IASA 2019 Annual Conference

Over the past many years, an ecosystem of free and open source software for long-term digital preservation has been developed. One of the tools is FFmpeg, a solution for processing, transcoding, filtering, analysing, and playing audiovisual files. Due to its extensive and actively developed codec library, FFmpeg has been integrated as a crucial element into many film and video archives worldwide. This workshop will present why FFmpeg is relevant to archivists and how it can be applied for digital preservation of the the cultural heritage. Participants will learn how to install the software on their computers and master the use of it with audiovisual files. They will use the applications (FFmpeg itself includes a suite of applications) to perform several tasks, including lossless transcoding, technical inspection, timecode burn-in, compression for access, and quality control. Lessons and hands-on activities will alternate. Topics will include a refresher on digital audio and digital video; file structure: container, codec, raw data; different file formats for different purposes: archive master, mezzanine files for postproduction, access files; and audiovisual data transformations.