Permanent preservation file formats on Permanent.org

File Types That We Accept and Support

Permanent.org will accept and store all file formats uploaded to our system by our members. We like to say "if it's made of bits, we'll take it." 

However, we do have a set of "supported" file formats for each category of file (photo, video, documents and audio). Supported means we are able to convert those files into "permanent" archival formats on upload and continue to convert them as technology shifts so that they're always accessible on modern software. Don't worry, we always store the original in addition to the conversion and any file in a format we can't support will still be preserved permanently and can be downloaded at any time.

We can only guarantee you will be able to view or play back "supported" permanent formats via Permanent.org. Sometimes file conversions fail for any number of reasons related to the structure of a file or its metadata, even for supported formats. In those cases, we will still store the original and you will be able to download it.

Our supported file types:

Permanent file types:
Photos
.bmp, .gif, .png, .tif, .tiff, .jpg, .jpeg, .heic
.jpg
Videos
.avi, .mov, .ogv, .webm, .mp4
.mp4
Documents
.doc, .docx, .rtf, .eml, .odt, .pdf, .pdf/a, .ppt, .pptx, .key, .odp, .xls, .xlsx, .ods, .txt
.pdf/a or .txt
Audio
.aac, .aiff, .flac, .m4a, .ogg, .wav, .wma, .mp3
.mp3

Learn more about our file conversion process and how we maintain accessibility for your files here.

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