Use the result while planning ingest, digitization, quality control, reporting, or preservation work where the stated rule needs to be repeatable and reviewable.

Format

Legacy audiovisual carrier format to classify for equipment obsolescence risk.

Classify legacy audiovisual carrier formats into a five-step playback equipment obsolescence risk tier; published guidance varies, so tiers are a heuristic lookup. The tool evaluates the supplied inputs together and returns the named outputs below; it does not infer omitted operating conditions or change the units shown.^[1]

Tier score

Numeric obsolescence risk tier from 1 (low) to 5 (critical).

Risk tier

Named playback equipment obsolescence risk tier.

• Repository policies, format profiles, equipment capabilities, and descriptive standards vary. Preserve the source value and record the rule version instead of treating this utility as an authority-record or preservation-system validator.
• Use finite inputs in the displayed units and preserve more precision than the final presentation requires. Independently verify safety-critical, financial, compliance, or production decisions.

Complement the calculation with format validation, fixity checks, provenance records, and human review. For policy decisions, apply the profile adopted by the repository rather than an undocumented local convention.

• Scanning Resolution PPI by Original Type Lookup

  Return a recommended scanning resolution in pixels per inch for common archival original types; published guidance varies, so values are a heuristic lookup.

• Format Obsolescence Watchlist Risk Score Rater

  Rate preservation format obsolescence risk on a capped 0-100 scale (two points per year since release plus twenty for proprietary formats, twenty-five when emulation is required and fifteen when validation tooling is lacking) with low, moderate, high and critical tiers.

• Migration Cycle Interval Years by Format Class Lookup

  Look up an illustrative local review-cycle interval by broad format class. These fixed values are planning defaults, not a preservation standard or a substitute for format-risk monitoring; migration should follow an institution's documented policy and evidence.