control) shall not use the 

“vendor-defined extended data” 

fields of INCITS 378:2004 clause 

6.6.

Better accuracy will be obtained 

if, within the target application, 

it is possible to additionally 

exchange standardized image 

records, per row 1 of this Table.

Identification applications shall 

use the INCITS 378:2004 

standard. This may include 

proprietary template data in the 

“vendor-defined extended data” 

fields of INCITS 378:2004 clause 

6.6. Proprietary template data is 

non-interoperable but some 

implementations have been 

shown to have improved 

accuracy over standardized data 

alone [MINEX04]. It is usually 

4 

XML

December

2008 – 

current

Fingerprint 

minutiae 

encoded in 

XML.

For minutiae 

Storage and 

exchange 

outside and 

unrelated to 

personal 

identity 

credentials

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-

2008 Annex G 

XML encoding of 

INCITS 378:2004

or

If ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 Type 9 is used, vendor 

blocks (i.e. fields 31 - 125 and 151-175) shall not 

be used.
. 

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# Validity 

period

Biometric data Domain of 

applicability

Recommended 

standards

Notes Implementation Guidance

encoded in 

latent images, 

see row 7.

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-

2008 Type 9, per 

Tables 216a and 

216b

usable only if the data is 

prepared and matched by the 

products of a single supplier. 

Reliance on such proprietary 

data will promote vendor lockin. In order to mitigate this risk, 

the parent images shall be 

retained. To eliminate this risk, 

standardized image records 

should be exchanged, per row 1 

of this Table. To avoid abuse of 

this allowance of proprietary 

data, the standardized minutiae 

data required by clauses 6.1 

through 6.5 of INCITS 378:2004 

should be produced by MINEX 

compliant template generators.

5. October 

2007 – 

current

Fingerprint 

minutiae 

Storage in, 

and 

transmission

to, personal 

identity 

credentials for 

match-oncard

INCITS/ISO/IEC 

19794-

2:2005[2008], 

clause 8 

compact card 

format with 

clause 9 format 

types 0001, 

0003, 0005

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-2:2005[2008] (compact 

card format) shall be stored on the card for 

match-on-card.

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-2:2005[2008] (compact 

card format) shall be sent to the card for 

verification against the reference template on 

the card.

In both cases the minutiae may be prepared 

from parent INCITS 378:2004 records.

For match-on-card, neither INCITS 378:2004 nor 

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-2:2005[2008] clause 7 

(record format) shall be stored on the card.

For match-on-card, neither INCITS 378:2004 nor 

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-2:2005[2008] clause 7 

(record format) shall be sent to the card.

Regarding INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-2:2005[2008]

card formats, the absence of a header and 
. 

13

# Validity 

period

Biometric data Domain of 

applicability

Recommended 

standards

Notes Implementation Guidance

ambiguities inherent in the sort-ordering of 

minutiae mean that such records shall not be 

used for persistent storage off-card.

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 and ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 

shall not be used.

6. October 

2007 – 

current

Fingerprint 

minutiae 

Storage in, 

and 

transmission 

from, 

personal 

identity 

credentials for 

match-offcard

INCITS 378:2004 In match-off-card applications, none of the 

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-2:2005[2008] formats shall 

be used. This applies to both the reference and 

verification templates.

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 and ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 

shall not be used.

7. October 

2007 – 

current

Latent 

fingerprint 

minutiae 

Storage and 

exchange

of data (e.g., 

enrollment or 

registration)

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007, Type 9, 

Fields 1-4 and 

13-23 or 

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007 Type 9, 

Fields 1-4 and 

126-140 

Other standards, including those enumerated 

below shall not be used as a substitute for the 

required standard; they may be used only in 

addition:

INCITS 378:2004.

Standardized minutiae records 

afford only limited automated 

matching accuracy, and 

therefore parent latent images 

shall be retained with any 

extracted minutiae.

Fields 13-23 are defined in 

Appendix J of the FBI's EBTS.

7 

XML

October 

2007 – 

current

Latent 

fingerprint 

minutiae 

encoded using 

XML

Storage and 

exchange

of data (e.g., 

enrollment or 

registration)

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-

2008, Type 9, 

Tables 216a and 

216b

Face Recognition

8. October 

2007 – 

current

2D Face images Storage of 

digital images 

in personal 

identity 

credentials

INCITS/ISO/IEC 

19794-

5:2005[2007], 

Full Frontal or 

Token

The INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-5:2005[2007] “basic” 

mode shall not be used.

INCITS 385:2004 shall not be used.

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 and ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 

shall not be used.
. 

14

# Validity 

period

Biometric data Domain of 

applicability

Recommended 

standards

Notes Implementation Guidance

The following informative material should be 

consulted.

For general case:

ISO/IEC 19794-5:2005, Amendment 1 adds an 

Annex to the base standard as guidance for 

producing or requiring either conventional 

printed photographs or digital images of faces 

that may be used in applications for passports, 

visas, or other identification documents and 

when those images are required to conform to 

the frontal image types of this standard 

(INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-5:2005[2007]).

9. October 

2007 - 

current

2D Face images For capture 

and storage in 

MRTDs (e.g., 

e-Passport 

chip reading)

ICAO 9303 ICAO 9303 covers capture, storage and 

transmission.

INCITS 385:2004 shall not be used.

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 and ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 

shall not be used.

10. October 

2007 - 

current

2D Face images Capture and 

storage (i.e., 

enrollment or 

registration 

processes) for 

which end-toend subject 

capture times 

above 120 

seconds are 

tolerable

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007, Type 10 

with subject 

acquisition 

profile (SAP) of 

level 10 or 

above

or

INCITS/ISO/IEC 

19794-

5:2005[2007], 

Full Frontal or 

Token, with at 

least 90 pixels 

between the 

Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

used:

INCITS 385:2004

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007, Types 7, 16 and 99. 

Failure to conform to the 

quality-related requirements of 

these standards will undermine 

facial recognition performance. 

ISO/IEC 19794-5:2005, 

Amendment 1 should be 

consulted. It adds an Annex to 

the base standard as guidance 

for producing either 

conventional printed 

photographs or digital images of 

faces that may be used in 

applications for passports, visas, 

or other identification 

documents.
. 

15

# Validity 

period

Biometric data Domain of 

applicability

Recommended 

standards

Notes Implementation Guidance

eyes from all 

subjects

10 

XML

December

2008 - 

current

2D Face images

encoded in XML

Capture and 

storage (i.e., 

enrollment or 

registration 

processes) for 

which end-toend subject 

capture times 

above 120 

seconds are 

tolerable

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-

2008, Type 10 

with subject 

acquisition 

profile (SAP) of 

level 10 or 

above

Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

used:

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008, Types 7, 16 and 99. 

11. October 

2007 – 

current

2D Face images Noncooperative 

or 

uncooperative 

capture and 

storage of 

images 

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007, Type 10 

with subject 

acquisition 

profile (SAP) of 

level 1 or above

or

INCITS/ISO/IEC 

19794-

5:2005[2007]

Basic type only

For images collected in applications in which 

subjects are imaged in a non-cooperative or 

uncooperative manner. The acquisition should 

be frontal when possible.

Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

used:

INCITS 385:2004

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007, Types 7, 16 and 99. 

11 

XML

December 

2008 – 

current

2D Face images Noncooperative 

or 

uncooperative 

capture and 

storage of 

images 

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-

2008, Type 10 

with subject 

acquisition 

profile (SAP) of 

level 1 or above

For images collected in applications in which 

subjects are imaged in a non-cooperative or 

uncooperative manner. The acquisition should 

be frontal when possible.

Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

used:

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008, Types 7, 16 and 99. 

12. October 

2007 – 

2D Face images All other 

capture, 

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007, Type 10 

Conformance to the ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 SAP 

level 1 and the INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-
. 

16

# Validity 

period

Biometric data Domain of 

applicability

Recommended 

standards

Notes Implementation Guidance

current storage or 

exchange 

applications

with subject 

acquisition 

profile (SAP) of 

level 1 or above

or

INCITS/ISO/IEC 

19794-

5:2005[2007], 

Basic, Full 

Frontal or Token

5:2005[2007] "Basic" type allows storage of an 

arbitrarily poor photograph whose digital, scene, 

photometric and geometric properties are 

unlikely to yield acceptable face recognition 

accuracy.

Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

used:

INCITS 385:2004

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007, Types 7, 16 and 99. 

12 

XML

December 

2008 - 

current

2D Face images All other 

capture, 

storage or 

exchange 

applications

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-

2008, Type 10 

with subject 

acquisition 

profile (SAP) of 

level 1 or above

Conformance to the ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 SAP 

level 1 allows storage of an arbitrarily poor 

photograph whose digital, scene, photometric 

and geometric properties are unlikely to yield 

acceptable face recognition accuracy.

Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

used:

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008, Types 7, 16 and 99. 

Iris Recognition

13. October 

2007 – 

current

Iris images Capture, 

storage and 

exchange

of data (e.g., 

enrollment or 

registration)

The rectilinear 

image format of 

INCITS/ISO/IEC 

19794-

6:2005[2007]

or

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007, Type 17

Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

used:

INCITS 379:2004 (standard withdrawn 2008)

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007, Types 7 and 16. 

The ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007, Type 17 format is a 

strict derivative of INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-

6:2005[2007], and may be used as an alternative.

Other standards, including those enumerated 

below shall not be used as a substitute for the 

required standard; they may be used only in 

addition:

All ISO/IEC 19794-6:2005 polar image formats.

If lossy compression is applied to 

iris images the compression ratio 

shall not exceed 6:1. For 

compression algorithms without 

a bit-rate parameter (e.g., JPEG), 

this may require iteration over 

the compression "quality" 

parameter.
. 

17

# Validity 

period

Biometric data Domain of 

applicability

Recommended 

standards

Notes Implementation Guidance

Irises stored in any of the polar image formats of 

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-6:2005[2007] may be 

retained only if their rectilinear image parents 

are also retained. 

13 

XML

December 

2008 – 

current

Iris images

encoded in XML

Capture, 

storage and 

exchange

of data (e.g., 

enrollment or 

registration)

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-

2008, Type 17

The ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008, Type 17 format is a 

strict derivative of INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-

6:2005[2007], and may be used as an alternative.

Other standards or standardized records, 

including those enumerated below shall not be 

used:

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008, Types 7 and 16. 

 
8. Biometric transmission profiles

To facilitate interoperability, biometric base standards, such as the Biometric Data Collection, Storage, and Exchange 

Standards in Table 1, should normally be used in conjunction with a biometric profile. Such profiles specify applicationspecific criteria onto the base standard. This profiling could consist of establishing definitive values for performance related 

parameters in the base standard (e.g., resolution, maximum compression) or enumerating values for optional or conditional 

requirements (e.g., full-frontal face vs. token face in INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-5:2005[2007]).

Biometric profiles developed for USG applications should address, on a clause-by-clause basis, all the normative 

requirements of the base standards, and where appropriate: 

― call out values of parameters (e.g., number of finger); 

― call out normative practice (e.g., encoding of core and delta positions in minutia records); 

― promote informative material to become normative requirements (e.g., maximum face image compression ratios); 

― demote normative requirements if compliance would be problematic. Such a step shall be undertaken only after an

evidence-based justification can be established and documented. This practice should be undertaken with utmost 

caution because it breaks conformance to the standard, and may undermine interoperability. 

Configurable elements of standards should be specified as part of requirements documents based on operational needs of 

the implementations.

Proprietary data

Some of the base standards enumerated in this document include fields for additional proprietary data. A biometric profile 

should disallow population of these fields because proprietary data is non-interoperable and is likely to be used in 

preference to standardized data thereby subverting interoperability via vendor lock-in.

USG applications shall not use proprietary image or signal formats when a national or international standard exists for 

images or signals related to that biometric.

Proprietary extensions

USG applications should generally prohibit inclusion of proprietary data in standardized records that contain standardized 

data. Applications may embed proprietary templates, and achieve interoperability at the image-level.

Biometric Profiles and Data Models for Large Scale Identification Applications 

The biometric transmission profiles of Table 2 are specifications developed by federal and international organizations that

permit electronic communication with the specified system. These documents are not base standards but are critical 

because they define current (“as is”) technical requirements that facilitate interoperability.

As of September 2007, the FBI EBTS Version 8.0 superseded the FBI EFTS Version 7.1. In April 2008, the FBI EBTS Version 

8.002 superseded the FBI EBTS Version 8.001. The FBI's EBTS Version 8.002 clarified existing processing capabilities. In 

November 2008, FBI EBTS Version 8.1 was approved. It offers a superset of the functionality provided by prior “8.”

versions. FBI EBTS Version 8.1 is backward compatible with prior “8.” versions. The FBI EBTS Version 8.1 is the current 

standard for interfacing with the FBI Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). The FBI EBTS Version 

8.1 contains a description of operational concepts, descriptors, and field edit specifications, image quality specifications, 

and other information related to IAFIS services. The scope of the FBI EBTS Version 8.1 has expanded over the FBI EFTS 

Version 7.1 to include additional biometric modalities (e.g., palmprint, facial, and iris) in recognition of the rapidly 

developing biometric identification industry. 
. 

19

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000 is specified in the FBI EFTS Version 7.1. ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 is specified in FBI EBTS Version 8.1. 

DoD has developed its own EBTS with the goal of being compatible with the FBI’s EFTS and EBTS. ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000/FBI 

EFTS Version 7.1 and ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007/ FBI EBTS Version 8.1 will need to coexist for some time. 

A standards-based service model for interacting with the US-VISIT Program’s IDENT system has been in effect since

September 2007. IDENT Exchange Messages (IXM) provides a common interface to IDENT for client applications. IXM is 

based on XML and provides a communication protocol embedded in the SOAP framework. The latest IXM standard 

provides an overview and detailed information on each message operation, the steps required to create an interface, and 

guidelines and examples intended to help external users interact with US-VISIT/IDENT applications via the IXM format.

The Terrorist Watchlist Person Data Exchange Standard (TWPDES) provides a comprehensive XML based standard for 

exchanging and sharing terrorist-related information across the entire intelligence and law enforcement communities, both 

in the United States and abroad with biometric and biographic support in a single package. It incorporates the ANSI/NISTITL 2-2008 standard for biometric identifiers. 

TWPDES 1.2b is NIEM 2.0 compliant supporting all of the terrorist watchlisting requirements and encounter scenarios in the 

communities. Users may constrain the standard to support only the specific requirements in the users’ domain. The 

specification also has built-in extension mechanisms that can be used for inter-agency terrorist-data exchange models. 

TWPDES 1.2b has been accepted by DHS, DoD, and DOJ as a recognized standard for exchanging data.

Table 2 - Registry of Biometric Transmission Profiles

# Validity 

period

Domain of applicability Recommended 

Transmission Profiles

Notes

1. May 2009 –

current

Applications sharing 

terrorist data with the 

U.S. Government's 

intelligence community

and law enforcement.

TWPDES 1.2b This version supersedes versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.2a and 

2.0.

2. Through

October 

2008

Applications exchanging 

data with the FBI 

IAFIS/NGI identification 

system

FBI EFTS Version 7.1 Superseded by FBI EBTS Version 8.1.

FBI EFTS v7.1 exists within this registry for 

backwards compatibility with legacy systems.

3. October 

2007 –

current

Applications exchanging 

data with the FBI 

IAFIS/NGI identification 

system

FBI EBTS Version 8.1 The Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) 

Advisory Policy Board (APB) has recently approved 

the FBI EBTS Version 8.1 for interfacing with the FBI 

Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification 

System (IAFIS) and its successor Next Generation 

Identification (NGI).

Version 8.1 offers a superset of the functionality 

provided by prior versions. Version 8.1 is backward 

compatible with prior versions. In any case version 

8.1 should be adopted for new applications.

4. October 

2007 –

current

Applications exchanging 

data with the DoD ABIS

identification system

DoD EBTS v1.2 DoD EBTS v1.2 is a superset of the FBI EFTS v7.1 for 

DoD-specific needs.

DoD EBTS v1.2 preceded the development of FBI 

EBTS v8.001.

5. September 

2007 –

current

Applications exchanging 

data with the DHS IDENT

identification system

IDENT eXchange 

Messaging (IXM)

The IXM specification provides detailed information 

on messaging operation, and steps required to 

create an interface for external users to interact 
. 

20

# Validity 

period

Domain of applicability Recommended 

Transmission Profiles

Notes

with US-VISIT/IDENT applications.

6. October 

2005 -

current

Applications exchanging 

data with the Interpol

identification system

Interpol Implementation 

of ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000

(INT-I)

This standard is used to transmit information 

between nations for international law enforcement.

9. Biometric identity credentialing profiles

The FIPS 201 standard specifies the architecture and technical requirements for a common identification standard for all US 

Government employees and contractors. It contains two major sections. Part one describes the requirements for a 

personal identity verification system that meets the control and security objectives of Homeland Security Presidential 

Directive 12, including personal identity proofing, registration, and issuance. Part two provides detailed specifications that 

will support technical interoperability among PIV systems. It describes the card elements, system interfaces, and security 

controls required to securely store, process, and retrieve identity credentials from the card. The interfaces and data 

formats of biometric information are specified in NIST Special Publication 800-76, Biometric Data Specification for Personal 

Identity Verification.

The TWIC Reader Hardware and Card Application Specification leverages FIPS 201. For all transportation workers requiring 

unescorted physical and/or logical access to national facilities, the TWIC design defines the behavior at the card interface of 

the TWIC card application as well as the requirements for TWIC smart card readers to be used with the TWIC.

Similarly the Registered Traveler Technical Interoperability Specification leveraged the FIPS 201 standard to specify the 

identify management infrastructure requirements for a fully-interoperable, vendor-neutral RT program within the United 

States.

The biometric credentialing profiles of Table 3 should be considered for all USG applications.

Table 3 - Registry of Biometric Identity Credentialing Profiles

# Validity 

period

Domain of 

applicability

Recommended standards Notes

1. October 

2007 –

current

Personal identity 

verification

FIPS 201-1, 2006

NIST SP 800-76-1, 2007

HSPD-12 is applicable to Federal employees and 

contractors. Applicability to other agency specific 

categories of individuals (e.g., short-term (i.e., less than 6 

months) guest researchers; volunteers; or intermittent, 

temporary or seasonal employees) is an agency risk-based 

decision.

The TWIC and RT specifications are based upon the PIV 

standards (FIPS 201, and supporting NIST Special 

Publications) with certain extensions and modifications 

for their unique application environment.

2. October 

2007 –

current

Registered 

travelers

Registered Traveler 

Interoperability Consortium

Technical Interoperability

Specification Version 1.7

April 15, 2008

Version 1.0 of this Registry recommended Registered 

Traveler Interoperability Consortium

Technical Interoperability Specification Version 1.5

December 21, 2007
. 

21

10. Biometric technical interface standards

The biometric technical interface standards listed in Table 4 shall be used in all USG applications for biometric systems that 

include “plug and play” capability. This permits agencies to easily, rapidly and seamlessly integrate system components into 

functioning systems and swap components as needed without losing functionality, such as the ability to achieve data 

interchange and to protect the biometric data during transmission and storage.

The BioAPI standards support “plug and play” compatibility by specifying how applications communicate with biometric 

vendor software in a common way independently of the biometric modality. This supports the swapping of products and 

incorporation of new products with no application modification.

The CBEFF standards specify data structures that support multiple biometric technologies in a common way. CBEFF's data 

structures, termed BIRs, conform to a CBEFF Patron Format which allows exchange of biometric data and related metadata 

(e.g., time stamp, validity period, and creator) and support security of biometric data in an open systems environment.

The BIAS standard defines biometric services used for identity assurance that are invoked over a services-based framework. 

It is intended to provide a generic set of biometric and identity-related functions and associated data definitions to allow 

remote access to biometric services.

Table 4 - Registry of Biometric Technical Interface Standards

# Validity 

period

Domain of applicability Recommended 

standards

Notes

1. October 

2007 - 

current

Client-side capture and 

verification (e.g., enrollment 

workstation, kiosk) or server-side 

verification for one-to-one and 

multi-biometric applications

There is no requirement for 

embedded devices to conform to 

the current versions of the BioAPI 

standards. 

This does not apply to law 

enforcement applications and 

other large-scale identification 

applications that require 

conformance to biometric 

profiles such as FBI EBTS. 

INCITS/ISO/IEC 

19784-

1:2006[2007] 

INCITS/ISO/IEC 

19784-

2:2007[2008]

or

INCITS 358:2002

NIST and DoD have publicly available Conformance 

Test Suites (CTSs)5 to test Biometric Service Providers 

that claim conformance to INCITS 358:2002.

No publicly available CTSs are known to be available 

for ISO/IEC 19784-1.

Since there is a publicly available reference 

implementation for INCITS 358:2002 this standard 

may be used as an alternative to the international 

version if the lack of availability of the publicly 

available reference implementation for the 

international version is a deterrent to adoption at 

the present time.

A framework component for INCITS/ISO/IEC 19784-

1:2006[2007] is commercially available (i.e., license 

fee), which can serve the same purpose as a publicly 

available reference implementation. 

A graphical user interface specification is available as 

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19784-1:2006/Amdt 1 -2007[2008] 

2. October Biometric Information Records INCITS 398:2008 Although the user can specify a new Patron Format, 

 

5 http://www.itl.nist.gov/div893/biometrics/BioAPI_CTS/index.htm and 

http://www.biometrics.dod.mil/CurrentInitiatives/Standards/BioAPI/Default.aspx 
. 

22

# Validity 

period

Domain of applicability Recommended 

standards

Notes

2007 – 

current

conforming to a CBEFF Patron 

Format for the exchange, 

protection, encapsulation, 

transmission and storage of 

biometric data

Encrypt and sign biometric data 

contained in Biometric Data 

Blocks in CBEFF BIRs by relying on 

the BIR Security Block, unless 

other system security 

mechanisms are already provided 

by means external to the BIR

Patron Formats for applications 

that require transmission or 

storage of BIRs that require 

cleartext biometric headers or 

making metadata available 

without processing the record 

(e.g., for the purpose of indexing 

BIRs) 

This does not apply to law 

enforcement applications and 

other large-scale identification 

applications that require 

conformance to biometric 

profiles such as FBI EBTS.

those specified in INCITS 398:2008 are preferred:

In addition to citing the INCITS 398:2008 standard, 

parties to a biometric interchange shall agree on a 

Patron Format. The ones specified in the standard 

are tabulated below.

# Name Domain

1 Patron Format A General purpose - 

See NOTE 1.

2 BioAPI BIR BioAPI Interfaces

3 ICAO LDS e-Passports / MRTDs

4 PIV PIV

5 ANSI/NIST Type 

99

Other modalities

6 Patron Format B Complex structures

NOTE 1 NIST has a publicly available conformance 

testing architecture and Conformance Test Suite 

(CTS)6 to test implementations of Patron Format A. 

3. October 

2007 – 

current 

Biometric services for identity 

assurance that are invoked over a 

services-based framework

INCITS 442:2008

11. Biometric conformance testing methodology standards

Conformance testing methodology standards may specify physical test requirements, logical test requirements (e.g., test 

assertions, test cases), use of reference data, test reporting formats, and means of testing requirements. Such standards 

can serve as the basis for the development of test tools (e.g., executable test code, reference data) and reference 

implementations, which can be used by organizations operating conformance testing programs.

The biometric conformance testing methodology standards listed in Table 5 should be considered for all tests run, 

commissioned or otherwise sponsored by USG agencies.

 

6 http://www.itl.nist.gov/div893/biometrics/CBEFF_PFA_CTS/
. 

23

Table 5 - Registry of Biometric Conformance Testing Methodology Standards

# Validity 

period

Domain of applicability Recommended 

standards

Notes

1. September 

2007 -

current

FBI certification of fingerprint 

systems that scan and capture 

fingerprints in digital, softcopy 

form, including hardcopy scanners 

such as ten-print card scanners, and 

live scan devices, altogether called 

“fingerprint scanners”; and systems 

utilizing a printer to print digital 

fingerprint images to hardcopy 

called “fingerprint printers”

FBI EBTS Version 8.1, 

Appendix F

The procedures for conduct of an 

Appendix F test can be found at 

http://www.mitre.org/tech/mtf/

2. October 

2007 –

current

Conformance testing of Biometric 

Service Provider (BSP) 

implementations claiming 

conformance to critical 

requirements specified in 

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19784-1:2006[2007]

(BioAPI 2.0)

ISO/IEC 24709-1:2007 

and 

ISO/IEC 24709-2:2007

BSP implementations that are tested 

according to the methodology specified in 

ISO/IEC 24709-1 and with the test 

assertions specified in this part of ISO/IEC 

24709 can only claim conformance to 

those aspects of ISO/IEC 19784-1 that are 

covered by these test assertions.

3. October 

2007 -

current

Conformance testing of 

application(s) or service(s) 

implementations claiming 

conformance to the ANSI

INCITS 378:2004 standard 

INCITS 423.1:2008

and 

INCITS 423.2:2008

12. Biometric performance testing methodology standards

The biometric performance testing methodology standards listed in Table 6 should be considered for all tests run, 

commissioned or otherwise sponsored by USG agencies.

Use of the standards does not restrict testing laboratories from conducting additional activities or using different practices. 

The standards are therefore suitable for agencies sponsoring tests in experimental or developmental applications.

Table 6 - Registry of Biometric Performance Testing Methodology Standards

# Validity 

period

Domain of applicability Recommended 

standards

Notes

1. October 

2007 –

current

Physical and logical access control 

tests

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19795-

1:2005[2007]

and

ISO/IEC 19795-2:2006

ISO/IEC 19795-2:2006 defines 

"technology" and "scenario" tests. For 

access control tests, only the latter is 

required.

The following technical report should be 

consulted for modality specific guidance:

ISO/IEC 19795-3:2007 - Biometric 

Performance Testing and Reporting – Part 

3: Modality-Specific Testing. 

2. October 

2007 -

current

Testing of performance and 

interoperability of cross-supplier 

implementations generating and 

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19795-

1:2005[2007]

The following technical report should be 

consulted for modality specific guidance:

ISO/IEC TR 19795-3:2007 - Biometric 
. 

24

# Validity 

period

Domain of applicability Recommended 

standards

Notes

matching instances of standardized 

biometric data interchange data

and

ISO/IEC 19795-4:2008

Performance Testing and Reporting – Part 

3: Modality-Specific Testing.

13. References

Identification of Standards

The ISO standards identified in this section carry specific nomenclature. The example in the Table below explains the fields. 

The base standard, as originally developed in the international body, is shown in bold. The details of any subsequent US 

adoption which enclose this are shown in normal type.

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-6:2005[2007] 

INCITS ISO/IEC 19794 -6 2005 2007 

This is the name of 

the body in the U.S. 

that adopts the 

international standard

The parent 

standards 

development 

body

ISO/IEC 19794 is 

a multipart data 

interchange 

standard 

The dash six denotes 

Part 6 which 

standardizes exchange 

of iris imagery 

This is the year that the 

standard was published. 

Development was generally 

completed a few months prior.

This identifies the 

year the standard 

was adopted by 

the adopter.

For standards that have published amendments, the amendment itself is identified with the following syntax:

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19784-1:2006/Amdt. 1 -2007[2008] 

1. ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007

Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial, & Other Biometric Information – Part 1. 

Published as NIST Special Publication 500-271, May 2007. 

http://biometrics.nist.gov/standard/

2. ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-

2008

Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial, & Other Biometric Information – Part 2: 

XML Version, Published as a NIST Special Publication 500-275, August 2008

http://biometrics.nist.gov/standard/

3. EBTS Version 1.2 DoD Electronic Biometric Transmission Specification (EBTS) Version 1.2

http://www.biometrics.gov/Standards/Default.aspx 

4. EBTS Version 8.1 FBI Electronic Biometric Transmission Specification (EBTS) Version 8.1 

http://www.fbibiospecs.org/fbibiometric/biospecs.html

5. EFTS Version 7.1 FBI Electronic Fingerprint Transmission Specification (EFTS) Version 7.1

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/iafis/efts71/efts71.pdf

6. FIPS 201-1, 2006 Personal Identity Verification for Federal Employees and Contractors

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips201-1/FIPS-201-1-chng1.pdf

7. HSPD-12 Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors

http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/laws/gc_1217616624097.shtm 

8. ICAO 9303 Part 1 - Machine Readable Passport - Volume 2 Specifications for Electronically Enabled 

Passports with Biometric Identification Capabilities

http://mrtd.icao.int/content/view/33/202/

9.. INCITS 358 INCITS 358:2002 - American National Standard for Information Technology – The BioAPI 

Specification http://webstore.ansi.org/

10. INCITS 378 INCITS 378:2004 - American National Standard for Information Technology — Finger Minutiae 

Format for Data Interchange http://webstore.ansi.org/

11. INCITS 381 INCITS 381:2004 - American National Standard for Information Technology — Finger Image-
. 

25

Based Data Interchange Format. http://webstore.ansi.org/

12. INCITS 398 INCITS 398:2008 - Common Biometric Exchange Formats Framework (CBEFF)

http://webstore.ansi.org/

13. INCITS 423.1 INCITS 423.1:2008 - Conformance testing Methodology Standard for Biometric Data 

Interchange Format Standards – Part 1: Generalized Conformance Testing Methodology

http://webstore.ansi.org/

14. INCITS 423.2 INCITS 423.2:2008 - Conformance testing Methodology Standard for Biometric Data 

Interchange Format Standards - Part 2: Conformance Testing, Finger Minutia 

http://webstore.ansi.org/

15. INCITS 442 INCITS 442:2008 - Biometric Identity Assurance Services (BIAS) 

http://webstore.ansi.org/

16. INT-I ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000 Date Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial & SMT Information 

INTERPOL Implementation, Version No. 4.22b - October 28, 2005

http://www.interpol.int/Public/Forensic/fingerprints/RefDoc/implementation6.pdf

17. ISO/IEC 15948 ISO/IEC 15948:2004 Computer graphics and image processing – Portable Network Graphics 

(PNG): Functional specification.

http://webstore.ansi.org/

18. ISO/IEC 19784-1 INCITS/ISO/IEC 19784-1:2006[2007] BioAPI – Biometric Application Programming Interface – 

Part 1: BioAPI Specification

http://webstore.ansi.org/

19. ISO/IEC 19784-

5/Amdt 1

INCITS/ISO/IEC 19784- 1:2006/AM1 -2007 [2008 ], Information technology - BioAPI - Biometric

Application Programming Interface - Part 1: BioAPI Specification - Amendment 1: BioGUI

specification

20. ISO/IEC 19784-2 INCITS/ISO/IEC 19784-2:2007[2008] Biometric Application Programming Interface (BioAPI) – 

Part 2: Biometric Archive Function Provider Interface

http://webstore.ansi.org/

21. ISO/IEC 19794-2 INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-2:2005[2008] — Information technology — Biometric data interchange 

formats — Part 2: Finger minutiae data. 

http://webstore.ansi.org/

ISO/IEC 19794-2:2005/Cor.1:2007 — Information technology — Biometric data interchange 

formats — Part 2: Finger minutiae data – Technical Corrigendum 1 

22. ISO/IEC 19794-4 INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-4:2005[2007] — Information technology — Biometric data interchange 

formats — Part 4: Finger image data. 

http://webstore.ansi.org/

23. ISO/IEC 19794-5 INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-5:2005[2007] — Information technology — Biometric data interchange 

formats — Part 5: Face image data. 

http://webstore.ansi.org/

24. ISO/IEC 19794-

5/Amdt 1

ISO/IEC 19794-5:2005/Amdt 1:2007 — Information Technology — Biometric Data Interchange 

Formats — Part 5: Face Image Data - Amendment 1 - Conditions for Taking Photographs for 

Face Image Data. 

http://webstore.ansi.org/

25. ISO/IEC 19794-6 INCITS/ISO/IEC 19794-6:2005[2007] - Information technology — Biometric data interchange 

formats — Part 6: Iris image data.

http://webstore.ansi.org/

26. ISO/IEC 19795-1 INCITS/ISO/IEC 19795:2005[2007] - Biometric Performance Testing and Reporting – Part 1: 

Principles and Framework

http://webstore.ansi.org/

27. ISO/IEC 19795-2 ISO/IEC 19795:2006 - Biometric Performance Testing and Reporting – Part 2: Testing 

Methodologies for Technology and Scenario evaluations
. 

26

http://webstore.ansi.org/

28. ISO/IEC 19795-3 ISO/IEC TR 19795:2007 - Biometric Performance Testing and Reporting – Part 3: ModalitySpecific Testing

http://webstore.ansi.org/

29. ISO/IEC 19795-4 ISO/IEC 19795:2008 - Biometric Performance Testing and Reporting – Part 4: Interoperability 

Performance Testing

http://webstore.ansi.org/

30. ISO/IEC 24709-1 ISO/IEC 24709-1:2007 - Information technology -- Conformance testing for the biometric 

application programming interface (BioAPI) -- Part 1: Methods and procedures

http://webstore.ansi.org/

31. ISO/IEC 24709-2 ISO/IEC 24709-2:2007 - Information technology -- Conformance testing for the biometric 

application programming interface (BioAPI) -- Part 2: Test assertions for biometric service 

providers 

http://webstore.ansi.org/

32. ISO/IEC 24713-1 ISO/IEC 24713-1:2008 - Biometric Profiles for Interoperability and Data Interchange – Part 1: 

Overview of Biometric Systems and Biometric Profiles 

http://webstore.ansi.org/

33. IXM Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) Exchange Messages

(IXM) Specification – v2.0, September 7, 2007, IDENT-TO007-MAN-IXMTSP-004-D.

http://www.biometrics.gov/Standards/Default.aspx 

34. JPEG 2000 ISO/IEC 15444-1:2004 - Information technology - JPEG 2000 image coding system - Part 1: Core 

coding system

http://webstore.ansi.org/

35. MINEX04 P. Grother et al., Performance and Interoperability of the INCITS 378 Template, NISTIR 7296

http://fingerprint.nist.gov/minex04/minex_report.pdf

36. MITRE1000 Margaret Lepley, Profile for 1000ppi Fingerprint compression, Version 1.1 April 2004. Mitre 

Technical Report 04B0000022. http://www.fbibiospecs.org/fbibiometric/docs/J2K1000.pdf

37. NIST SP 800-76-1 NIST Special Publication 800-76-1, Biometric Data Specification for Personal Identity 

Verification, Revision 1, January 24, 2007

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-76-1/SP800-76-1_012407.pdf

38. RTIC Registered Traveler Interoperability Consortium (RTIC), Technical Interoperability Specification, 

Version 1.7, April 15, 2008. 

http://www.rtconsortium.org/_docpost/RTICTIGSpec_v1.7.pdf

39. TWIC TWIC Reader Hardware and Card Application Specification, September 11, 2007.

http://www.tsa.gov/assets/pdf/twic_reader_card_app_spec_091107.pdf 

40. TWPDES Terrorist Watchlist Person Data Exchange Standard, Version 1.2b. 

http://www.niem.gov/TWPDES.php 

41. WSQv3 WSQ Gray-Scale Fingerprint Image Compression Specification, IAFIS-IC-0110(V3), December 19, 

1997.

http://www.fbibiospecs.org/fbibiometric/docs/WSQ_Gray-scale_Specification_Version_3.pdf