File formats for Long-Term Access | VCR | University of Nebraska Medical Center

As technology changes, researchers should plan for both hardware and software obsolescence and consider the longevity of their file format choices to ensure long term readability and access.

File formats more likely to be accessible in the future have the following characteristics:

Non-proprietary
Open, documented standard
Common usage by research community
Standard representation (ASCII, Unicode)
Unencrypted
Uncompressed

Examples of preferred file format choices include:

ODF, not Word
ASCII, not Excel
MPEG-4, not Quicktime
TIFF or JPEG2000, not GIF or JPG
XML or RDF, not RDBMS

Consider migrating your data into a format with the above characteristics, in addition to keeping a copy in the original software format. If you deposit your data in a repository, your files may be migrated to newer formats, so that they’re usable to future researchers.