Format policies

Main Page > Documentation > Format-specific preservation issues

Format	Preservation action plan	Issues and links
DOC (Microsoft Office Word)	Normalization to OpenDocument Format (ODF) using Xena Possible normalization to Portable Document Format/Archival (PDF/A).	See PRONOM: Microsoft Word for Windows Document for information about the format. For more information on the ODF format see PRONOM: OpenDocument Format. For more information on the PDF/A format see Library of Congress Sustainability of Digital Formats: PDF/A-1. A list of tools used to convert files to PDF format is available at Codswallop technology + productivity blog.
NEF (Nikon Electronic Format, also known as Nikon Image Format)	Possible normalization to Adobe Digital Negative (DNG) format	NEF is a raw (i.e. pre-processed) image format produced by Nikon cameras. Xena incorrectly guesses the file type as TIFF and normalizes as it would a TIFF, with the result that a very large file (e.g. 70 MB) is normalized to a very small one (eg. 250 KB) with considerable loss of data. Xena also removes embedded data added during image editing, converting the data to a separate XMP file. This means that any edits added by the creator are removed. NEF is a proprietary format with an unpublished specification. NEF files can be very large - 70 MB or more. PRONOM provides only outline information for NEF files: see PRONOM: Nikon Digital SLR Camera Raw Image File. Much more detailed information on NEF files is available at Library of Congress Sustainability of Digital Formats: Camera Raw Formats. Library of Congress states that Adobe Digital Negative (DNG), Version 1.1 may be emerging as a standard preservation format for raw camera images. Adobe provides a free (but not open-source) Adobe DNG Converter designed for downloading to Windows or Mac computers.
TIF or TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)	Normalization using Xena to Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format with embedded metadata stored in XML.	Normalization of TIF 6.0 files may not be necessary, since it is considered to be a stable, preservation-friendly format. For more information on TIF files see Library of Congress Sustainability of Digital Formats: TIFF, Revision 6.0, PRONOM: Tagged Image File Format 6 and Florida Digital Archive TIFF 6.0 Action Plan Background Report. For more information on PNG files see Library of Congress Sustainability of Digital Formats: PNG, Portable Network Graphics.