We haven't done a Library of Congress #SustainabilityOfDigitalFormats #fileformatfriday post in a hot minute so let's catch you up!

3 new fdds: Dolby Atmos Master File (fdd646); A2R Apple II Flux Disk Image (fdd643) and PyTorch Serialized File Format (fdd644). CBOR is next. Comments always welcome! See links from https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd_workplan.shtml.

Also, we've updated 40 fdds/formats listed as "Acceptable" on the Recommended Formats Statement with information about digital accessibility support.

New blog post for #fileformatfriday - #PDF Quality assessment for #digitisation batches with #Python, #PyMuPDF and #Pillow. This introduces the new #Pdfquad tool, which might be useful for others as well:

https://www.bitsgalore.org/2024/12/13/pdf-quality-assessment-for-digitisation-batches-with-python-pymupdf-and-pillow

What’s the wisdom on how to convert Sound Designer 2 files from 2002? We have a couple of thousand, unfortunately saved without their Mac resource fork. #digipres #fileformatfriday

ICYMI - are "octal escape sequences" in #PDF strings really a preservation risk, as claimed by the authors of the recent "The Phantom 👻 of a PDF File" blog post?

Some quick tests I did with eight different PDF processing tools suggest they're not, and #JHOVE's inability to handle them really seems to be the exception here #wtfPDF #fileformatfriday

https://www.bitsgalore.org/2024/11/14/escape-from-the-phantom-of-the-pdf

@Thorsted Happy #fileformatfriday !
https://mastodon.social/@lethal_guitar/113163640154227577

#fileformatfriday
Music Notation
MUS, Finale Legacy Music Notation File - fdd632: https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000632.shtml
MUSX, Finale Music Notation File (2014+) - fdd631: https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000631.shtml
ETF, Finale Enigma Transportable File - fdd633: https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000633.shtml
Comments always welcome to formats@loc.gov

#fileformatfriday at last brings me to the Finale fdds! These were a tough one for me, in part because I was confused for WAY TOO LONG about the use of the word 'Enigma' in the name of two of the formats thinking they were the thing. Yes, I appreciate that irony. Reader, they are not the same thing after all. And Finale sunset in the middle of this research. Sheesh. Shout out to the excellent work of @Thorsted and @ashley as a jumping off point. All comments welcome. See next post for details

@anj because character limits, I've responded in blog form. Hopefully there are some useful pointers here. Also, for whatever reason there seems to be context missing from your writing (especially given your current responsibilities) and I feel it important context, so I've elaborated on it here.

https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/we-love-our-fiefdoms-the-dpc-and-wikidata/

#digipres #FileFormats #FileFormatFriday

A new blog post... Finding Formats in WikiData: https://anjackson.net/2024/07/12/finding-formats-in-wikidata/ #DigiPres #FileFormatFriday

What have we been doing at LC, file-format-wise? Really quite a lot and we go through it all in our sixth blog post to recap 2024 so far. Incl 39 new fdds (big ups to @ashley et al) and a new project to document accessibility features in file formats. We DEFINITELY want/need feedback on this initiative.

Read all about it in https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2024/06/more-formats-and-more-about-formats/ #digipres #fileformat

(I probably should save this for #fileformatfriday but I am too excited so it's for @#fileformatfriday-eve - aka Thursday)

We'll have a blog post coming up in a few weeks for all our new fdds but there are ALOT OF THEM. If you want a preview, check https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd_workplan.shtml#2023-2024 #fileformatfriday

@Thorsted Hi Tyler - LONG ago you mentioned that there are many new PUIDs et al for SWF and that we should update our fdds (130 - v7; 248 - v8). Just 2 short years later, I've made the fix! Pls meet Flash SWF File Format Family (https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000629.shtml). Also 36 versions in Wikipedia? 30 versions in Pronom? Sheesh but this was a rough one. Comments welcome :) #fileformatfriday

For #fileformat Friday, I present the wonder that is Dexvert. This is the conglomeration that allows Discmaster to present so many files as viewable items.
https://github.com/Sembiance/dexvert #fileformatfriday

New on The Signal blog - our semiannual update on recent file format work at The Library of Congress include new format descriptions, a content category to bring together Accessibility-related Formats and recap of our team’s work within the larger format and digital preservation community! shout out to @ashley, Abi, Frances, Marcus and Liz #fileformatfriday
https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2023/12/growing-the-file-format-fam/

#fileformatfriday New fdd on PDF Portfolio (work in part from a contract deliverable from @ashley and Abi from Myriad).
PUID = fmt/1451; QID = Q109971781; NARA ID = NF00792
Comments always welcome (formats@loc.gov)

https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000620.shtml

@ashley I love #FileFormatFriday !

In the style of “this meeting could have been an email”:

This XML file could have been a text file

This JSON file could have been a text file

This XLS file could have been a text file

This PPT file could have been a text file

This JPG file could have been a text file

This WordDoc file could have been a text file

Also:

This XLS file should have been a database

#unix #fileformatfriday

Happy #fileformatfriday - why not pick up a lovely illustrated book by @ashley describing many of these?
https://mediaguides.archivesoftomorrow.com/

Looks like @Thorsted got 0BADDEED [1] into Pronom! [2] Looking forward to the #FileFormatFriday post on this
cc @anj

[1] https://anjackson.net/2018/03/15/story-of-a-bad-deed/
[2] https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/PRONOM/Format/proFormatSearch.aspx?status=detailReport&id=2720&strPageToDisplay=signatures

@ashley ""I don’t know why LC chose this format and not the two pair formats, MYD and MYI, which can be used to help restore a lost legacy database" I know this answer! Because we have over 20K of these files in our collections so we need to know more about them. Great post as always. Happy #fileformatfriday to those who celebrate