The way that the term codec is generally used makes understanding what one actually is a bit confusing. Most people have the general impression that a codec is somehow related to both software and files. Maybe you have run across the term when you find out your computer doesn’t have the codec you need to play an audio or video file back, or maybe you have heard it referred to as a method to store data inside of a file or wrapper. Beyond that the details are sketchy for most people. The purpose of this paper is to clarify what a codec is, how it is used and what that means to archives.

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections Technical Committee (ARSC TC) recently announced the release of their “Study of Embedded Metadata Support in Audio Recording Software: Summary of Findings and Conclusions”. AudioVisual Preservation Solutions President Chris Lacinak and Consultant Peter Oleksik played significant roles in co-ordinating the study and authoring the report, along with invaluable contributions [...]

AVPS Founder and President Chris Lacinak will be co-presenting the workshop “Got Metadata? Historical, Cultural, and Future Issues of Information Association for Archiving Audio Materials” at the 131st Audio Engineering Society (AES) Convention taking place in New York this week. Along with workshop Chair Thomas Ross Miller (New York University) and co-Panelist Holger Grossmann (Fraunhofer [...]

AVPS President Chris Lacinak’s article “Embedded metadata in WAVE files: a look inside issues and tools” hit the street (and the information superhighway) today in the newest International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives Journal (No 37, July 2011). A PDF version of the article and journal are available to IASA members for free on [...]

Metadata is an integral component of digital preservation and an essential part of a digital object. Files without appropriate metadata lack the basic means required for computing systems and humans to understand, interpret, or manage them. Effectively, there is no preservation or meaningful access without metadata. This presentation by Chris Lacinak covers the why, what [...]

AVPS President, Chris Lacinak was recently quoted in the Rolling Stone article “File Not Found: The Record Industry’s Digital Storage Crisis” (written by David Browne and published in the December 23, 2010-January 11, 2011 issue). Mr. Browne interviewed Chris as an expert reference in the area of digital preservation and file management of audiovisual materials [...]

Philadelphia has become a popular destination for AVPS the past several months, what with all the conferences and marathons and such. The love continues (in a brotherly sort of way) at the upcoming Music Library Association Annual Meeting. This 80th edition will take place February 9th-12th, 2011 at the historic Loews Hotel in the Philadelphia [...]

AudioVisual Preservation Solutions founder and president Chris Lacinak will be representing AVPS at the 44th Annual Association for Recorded Sound Collections Conference in New Orleans, May 19th-22nd. Friday morning Chris will be presenting with Dan Partridge of the Jazz Loft Project on the Artists & Repertoire: Jazz and Blues panel. Dan is a Jazz Loft [...]

The Joint Technical Symposium 2010, Digital Challenges and Digital Opportunities in Audiovisual Archiving, has kicked off in Oslo, Norway, and AVPS is there. David Rice and Chris Lacinak, along with Richard Wright of the BBC, will be discussing Migration of Media-Based Born-Digital Audiovisual Content to Files on Tuesday, May 4th. After Chris gives a lay [...]

10 Recommendations for Codec Selection and Management The increasing number of digital objects under our guardianship as archivists will require a greater convergence between IT and archival knowledge sets in order to develop effective preservation strategies. One area of great concern for the integrity and persistence of digital audio and video files is the selection [...]