Overview
ISO/IEC 12034-1:2017 - Archive eXchange Format (AXF) Part 1: Structure and semantics - specifies a general-purpose, media‑agnostic format for packaging, storing, and exchanging bulk digital content. AXF is a self-contained, self‑describing file container that carries files, metadata and preservation information (e.g., provenance and fixity). Part 1 defines the basic structures, semantics, and an XML Schema (XSD) for the structural XML documents used to build AXF Objects so they can be written to or read from any storage media.
Key topics and technical requirements
- AXF Object model: Definition of the AXF Object as a packaged unit containing files, metadata and structural elements that are consistent across media.
- Storage Media Types: Identification of two major media categories - media with file systems and media without file systems - and how AXF structures map to each.
- Structural elements (XML): Structural elements are encoded as XML documents; the standard provides an XSD for formulating these documents and defines semantics for fields used in headers, footers, indices and fragments.
- Indexing and headers/footers: Specifications for object headers, fragment headers, file footers, object footers and the AXF object index to enable recovery and navigation of contained content.
- Preservation metadata and integrity: Support for metadata, UUIDs, checksums/fixity and related identifiers so AXF Objects remain verifiable and recoverable over time.
- Spanning and collected sets: Rules for spanning AXF Objects across multiple physical media and for organizing collections/sets with add/replace/delete/version tracking.
- Byte order and data expression: Guidance on byte order, data expression formats and general AXF usage considerations to ensure interoperability.
Practical applications
- Long‑term digital preservation and archival exchange across heterogeneous systems
- Interchange of large audiovisual, scientific, medical or geospatial datasets between institutions
- Creating vendor‑neutral archive packages that remain readable despite changes in underlying storage technologies
- Transporting or migrating archive content (on tape, disk or network) while preserving metadata and integrity information
- Enabling software developers and storage architects to implement AXF‑compliant ingest/export, validation and recovery tools
Who should use this standard
- Archivists, digital preservation specialists and librarians
- Broadcasters, media production and post‑production facilities
- IT architects and storage engineers designing interoperable archive systems
- Software developers building tools for archive packaging, verification and migration
- Institutions managing large, long‑lived datasets (museums, research centers, healthcare, geophysics)
Related standards
- SMPTE ST 2034‑1:2017 - aligns with AXF Part 1 (SMPTE origin)
- ISO/IEC JTC 1 publications and other archival metadata standards (contextual for implementation)
Keywords: ISO/IEC 12034-1:2017, AXF, Archive eXchange Format, XML Schema, XSD, archive interchange, data preservation, fixity, UUID, storage media, long‑term archiving.