File Formats

Storage is the easy part. Search, preview generation, and long-term readability all depend on the format: a DAM can't build a thumbnail for a format its rendering engine doesn't understand, can't index metadata a format doesn't carry, and can't guarantee a file opens in ten years if the only software that reads it has been discontinued.

The rule of thumb: keep formats that are open, well-documented, and widely supported (TIFF, PDF/A, DNG, WAV/FLAC, IFC) as masters, and treat anything a delivery pipeline can regenerate on demand — a resized JPEG, a transcoded MP4 proxy, a contact-sheet PDF — as disposable. Each format entry's "archive advice" states which side of that line it falls on.

Camera RAW formats (CR2, NEF, ARW) and design-native files (INDD, PSD with live effects, C4D) are real risks specifically because they depend on one vendor's current software. If that vendor discontinues support or the file predates a compatibility cutoff, the asset becomes unreadable — which is exactly why formats like DNG and IDML exist as open, interchange-friendly alternatives.

It can — compression artifacts on a lossy re-encode, dropped metadata fields a converter doesn't recognize, or discarded layers/vector data when flattening to a raster format. Each entry's "container notes" section states specifically what a given format can and can't carry, so a conversion decision can be made with that loss made explicit rather than discovered later.

Format support — especially for newer codecs like AVIF, JPEG XL, and AV1 — changes as browsers and operating systems update. Each entry carries a checked date, and claims about current support status are attributed rather than stated as permanent fact, since this is exactly the kind of detail that goes stale fastest.

A container format (MP4, MOV, MKV) defines how audio, video, and metadata streams are packaged together; a codec (H.264, AV1, ProRes) defines how the actual video or audio data inside is compressed. The same container can hold different codecs, which is why "what plays this file" sometimes depends on the codec inside, not just the file extension.

Because DAM isn't only marketing photography. Architecture and engineering firms manage IFC and RVT files, GIS teams manage Shapefiles and GeoTIFFs, and post-production houses manage DPX sequences — each with its own preview, metadata, and archival questions that a generic "how to store images" guide doesn't answer.

Not on its own. Some old formats (TIFF, WAV) remain excellent archival choices because they're open and universally supported; some newer formats (a proprietary camera RAW variant) are already a preservation risk because only one company's current software reads them. Openness and documentation matter more than age.

This reference grows from the formats DAM buyers and practitioners actually run into, so gaps are expected rather than exhaustive from day one. In the meantime, checking whether the format has an open, published specification (versus a closed, vendor-only one) is the single most useful thing to establish before deciding how to store it.

A generic extension list tells you what a format is called. This tells you what it means for a media library specifically: whether it survives a re-export, what a DAM can preview without a plugin, and what a practitioner should actually do with a file in that format today.