Data Services: Data Archiving & Preservation

This guide provides information on managing data and obtaining secondary data for research.

File Types

Long after some software packages are gone, reading your data files may be difficult or impossible. You can help reduce the obscelence of your data files by using file types that are designed for long-term access. The following file types are preferrable over proprietary software-specfic file types:

A. Text Files

PDF/A
TXT
XML
RTF

Not: MS Word

B. Numerical Files

CSV
ASC

Not: MS Excel

C. Video Files

MPEG-4

Not: Quicktime

D. Image Files

TIFF
JPEG2000

Not: GIF, JPG

E. Audio Files

WAV

Not: mp3

  • Last Updated: May 11, 2023 11:53 AM
  • URL: https://libguides.utk.edu/dataservices
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