It's important to consider the format your data is saved in to make sure it stays accessible in the future.
Future accessibility is more likely to occur when the format is:
- A documented open/free format that is non-proprietary
- Commonly used in your discipline
- Has standard encoding (ASCII, Unicode)
- Not encrypted or compressed
Examples of preferred formats include:
- Images: JPG-2000, PNG, TIFF
- Texts: HTML, XML, PDF/A, UTF-8, ASCII (.txt)
- Audio: AIFF, WAVE
More information: