Format Identification & Technical Information
AAF. Advanced Authoring Format. AAF Association, Inc.
The Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) is a multimedia file format that enables content creators to easily exchange digital media and metadata across platforms, and between systems and applications.
British Kinematograph Sound and Television Society's Technical Publications
Technical publications include motion picture and television technical standards, training manuals and their renowned wall charts on film gauges and soundtracks, widescreen formats, motion picture colour processes, film, videotape and recording formats.
Cinetech. Motion Picture Stock Time Line.
Year by year time line of introduction of motion picture film stock.
Digital Moving Image Archive Calculator
Calculates “how long it takes to digitize an archive, how much it will cost, user access speed, and how much disk space you'll need.”
eFilmCenter. 2000. The Ultimate Table of Formats—Aspect Ratios.
List of gauges including years produced, size of image, and aspect ratios.
Film Tools: Footage Calculator & Charts
Corresponding techincal data for current Fujifilm stocks.
International Cinematographers Guild. Filmmaking Technology.
Provides links to a selection of articles about "The Digital Future" of film as well as "Tech Tips" with some information pertinent to preservation.
"This website is meant as a resource for conservators, curators, collections managers, and others who need to know the formats and types of audio materials in their collections. Since the first attempt to capture sound in a solid medium there has been a proliferation of media types and formats." NOTE: much of this site is currently under construction. While there are many useful images, many are missing identifying text.
Kodak. Chronology of Motion Picture Films – 1889 to present.
A timeline of key points in the history of film.
Handy film conversion calculator. Variables include film length (feet or meters), running time (HH:MM:SS), film format (8mm to IMAX), and frame rate.
Invaluable selection of bibliographic guides, resources and tools.
Invaluable technical data for current Kodak film stocks. Includes storage, printing and processing recommendations, and image structure.
Kodak. Technical Publications.
Preservation related topics include tips on choosing a laboratory, laboratory equipment and workflow, and printing options.
Additional technical information including film storage and handling.
More than one hundred years of film sizes.
Well-illustrated chronology of film sizes including many obscure formats and projectors.
Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)
Anything you wanted to know about MPEGs. The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is a working group of ISO/IEC in charge of the development of international standards for compression, decompression, processing, and coded representation of moving pictures, audio and their combination.
Nyström, Jan-Eric. 1998. History of Sub-35mm Film Formats & Cameras.
Site contains essay with illustrations of film and equipment. Finnish site, in English.
Rogge, Michael. 1996. More than One Hundred Years of Film Sizes.
Essay with information on the approximately 100 film widths and perforations (in addition to 35mm), including amateur and obsolete formats. Brief listing of related links.
Useful motion picture date code charts available for download.
The Letterbox and Widescreen Advocacy Page. Aspect Ratios and Filming Techniques.
A compilation of information about the variety of aspect ratios across film history.
UPF. Universal Preservation Format. WGBH.
Proposed standard for the archiving of media assets.
Video Aids to Film Preservation Videos offering instruction and demonstrations of basic film handling and preservation procedures.
Video Format Identification Guide.
“This site is produced for archivists, librarians, curators and conservators who want to identify the videotapes in their collections. Since video recording became a viable technology in 1956, there have been over 50 different formats created. Contains thumbnail images of the prominent videotape formats and a short essay on the formats for the particular time period.”
The VidiPax Web site contains a number of relevant resources including audio and video format guides and an overview of video encoding. Their guide to magnetic tape preservation covers composition, common problems, storage, reformatting, and restoration. The VidiPax museum offers photographs and brief descriptions for a wide selection of wire, reel to reel, and video recorders.
Widescreen Museum and Film Technology Center. Early Color Motion Pictures.
An illustrated guide to various color film techniques used in film history, such as hand tinting as well as additive and subtractive processes.