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Data Management

Resources in documenting, storing and preserving research data

File Format Recommendations

The file format you choose for your data is a primary factor in someone else's ability to access it in the future. Think carefully about what file format will be best to manage, share, and preserve your data. Although any file format you choose today may become unreadable in the future, some formats are more likely to be readable than others.

Formats likely to be accessible in the future are:

  • Non-proprietary
  • Open, with documented standards
  • In common usage by the research community
  • Using standard character encodings (i.e., ASCII, UTF-8)
  • Uncompressed (space permitting)
Material Preferred File Format
Tabular

ASCII or UTF-8 encoded,

.csv, .tsv
Geospatial

Formats compatible with widely adopted GIS (e.g. ArcGIS)*
Database

.sqlite, .db, .db3
Text

ASCII or UTF-8 encoded,

.txt, .html, .pdf, .xml
Archiving/Compression

.tar, .gzip, .zip
Still Images

.tiff, .jpg, .jp2, .png, .gif, .bmp, .pdf, .svg
Moving Images

.mov, .mpeg
Audio

.wave, .mp3
Websites

.warc

*http://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/