ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS

The open source project on electronic documents researches tools and procedures for establishing a reference implementation for PDF/A.

Basic research should involve checking for the existence of PDF/A -functionalities and whether they are implemented in accordance with the specifications for PDF/A. The functionalities to examine could for example be the following:

  • ​the use of annotations, images and digital signatures,
  • ​the use of compression schemes and transparency,
  • ​the use of character sets and fonts,
  • ​the use of interactive features such as executable scripts, forms and navigation tools,
  • ​embedded administrative and structural metadata,
  • ​dependencies on external resources.

The conformance checker developed in this open-source project validates PDF/A files against all following standard file format specifications:

  • ​ISO (2005). Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 1: Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1). ISO/TC 171/SC 2, ISO 19005-1:2005.
  • ​ISO (2008). Document management — Portable document format — Part 1: PDF 1.7. ISO/TC 171/SC 2, ISO 32000-1:2008.
  • ​ISO (2011). Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 2: Use of ISO 32000-1 (PDF/A-2). ISO/TC 171/SC 2, ISO 19005-2:2011.
  • ​ISO (2012). Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 3: Use of ISO 32000-1 with support for embedded files (PDF/A-3). ISO/TC 171/SC 2, ISO 19005-3:2012.

The conformance checker determines if a file is a PDF/A file or if it is something else. It also checks all different conformance levels in PDF/A-1, and PDF/A-2, and PDF/A-3 and provides detailed information on the criteria that have not been fulfilled.

IMAGES

The open source project on images researches tools and procedures for establishing a reference implementation for uncompressed TIFF.

Basic research should involve checking for the existence of TIFF -functionalities and whether they are implemented in accordance with the specifications for TIFF. The functionalities to examine could for example be the following:

  • ​the use of ‘baseline’, ‘extension’ and ‘private tags’,
  • ​the use of color profiles,
  • ​assessment of user-specific acceptance criteria based on technical parameters of the digital image,
  • ​executing automated fixes for making TIFF files compliant with baseline specifications.

The conformance checker developed in this open-source project validates uncompressed TIFF files against all following standard file format specifications:

  • ​ISO (2001). Electronic still-picture imaging — Removable memory — Part 2: TIFF/EP image data format. ISO/TC 42, ISO 12234-2:2001.
  • ​ISO (2004). Graphic Technology — Prepress digital data exchange — Tag image file format for image technology (TIFF/IT). ISO/TC 130. ISO 12369:2004.

The conformance checker determines if a file is an uncompressed TIFF file or if it is something else. It also checks the use of ‘baseline’, ‘extension’ and ‘private’ tags, as well as user-specific acceptance criteria. The tool provides detailed information on the criteria that have not been fulfilled.

AUDIOVISUAL FILES

The open source project on audiovisual files researches tools and procedures for establishing a reference implementation for an audiovisual preservation file, using FFV1, Dirac or JPEG2000 for encoding video or moving image, uncompressed LPCM for encoding sound and MKV or OGG for wrapping audio- and video-streams in one file.

Basic research activities involve defining a profile for an audiovisual preservation file that allows for:

  • ​capturing uncompressed or mathematically lossless compressed audio- and video- or image streams,
  • ​preserving the image and sound properties of the ‘original’ audio-visual resource,
  • ​capturing a comprehensive set of preservation data.

Basic research should also involve checking for the existence of standard functionalities and whether they are implemented in accordance with the corresponding specifications.

The conformance checker developed in this open-source project validates one container file format and one video/image codec, chosen by the supplier from the standards mentioned above, and uncompressed LPCM encoded audio. The supplier is asked to select a specific set of standards from the list below.

  • ​MKV: Matroska – Technical Details. http://www.matroska.org/technical/index.html.
  • ​OGG: Ogg – Documentation. https://xiph.org/ogg/doc/.
  • ​JPEG2000: ISO (2004). Information technology – JPEG 2000 image coding system: Core coding system. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29, ISO/IEC 15444-1:2004.
  • ​FFV1: FFV1 Video Codec Specification, http://www.ffmpeg.org/~michael/ffv1.html.
  • ​Dirac: Dirac Specification Version 2.2.3 (2008), http://diracvideo.org/download/specification/dirac-spec-latest.pdf.
  • ​LPCM: IEC (2014). Digital audio interface – Part 1: General. IEC/TC 100, IEC 60958-1 ed3.1 Consol. with am1: 2014.

This selection provides the reference implementation that the files will be checked against. The conformance checker determines if a file is conform the selected standard specifications or if it is something else. It also provides detailed information on the criteria that have not been fulfilled.