#FILE FORMAT TYPES HOW TO#

Fully and independently implementable by multiple software providers on multiple platforms without any intellectual property restrictions for necessary technology.Fully published and available royalty-free.Interoperable among diverse platforms and applications.Adherent to an open, documented standard, such as described by the State of California (see AB 1668, 2007).In common usage by the research community.When selecting file formats for archiving, the formats should ideally be: The Library of Congress has published a Recommended Formats StatementВ that discusses this topic in great depth.

#FILE FORMAT TYPES HOW TO#

This could help you down the road if you need to figure out how to open these files again! When it is necessary to save files in a proprietary format, consider including a readme.txt file in your directory that documents the name and version of the software used to generate the file, as well as the company who made the software. Having at least some of the information available to you later will be better than having none of it available! If conversion to an open data format will result in some data loss from your files, you might consider saving the data in both the proprietary format and an open format. You should save data in a non-proprietary (open) file format when possible. Interested in learning more about data best practices? Check out our workshop. The file formats you use have a direct impact on your ability to open those files at a later date and on the ability of other people to access those data.ДЇor more information on managing data, visit our FAQ.

File format types