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6.3 Industry standard formats

For many types of records there is no suitable format with a published specification. In this case, VERS recommends that an ‘industry standard’ format be selected. These formats need not be published.

The long-term preservation strategy is that records in an ‘industry standard’ format must be converted before the format becomes obsolete. This approach is more risky than adopting a format that has a published specification for two reasons:

• It is necessary to monitor the viability of the ‘industry standard’ format and to convert the records before the format becomes unviable. If the monitoring fails, and records are left in an industry standard format after this format ceases to be used, the records may be lost as it may not be possible to obtain software that will render the record.
• It is necessary to accept whatever conversion accuracy is produced by the available conversion utilities, as an archive cannot implement its own conversion untilies.

The basis for using an ‘industry standard’ format is economics. If the industry standard product has the major share of the marketplace, it is unlikely to be replaced easily or quickly. Consequently, records in this format will be accessible for a reasonable period.

Further, if the industry standard product is ever replaced, the replacement products are almost certain to read the proprietary format of the product they replace. Again, this is simple economics. If a new product cannot read and manipulate the data formats used by the industry leader, the new product is unlikely to gain market share.

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