Preservation Lab
The Preservation Lab serves as NYPL’s dedicated in-house unit for digitizing audio and moving image materials, focusing on high-priority tasks such as transferring new acquisitions, cataloged items, labor-intensive media, and fulfilling on-demand requests. The following pages detail workflows, policies, and procedures for audio/video/film digitization, and optical media migration, in the following categories:
- Pre-digitization conservation treatments
- Set-up and monitoring during transfer
- Post-digitization editing, spot-checking, and packaging
- Quality control
- Safe and secure file transfer
Software
Our workflows favor free/open source software (FOSS) for their flexibility and efficiency in media digitization processes.
| Purpose | Software |
|---|---|
| Audio Digitization | Wavelab |
| Video Digitization | vrecord |
| Transcoding | FFmpeg, FLAC Utility |
| Metadata Conformance | MediaConch |
| Metadata Extraction | MediaInfo, pymediainfo |
| Quality Control | QCTools |