digitalcourage.social

NielsoIf you are a music enthusiast using <a href="https://digitalcourage.social/tags/Bandcamp" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#Bandcamp</a>, what is your favorite <a href="https://digitalcourage.social/tags/download" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#download</a> option with respect to <a href="https://digitalcourage.social/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#fileformat</a>?(Please retoot / share)

Pyrzout :vm:One File, Six Formats: Just Change The Extension <a href="https://hackaday.com/2025/08/08/one-file-six-formats-just-change-the-extension/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://hackaday.com/2025/08/08/one-file-six-formats-just-change-the-extension/</a> <a href="https://social.skynetcloud.site/tags/SoftwareHacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#SoftwareHacks</a> <a href="https://social.skynetcloud.site/tags/fileformats" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformats</a> <a href="https://social.skynetcloud.site/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> <a href="https://social.skynetcloud.site/tags/mp4" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#mp4</a> <a href="https://social.skynetcloud.site/tags/pdf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#pdf</a> <a href="https://social.skynetcloud.site/tags/png" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#png</a>

IT NewsOne File, Six Formats: Just Change The Extension - Normally, if you change a file’s extension in Windows, it doesn’t do anything posi... - <a href="https://hackaday.com/2025/08/08/one-file-six-formats-just-change-the-extension/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://hackaday.com/2025/08/08/one-file-six-formats-just-change-the-extension/</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/softwarehacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#softwarehacks</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/fileformats" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformats</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/mp4" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#mp4</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/pdf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#pdf</a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/png" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#png</a>

Thorsted<a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> Friday! Cracking passwords in Student Writing Center journals. <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/digipres" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#digipres</a> <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/obsolete" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#obsolete</a> <a href="https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2025/08/08/more-student-writing-center/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2025/08/08/more-student-writing-center/</a>

Thorsted<a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> Friday! Microstation DGN updates. <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/digipres" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#digipres</a> <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/cad" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#cad</a> <a href="https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2025/07/11/microstation/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2025/07/11/microstation/</a>

N-gated Hacker News🎩✨ Breaking news: Yet another file format nobody asked for! Behold, the revolutionary .ptar 🔧 - because clearly, handling petabyte-scale <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/archive" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#archive</a> backups wasn't confusing enough. It's so simple, it requires a quick start, documentation, AND a demo just to comprehend! 😂📦 <a href="https://plakar.io/posts/2025-06-30/technical-deep-dive-into-.ptar-replacing-.tgz-for-petabyte-scale-s3-archives/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://plakar.io/posts/2025-06-30/technical-deep-dive-into-.ptar-replacing-.tgz-for-petabyte-scale-s3-archives/</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/petabyte" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#petabyte</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/backup" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#backup</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/technews" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#technews</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/innovation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#innovation</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/humor" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#humor</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/HackerNews" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#HackerNews</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ngated" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#ngated</a>

Thorsted<a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> Friday! Fresh Flux Fun with SCP. <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/digipres" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#digipres</a> <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/floppydisks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#floppydisks</a> <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/obsolete_technology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#obsolete_technology</a> <a href="https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2025/06/27/scp/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2025/06/27/scp/</a>

Thorsted<a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> Friday! Finalize your miniDVD's! <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/digirpres" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#digirpres</a> <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/avpres" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#avpres</a> <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/obsolete_technology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#obsolete_technology</a> <a href="https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2025/06/20/minidvd/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2025/06/20/minidvd/</a>

Kate MurrayNew blog post about <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> research for <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/digipres" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#digipres</a> at the Library of Congress! Esp proud of our continuing work to document how/if specific file formats can support <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/accessibility" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#accessibility</a> features such as alt text, captions & structured tags for screen readers. Upcoming work includes EA PDF (a profile of PDF specifically for email archiving) and JUMBF (one of the formats related to C2PA manifests). Comments always welcome. CC <a href="https://digipres.club/@genfhk" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@genfhk</a>, Liz Holdzkom & Liz Caringola <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2025/06/new-file-format-research/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2025/06/new-file-format-research/</a>

FaintdreamsHuh. Right this second is when I learned that the .mobi file format is owned by Amazon !👀🤨🤔<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobipocket" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobipocket</a><a href="https://dice.camp/tags/Amazon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Amazon</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/Monopoly" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Monopoly</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/Monopolies" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Monopolies</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/FileFormat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#FileFormat</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/Ebooks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Ebooks</a>

Martin Owens :inkscape:Hmmm, advice please.So; say you're a <a href="https://floss.social/tags/opensource" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#opensource</a> <a href="https://floss.social/tags/vector" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#vector</a> image editor and a volunteer pops in to help write a new compatibility to some proprietary <a href="https://floss.social/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a>.Say the volunteer makes progress and one day a brand new account claiming to be the founder at the <a href="https://floss.social/tags/proprietary" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#proprietary</a> company of said format offering the volunteer a job.To me; this is clearly a way to foreclose work on compatibility. The <a href="https://floss.social/tags/foss" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#foss</a> equiv of buying out a competitor.But how should the project moderate this kind of message?

Thorsted<a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> Friday! Camtasia, not Fantasia. <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/digipres" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#digipres</a> <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/avpres" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#avpres</a> <a href="https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2025/02/14/camtasia/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2025/02/14/camtasia/</a>

Ross SpencerPRONOM’s dustiest recordsNB. because of the complexity of this post, it may be easier to read in original blog form, than on Mastodon here: <a href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/pronoms-dustiest-records/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/pronoms-dustiest-records/</a>Tyler’s <a href="https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2024/11/15/realvideo/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">recent blog post</a> for the PRONOM Hack-a-thon Week 2024 (<a href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/simpledroid-completing-the-circle/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">my previous for this week)</a>, brought up an interesting point about two of PRONOM’s oldest outline records, Real Video Clip (fmt/204) and Real Video (x-fmt/277). How did they end up in PRONOM?Tyler suggests:<blockquote>I assume PRONOM originally added these based on <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110705135130/http://service.real.com/help/faq/rp8/configrp8win.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">MIME types</a> available.</blockquote>I thought I knew the answer, and so it prompted a forensic look at the records to see if what I thought I knew aligned with reality!As a PRONOM maintainer at The National Archives, UK from 2009-2012 I knew a little bit of the history of the system, we see some of that history impact us today, for example, when we look at the number of records that don’t have descriptions or file format signatures, 156 of those records are so-called x-PUIDs. A mechanism in PRONOM that was never meant to make it into the wild for working on file formats internally without polluting the public record. There are 455 x-PUIDs in total. They made it into the wild anyway (before my time) and so they exist as a symbol of PRONOM’s <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/dustyarchivekittendeaths" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><del>dustiest</del></a> oldest records.Even by the time I had started, PRONOM still had a lot of what we started to call outline records. One of the more positive changes we made to the process back in the day was that we would stop creating outline records; instead, we would focus on records that could be tied to signatures. This didn’t necessarily make the records more correctly aligned with reality, but it meant records had utility and file formats identified by DROID could be tied back to something that PRONOM “knew about”. I believe the process is a bit more flexible these days, allowing individuals to contribute information to records that tie them back to information like MIMEtypes and specifications. It’s clearer the format is “real” even if a signature is yet to be developed (and of course there are a large number of data formats that are hard to even represent in traditional PRONOM signatures any more and so they need a record, even if there isn’t a neat concept of a signature for them).Okay old-man, but what about Tyler’s thesis?Stellent and PRONOMI learned sometime in my tenure at The National Archives that PRONOM had been seeded with a lot of the formats listed in a technology called OutsideIn previously owned by Stellent and now owned by Oracle.Oracle OutsideIn<a href="https://docs.oracle.com/outsidein/853/oit/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://docs.oracle.com/outsidein/853/oit/</a>OutsideIn (2010)<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101016164937/http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/content-management/oit-all-085236.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20101016164937/http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/content-management/oit-all-085236.html</a>Data sheet – Formats (2011)<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110125024733/http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/content-management/ds-oitfiles-133032.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20110125024733/http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/content-management/ds-oitfiles-133032.pdf</a>COPTR entry<a href="https://coptr.digipres.org/index.php/Oracle_Outside_In_Technology" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://coptr.digipres.org/index.php/Oracle_Outside_In_Technology</a>I had always had a feeling that that the scope of this list was largely exaggerated by the company selling the software as it is a marketing tool; and if not exaggerated, perhaps, just not as clearly delineated by format than PRONOM, and rather, by Software, regardless of the properties of a given “format”, e.g. WinZip, and PKZip.Back to the story though, I was also reasonably sure I would find Tyler’s RealVideo formats in the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110125024733/http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/content-management/ds-oitfiles-133032.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">format listing</a> but, I did not!I downloaded a CSV summarizing the PRONOM records from api.pronom.ffdev.info with:<code>curl -X 'GET' \</code> <code> 'https://api.pronom.ffdev.info/pronom_summary_csv' \</code> <code> -H 'accept: application/csv'</code>I filtered on outline entries and those without signatures only. I went through the entries still remaining and looked for name matches. I did find some name-for-name matches and some that were close, but no RealVideo or RealVideo Clip.The matches:7-bit ANSI Textyes7-bit ASCII Textyes8-bit ANSI Textyes8-bit ASCII TextyesEBCDIC-USyesFramework Database IIIyesIBM DisplayWrite Document 2yesIBM DisplayWrite Document 3yesMicrografx Designer 3.1yesNota Bene Text FileyesUnicode Text FileyesThe maybes:Cascading Style SheetmaybeFreelance File 1.0-2.1maybeMacPaint GraphicsmaybeMicrosoft Office Binder File for Windows 95maybeMicrosoft Works DatabasemaybeMicrosoft Works Database for DOS 2.0maybeMicrosoft Works Database for Windows 3.0maybeMicrosoft Works Database for Windows 4.0maybeProfessional Write Text FilemaybeWordPerfect for Windows Document 5.2maybeXYWrite DocumentmaybeXYWrite Document IIImaybeXYWrite Document III+maybe11 exact matches! It’s hardly a headline!I had hoped that if I found more exact matches it would provide some clues to where some of the older PRONOM entries came from. I expected most of the outline records to come from this list, alas, it isn’t nearly as many as anticipated.I hoped too that going through the list I might get more clues as to formats that could potentially be deprecated in PRONOM.As it stands, from the OutsideIn list, the only records I would personally recommend for deprecation are:<pre>7-bit ANSI Text7-bit ASCII Text8-bit ANSI Text8-bit ASCII TextEBCDIC-USUnicode Text File</pre>We know enough now to be almost certain that if something that looks like these files arrives in the archive it will present as a standard text file, and that we will need to rely on determining the character encoding using tools such as Richard Lehane’s <a href="https://github.com/richardlehane/characterize" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">characterize</a> (see characterize’s README for more background). It is unlikely we will be able to attach a signature to these records, and we know there are a great deal more <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_encoding" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">encodings in the world</a> than need be represented as PRONOM identifiers.NB. this might be something to formalize in a PRONOM decision making rubric, connected also, to <a href="https://github.com/ffdev-info/wikidp-issues/issues/36" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">formalizing approaches</a> for XML based signatures.A bit of a let down, or is it?Still uncomfortable with so many outline records and little provenance for them, I wanted to find more information about the source of PRONOM data and so I decided to take a different path — I <a href="https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Flgo0zhom501b1.gif" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">surfed</a> the internet for answers!Out of the list of outline records I found a few to be overly specific, or slightly weird, i.e. not really things we hear much about day-to-day, some examples:ACBM GraphicsApple SoundAutoCAD Plot Configuration File 1.0-R13AutoCAD Plot Configuration File R14AutoSketch DrawingBtrieve Database 5.1CorelDraw PatternDEC Data Exchange FileDEC WPS Plus DocumentDr Halo BitmapGeneric Library FileHTML Extension FileHewlett Packard AdvanceWrite Text FileInkwriter/Notetaker TemplateInset Systems BitmapInstalit ScriptInterleaf DocumentMicrosoft Excel Add-InMicrosoft Excel ODBC QueryMicrosoft Excel ToolbarMicrosoft Powerpoint Design TemplateMicrosoft Print FileMicrostation CAD Drawing 95NAP MetafileNota Bene Text FileOS/2 Change Control FileRevit External GroupSAP DocumentSAS Data FileScanstudio 16-Colour BitmapSchedule+ ContactsSpeller Custom DictionaryUnisys (Sperry) System Data FileWordperfect Secondary File 5.0Wordperfect Secondary File 5.1/5.2form*Z Project FileACBM graphics? Dr Halo Bitmap? Btrieve database, “5.1”? where are the other five?!!It gave me pause. I didn’t believe these were all formats well-known to folks who created PRONOM, and I know we didn’t have such an advanced digital transfer program at the time that meant agencies were submitting huge variations of formats to PRONOM for future preservation.I felt they had to come from somewhere, but where?Enter Filext.comBecause these formats were very specific I found listings on the internet that I knew had to be part of the story. I had immediate luck just looking for combinations of these names, e.g. ACBM Graphics + NAP Metafile.In particular I found listings on different websites from hobbyists or universities that all looked the same or similar, e.g.<ul><li><a href="https://www.oocities.org/iannaccif/extention.htm" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.oocities.org/iannaccif/extention.htm</a></li><li><a href="https://tecfa.unige.ch/guides/fileextensions.htm" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://tecfa.unige.ch/guides/fileextensions.htm</a></li></ul>There were definite matches with PRONOM which we will get to, but I started to wonder about the provenance of these extensions.I kept looking and I found one clue, a header and footer of a file that looked like those above and read as follows:<pre>Copyright © 2002 Computer KnowledgeAll Rights ReservedThis download for personal use only. Do NOT distributeit to others either alone or incorporated into anysoftware without prior permission from Computer Knowledge.Developers who wish to incorporate portions of the listplease see the comments at the end of this file.</pre><pre>Developer permissions....This total file may not be included in any other software orproject which presents the data to the public or portions ofthe public. Any developer who wishes to include up to (butnot more than) 2,000 individual entries from this file is freeto do so provided certain conditions are met. These are:. 1) Credit must be given to FILExt. If links are available in the developed product then one must also be provided to FILExt as http://filext.com.. Suggested text: "File extension list courtesy of FILExt. For a more extensive list visit http://filext.com.". 2) Once the extensions are chosen for one product by any developer then these same extensions must continue to be used by that developer for any other projects (i.e., you cannot take one set of 2,000 for one project and a different set of 2,000 for another project; it's a total of 2,000).. 3) If links are available in the developed product then any links appearing associated with any of the 2,000 picked extensions must be included in the product. (This covers future plans to include such links in this list.).When the project is complete please notify FILExt with thespecifics at feedback@filext.com. We're always interestedin how the list is being used. Thank you.</pre>Filext.com!And so I asked myself, how long had filext been around?As it turns out, quite a while! It was forked from a site called cknow around 2002. cknow.com was <a href="https://who.is/whois/cknow.com" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">registered</a> around 1996 and filext.com <a href="https://who.is/whois/filext.com" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">registered</a> in 2001.The first appearance of cknow in the internet archive is late 1996: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19961219035827/http://www.cknow.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/19961219035827/http://www.cknow.com/</a> and Filext early 2001: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20010522235126/http://www.filext.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20010522235126/http://www.filext.com/</a>The sites were founded by Tom Simondi. It looks like he has been responsible for a lot of the 90s and 00s work around demystifying extensions and getting more information to folk about what to do with them.Could it be the source of the first PRONOM records?Comparing some of the many other text-based lists I had found with cknow and filext gave me some confidence that there was some shared heritage with the them, and so I asked, could the cknow and filext lists have also seeded PRONOM?I picked a list close to 2002 (cknow Extensions: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20000831092448/http://www.cknow.com/ckinfo/acronyms/fileextensions.htm" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">2000</a>) when PRONOM was first started and began to compare entries for exact matches.ACBM GraphicsyesAutoCAD Compiled MenuyesAutoSketch DrawingyesBtrieve Database 5.1yesDataFlex Query Tag NameyesDeluxe Paint bitmapyesDesignCAD DrawingyesDigital VideoyesDr Halo BitmapyesFrame Vector MetafileyesFramework Database IIyesFramework Database IIIyesFramework Database IVyesInformation or Setup FileyesInset Systems BitmapyesInterBase DatabaseyesLotus Approach View FileyesMathematica NotebookyesMicrosoft Excel Add-InyesMicrosoft Excel ODBC QueryyesMicrosoft Excel OLAP QueryyesMicrosoft Excel OLE DB QueryyesMicrosoft Excel Web QueryyesMicrosoft FoxPro LibraryyesMicrosoft Outlook Address BookyesMicrosoft PowerPoint Graphics FileyesMicrosoft Powerpoint Add-InyesMicrosoft Visual FoxPro TableyesMicrosoft Works DatabaseyesMicrosoft Works DocumentyesMicrostation CAD Drawing 95yesNAP MetafileyesNota Bene Text FileyesOS/2 Change Control FileyesPICS AnimationyesPageMaker Document 3.0yesPageMaker Time Stamp File 4.0yesProfessional Write Text FileyesQuicken Data FileyesRealVideo Clip <– cc. Tyler!yesSchedule+ ContactsyesStatGraphics Data FileyesStructured Query Language DatayesVentura Publisher Vector GraphicsyesXYWrite Document IIIyesXYWrite Document IVyes46 matches!Apple SoundmaybeAutoCAD Device-Independent Binary Plotter FilemaybeAutoCAD Drawing TemplatemaybeCascading Style SheetmaybeDEC Data Exchange FilemaybeDEC WPS Plus DocumentmaybeFreelance File 1.0-2.1maybeJava Servlet PagemaybeMicrografx Designer 3.1maybeMicrosoft Office Binder File for Windows 95maybeMicrosoft Office Binder Template for Windows 95maybeMicrosoft Office Binder Template for Windows 97-2003maybeMicrosoft Office Binder Wizard for Windows 95maybeMicrosoft Office Binder Wizard for Windows 97-2003maybeVentura PublishermaybeXYWrite DocumentmaybeXYWrite Document III+maybe17 maybes!What did we answer?Okay, 46 exact matches does not the full listing make (although many (now) full-entries may still have been made from these early listings). Filext may have been an important resource for the first PRONOM records, but it’s also likely that PRONOM had other sources of information. For example, for a number of the Microsoft formats with outline records read like export or save-as listings in previous versions of Microsoft software. E.g. Excel:<a href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/excel-save-as.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a>NB. I wasn’t actively researching this side of things writing this blog, but I can already see some commonalities, especially Unicode Text!I know we also had a copy of the Dr Dobb’s <a href="https://archive.org/details/Dr.DobbsFileFormats" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Essential Books on File Formats</a> CD-ROM in the archive, and so that may also have been an important resource when PRONOM was creating its first records.I count only two overlaps with the Stellent list, Framework Database III and Nota Bene Text File.We did, however, find the RealVideo Clip! And I think we found some decent correlation with a resource that looks likely to have been used partially to populate the PRONOM database.The era of file extensions<ul><li>Throughout my research, I found a lot of similar websites. Filext seems to go furthest back and has the greater pedigree, but in the noughties a lot of other sites seemed to appear to try and provide similar information to internet users, a few of note that seemed comprehensive and particularly well presented:</li></ul><ul><li>Endungen.de (Internet Archive circa. 2002) <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20020603193356/http://www.endungen.de/index.php?changelanguage=049" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20020603193356/http://www.endungen.de/index.php?changelanguage=049</a></li><li>Dotwhat.net (Internet Archive circa. 2005): <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050615021635/http://www.dotwhat.net/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20050615021635/http://www.dotwhat.net/</a></li><li>File-extension.net (Internet Archive circa. 2007): <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070521093707/https://file-extension.net/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20070521093707/https://file-extension.net/</a></li><li>Filesuffix.com (Internet Archive circa. 2006): <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060615083930/http://www.filesuffix.com/browse/browse-1.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20060615083930/http://www.filesuffix.com/browse/browse-1.html</a></li><li>Filext backup: <a href="https://www.fileext.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.fileext.com/</a></li></ul>I am sure we looked at these sites during my time on PRONOM, although with less frequency given the need to reduce outline records and increase the number with actionable information.NB. I also  learned that TrID has been around since 2003! <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030612031252/http://mark0.ngi.it:80/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20030612031252/http://mark0.ngi.it:80/</a>Provenance and prior artIt’s not entirely productive to say I wish we had better provenance for PRONOM records back in the day – but I do!It makes me reflect on the importance of looking outside of our own walls in digital preservation instead of the constant redundancy of reinvention or ownership.Often as academics, or those with archival views of the world, we can provide a polish and precision to technology as it exists to make it more usable in an archival context.But cknow has been around so long, and the Unix utility File <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_(command)" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">was created in 1986</a>.There’s a parallel history here that we should be recognizing and sharing for our next colleagues.I arrived at TNA in 2009 and learned about File maybe two years later. As a Windows guy at the time, that might not be uncommon, but I do feel it is on me to have known more. I also think it should have been trivial to access the provenance around some of the records in the database at the time, but more than that – as a field, shouldn’t we all know Tom Simondi? What if the same academic rigour of PRONOM and DROID could have been applied to existing tools like File? What if we had expanded our bubble and recognized digital preservation (or the tools for it) is something people have been doing in all but name for the longest time? What if the people working in parallel on these projects and websites were part of the digital preservation <del>inner-circle</del> community today?I don’t have answers, but I feel there are lessons there for the future. Not reinventing or rebuilding without good reason is important, but even if we build something new and we have been inspired by something else, continuing to recognize and acknowledge prior art is important.What do you think?Also, how do we get these people into a room and celebrate their work, and learn more!What next?I don’t think I got very far here but I found it interesting, and I hope other readers may as well.This is meant to be a PRONOM hack-a-thon blog and I don’t know if I have pushed the sticks forward that much but maybe there’s a bit more to reason about in the outline records, for example, around the plain-text formats mentioned above and a few more identified along the way.7-bit ANSI Textx-fmt/21Recommend deprecation7-bit ASCII Textx-fmt/22Recommend deprecation8-bit ANSI Textx-fmt/282Recommend deprecation8-bit ASCII Textx-fmt/283Recommend deprecationUnicode Text Filex-fmt/16Recommend deprecationEBCDIC-USfmt/159Recommend deprecationMS-DOS Text File with line breaksx-fmt/130Recommend deprecationI noticed in the outline entries some <a href="https://www.redbubble.com/i/pin/Obst-macht-fit-by-paintergoblin/128687386.NP9QY" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">low-hanging fruit</a> that I might focus on next opportunity if someone else doesn’t get there first, these would be:Cascading Style Sheetx-fmt/224Consider adding CSS to the record nameA signature should be feasibleDocument Type Definitionx-fmt/315Consider adding DTD to the record nameA signature should be feasibleExtensible Stylesheet Languagex-fmt/281Consider adding XSL to the record nameA signature should be feasibleHTML Extension Filex-fmt/417Related to Microsoft’s ISS serverA signature may be possibleStandard Generalized Markup Languagex-fmt/195Consider adding SGML to the record nameA signature may be possibleStill Picture Interchange File Format 2.0fmt/113Related to JPEGA signature should be possibleStructured Query Language Datafmt/206Consider adding SQL to the record nameA signature may be possibleDreamweaver Lock Filefmt/335A system file, there may be an entry in the NSRL databaseA signature may be possibleA little more on the history of extensions websitesThe complete filext text file (allext.zip)It took a few jumps, but I found the complete downloadable text file from Filext.com. I don’t think it exists any more and I don’t think the internet archive managed to grab a copy. Apparently it was quite a chunk of data to download on the web once upon a time, but they eventually found a way to release a zipped text file:Via one jump we get to the “whole list” page:<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20020605164206/http://filext.com/wholelist.htm" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20020605164206/http://filext.com/wholelist.htm</a>And then to confirm our absolute interest in downloading it, we get to the a2z file:<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20020606071418/http://filext.com/a2z.htm" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20020606071418/http://filext.com/a2z.htm</a>Which would have taken us to the zip file, alas, never captured on the Internet Archive anyway, maybe it is on other Memento compatible servers:<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060117000000*/http://www.filext.com:80/allext.zip" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20060117000000*/http://www.filext.com:80/allext.zip</a>Keeping filext up to dateFilext still asks for registry data to help keep it up to date. That’s pretty cool!<a href="https://filext.com/faq/gather_data_for_filext.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://filext.com/faq/gather_data_for_filext.html</a><code> 1 │ Echo OFF</code> <code>2 │ CLS</code> <code>3 │ assoc > filext_submission_output.txt</code> <code>4 │ Echo ---------- >> filext_submission_output.txt</code> <code>5 │ ftype >> filext_submission_output.txt</code> <code>6 │ Echo Thank you. The output file has been created and</code> <code>7 │ Echo named filext_submission_output.txt and it should</code> <code>8 │ Echo be in the same place where you saved this batch</code> <code>9 │ Echo file. All that is left now is to send that file</code> <code>10 │ Echo to FILExt. Attach it to an E-mail sent to the</code> <code>11 │ Echo address: filetype@filext.com</code> <code>12 │ Echo The E-mail subject should be: Submission</code> <code>13 │ Echo Thank you.</code> <code>14 │ Pause</code> <code>15 │ Exit</code>Filext as a source of learningThe filext faqs and community seemed particularly helpful and interesting back in the day:<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090322040812/http://filext.com/faq/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20090322040812/http://filext.com/faq/</a>File extension aggregatorThe file-extension.net website started an aggregator project <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070524115159/http://file-extension.net/seeker/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">around 2007</a> and it’s still running today!<a href="http://file-extension.net/seeker/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://file-extension.net/seeker/</a> Some bonus images…As I was working on this, I found irony in Google Sheets glitching, I managed to grab some screenshots along the way. Thanks for reading everyone!<a href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/corrupt-sheet-2.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/corrupt-sheet-3.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/corrupt-sheet-1.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/tag/digipres/" target="_blank">#digipres</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/tag/digital-preservation/" target="_blank">#DigitalPreservation</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/tag/droid/" target="_blank">#DROID</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/tag/file-format/" target="_blank">#FileFormat</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/tag/file-formats/" target="_blank">#FileFormats</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/tag/pronom/" target="_blank">#PRONOM</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/tag/wdpd/" target="_blank">#WDPD</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://exponentialdecay.co.uk/blog/tag/wdpd2024/" target="_blank">#WDPD2024</a>

ThorstedTo wrap up <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/wdpd2024" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#wdpd2024</a> and for <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> Friday, I took a look at RealVideo <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/digipres" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#digipres</a> <a href="https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2024/11/15/realvideo/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2024/11/15/realvideo/</a>

Kate MurrayEven more <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> goodness to celebrate World Digital Preservation Day <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/WDPD2024" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#WDPD2024</a>! Catch up on some recent work related to documenting <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/accessibility" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#accessibility</a> support in digital file formats, with Liz Holdzkom. Thanks <a href="https://digipres.club/@dpc_chat" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@dpc_chat</a> for the opportunity!<a href="https://www.dpconline.org/blog/wdpd/blog-murray-holdzkom-wdpd2024" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.dpconline.org/blog/wdpd/blog-murray-holdzkom-wdpd2024</a>

Jack Linke 🦄I've been working on a thing for a few weeks, and I'm hoping there are <a href="https://social.jacklinke.com/tags/Language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Language</a> / <a href="https://social.jacklinke.com/tags/FileFormat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#FileFormat</a> / <a href="https://social.jacklinke.com/tags/Markdown" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Markdown</a> nerds and experts on Mastodon who can provide some input and sanity-check.I looked for an existing markdown extension file format that would allow me to write a document in multiple languages, and I couldn't find anything that fit the bill.So, I decided to create my own. 🤷‍♂️ <a href="https://github.com/OmenApps/PolyglotMarkdown/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://github.com/OmenApps/PolyglotMarkdown/</a><a href="https://social.jacklinke.com/tags/PolyglotMarkdown" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#PolyglotMarkdown</a> <a href="https://social.jacklinke.com/tags/Languages" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Languages</a> <a href="https://social.jacklinke.com/tags/OpenSource" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#OpenSource</a> <a href="https://social.jacklinke.com/tags/LanguageTools" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#LanguageTools</a> <a href="https://social.jacklinke.com/tags/Translation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Translation</a> <a href="https://social.jacklinke.com/tags/Multilingual" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Multilingual</a>1/2

Kate Murray<a href="https://digipres.club/@Thorsted" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@Thorsted</a> is reading my mind as always. I'm just starting new <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> fdds on Finale .mus/.musx files (at the request of our Music division and to compliment <a href="https://digipres.club/@ashley" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@ashley</a>'s work on Sibelius - fdd609) and of course. up pops this excellent work: <a href="https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2024/02/09/finale/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2024/02/09/finale/</a>. I think my fdd will basically be a redirct to this :) Tyler, you are a wonder!

Kate MurrayMore <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/digipres" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#digipres</a> <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> blogging goodness on The Signal: Recommended Formats Statement: Updates for 2024-2025 is now available. Updates are all listed in the Change Log but they include a new FAQ, considering accessibility support as an evaluation criteria and some changes to preferences, especially for Audio, Musical Scores and Textual Works. Read all about it and comments welcome: <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2024/07/rfs-updates-2024-2025/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2024/07/rfs-updates-2024-2025/</a>

Kate MurrayWhat 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 <a href="https://digipres.club/@ashley" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@ashley</a> 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 <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2024/06/more-formats-and-more-about-formats/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2024/06/more-formats-and-more-about-formats/</a> <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/digipres" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#digipres</a> <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> (I probably should save this for <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformatfriday" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformatfriday</a> but I am too excited so it's for @<a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformatfriday" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformatfriday</a>-eve - aka Thursday)

Thorsted<a href="https://digipres.club/tags/fileformat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#fileformat</a> Friday! FASTA "fast-aye" and DNA! <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/digipres" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#digipres</a> <a href="https://digipres.club/tags/bioinformatics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#bioinformatics</a> <a href="https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2024/06/21/fasta-fastq/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://preservation.tylerthorsted.com/2024/06/21/fasta-fastq/</a>

Recent searches

Search options

Administered by:

Server stats:

#fileformat