Is there a better format available?

Having analysed the risks posed by particular formats, we can build a plan of action to avert the risks. One risk is not being able to open the file in the application originally used to create the file. As a simple example, if Powerpoint 95 was at risk we could recommend the migration of these files to a later version such as Powerpoint 97, 2002 or 2007. Another more serious risk is not being able to open the file in any available software. In this case, are there other file formats that can store the same data but which are at less risk?

To successfully transform or migrate a file to a new format (taking care to keep a copy of the file format from which it is being migrated, ideally with the original file format created by the author) we need to consider the properties of each file format and find other formats which preserve these. The most desirable translation is lossless, where all properties are preserved. In this case we don't need to perform in-depth analysis of the file to find which "significant" properties need to be preserved.

Significant properties has been a topic of discussion in the preservation community (Inspect: Significant Properties Report - presented as a keynote at JISC/BL/DPC, What to preserve, Significant Properies of Digital Objects Workshop (March 2008)). Tools to analyse a file and list its significant properties are now becoming available, and it is envisaged these might be used in conjunction with a registry such as PRONOM to provide a tables of transformation formats.

What tools are available to analyse/manipulate and transform this file?

Apart from transformation tools, we believe a registry of tools can aid in all parts of the preservation process. A transformation tool would be just one type in this registry, which could also contain tools such as DROID, JHOVE, and list other tools that can help identify, classify, transform and read different types of files.

Within the scope of Preserv2 it was not possible to implement this functionality, but it is hoped the ideas will be carried forward by the PLANETS project and TNA (UK). It is envisaged that a registry of tools can be integrated into the PRONOM registry.